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Post by fots2 on Jan 2, 2013 15:27:15 GMT 8
You are welcome Chad. I hope you and Patty enjoy your holidays.
The measurements you requested on top of Malinta Hill should be coming your way soon.
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Post by chadhill on Jan 3, 2013 10:00:53 GMT 8
Appreciate it fots, hope you and yours enjoyed the holidays also. Those measurements will start the wheels between my ears turning again, look forward to them- Thanks, Chad
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Post by The Phantom on Jan 12, 2013 8:32:46 GMT 8
Nice trip though time fots.
The amount of slag debris shown in the various photo's, coming off of Malinta hill's west side, seems to say that the lost tunnel entrances are under several feet of debris today and the present road to the south shore road around Malinta Hill is built on top of said debris.
I have never been to Caballo Island or seen all the WWII munitions, etc, that were placed there by the U.S.
( Recently removed by the U.S. at the request of the current Philippine President Aquino when he was on a visit to Washington)
Were such munitions as those 12 inch shells shown above, outside Malinta tunnel, among the shells moved and stored in the tunnels on Caballo? What was there?
When did the U.S. turn over Caballo to the Philippines?
Were the munitions later picked up on Caballo also from Clark and Subic post war?
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Post by oozlefinch on Jan 12, 2013 13:36:04 GMT 8
I've been fortunate enough to be on Caballo twice. In '87 we were able to go everywhere on the island, except for Battery Woodruff, which is where the munitions were stored. I don't believe that the 12" shells were transported to Caballo. My SWAG would be: 1) If the US did it, they were deep-sixed in the ocean; 2) If the Filipinos did it, they were defused, the powder taken out and re-used as explosives(?), and the metal was salvaged. We were informed that the munitions stored in Woodruff were anti-submarine ordinance such as hedgehogs. While I don't know what happened to the shells shown in the photos, when I was on Corregidor in '87, I do recall seeing a number of 12" shells in the weeds in the SW corner of Bottomside above South Beach.
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Post by fots2 on Apr 30, 2013 18:56:19 GMT 8
Some additional Malinta Tunnel information for everyone... I have found some references to construction work which converted the North Storage System into a hospital. In the book, THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS: THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN, Page 66, it states “In July (of 1941) a construction crew began blasting additional space for the hospital in the great tunnel under Malinta Hill and enlarging five laterals to be used as storage”. Now we know when the two rear 4’ x 6’ ventilation shafts were enlarged. Another reference to this work is on Page 101 where it mentions construction continuing after the start of the war. “Still others (engineers) were at work on Malinta Tunnel where they began laying a concrete floor in the hospital, installing a temporary ventilation system and putting sandbags at the east and west entrances.” Page 102 adds a bit more information; “In Malinta, engineers installed stand-by water and power systems and completed a sewage system for the hospital.”Another topic is the gas proofing of Malinta Tunnel. This project had been shelved in the 1930s but a portion of it appears to have been completed during wartime. The following information is selected text from the book THE CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE: CHEMICALS IN COMBAT by Brooks E. Kleber and Dale Birdsell. (Center of Military History, United States Army, Pages 188, 189) Before the start of WWII, men of the US Army’s Chemical Warfar Service (CWS) were stationed in the Philippines. They moved to Bataan when War Plan Orange was enacted. Due to Japanese bombing the CWS commander, Colonel Hamilton, “moved his office into an improvised chemical labratory in the Malinta Tunnel, Fort Mills, Corregidor. The CWS hastily completed part of a large gas proofing project so that the ventilating blowers could be used to make the Malinta Tunnel usable for a hospital, offices and quarters.
The few CWS officers and men not continuously used as infantry labored mightily to adapt existing materials to emergency needs. Hamilton’s men improvised field plants to produce liquid bleach (chloride of lime) for sanitation purposes both on Bataan and Corregidor. These plants used lime and liquid chlorine originally intended for decontamination of vesicant gases. Bleach was also used as an insecticide by the hospitals, around latrines and on the battlefields.
The contents of 4.2 inch chemical mortar shells were converted into sulphuric acid to keep in operation the storage batteries of electric generator units, radio sets and vehicles. They also contributed to the fighting units by producing thousands of Molotov cocktails hastily improvised from beer bottles and other scrap materials.
The men of the CWS continued their work until Corregidor’s surrender. Colonel Hamilton and his surviving men were taken prisoner on May 6th 1942 and remained in Japanese prison camps for the remainder of the war.”Finally, the official records included in Part 1 of this report came from the people who constructed Malinta Tunnel, the US Army Corps of Engineers. To compliment those records, here is another official record produced by the US Army Quartermaster Corps. It contains details which not only agree with what the Corps of Engineers quote but includes additional information. Some of the text is a bit difficult to read so here is a summary from the QMC perspective: Date completed: June 30, 1934 (Central System only) Cost: $102,372.16 Total Floor Area: 39,456 Sq.Ft./432,124 Cu.Ft. (excluding the main east-west tunnel) Main East-West Tunnel Area: 21,632 Sq.Ft. (not used for storage) Gasoline Tunnel Area: 5,472 Sq.Ft./64,296 Cu.Ft. Capacity of Gasoline Storage: 160,000 Gallons (20 tanks x 8000 Gal/tank)
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Post by okla on May 1, 2013 0:55:57 GMT 8
Hey Fots.....When do you sleep? Just curious. Cheers. Postscript....You have done all Corregidor Historians and "geeks"a real service in presenting the actual, correct dates of construction, dispelling the notion that the majority of of work was done during the 1920s> I appreciate knowing that my birth year, so prominently displayed on the East and West entrances denotes when the project was initiated and not when it was completed. A minor thing, but important in my humble. Thanks again for bringing together this monumental, treasure trove of "Rock stuff". You the man.
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Post by fots2 on May 1, 2013 13:51:14 GMT 8
You are welcome okla.
We still do not know details of the new south entrance or much about the Malinta Navy Tunnels. Hopefully this information will surface someday.
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Post by fots2 on May 4, 2013 9:57:33 GMT 8
Here is some more Malinta Tunnel Information. From The Wainwright Papers, Page 10. From The Wainwright Papers, Engineer Annex, Page 62. From The Wainwright Papers,Exhibit F, Page 72.
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Post by fots2 on May 8, 2013 18:58:12 GMT 8
It is amazing at what you can stumble across at times. Here is a drawing of the North System after it was converted into a hospital. Unfortunately most of the text is unreadable but it clearly shows the outline of the tunnel that we see today. The drawing is labeled “GAS-PROOFING PROJECT INCLUDING ADDITIONAL CONSTRUCTION NORTH MALINTA (HOSPITAL) SYSTEM.” The date of the drawing is not clear. You can see the widened east and west ventilation shafts, the two short laterals off of these shafts and both north-side mini tunnels dug out to the hillside. The original report has been updated with this and some other recently discovered information.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2013 8:20:57 GMT 8
Concerning the hospital system, some informations can be found in the "Medical Department Activities in the Philippines from 1941 to 6 may 1942" by the Colonel Wibb E. Cooper.
"The structures and facilities assigned to the Medical Department consisted of one station hospital of 200 beds. In addition a portion of the Malinta tunnel was earmarked for Medical Department uses."
"The Hospital Section of Malinta Tunnel, incomplete at the beginning of the War, was soon made usable and while originally planned to accommodate about 300 patients, at one time was accommodating not only all the patients and medical personnel of Corregidor but furnished quarters and messing facilities to the High Commander and other officials of the Philippines."
"The day of the first bombing of Corregidor 29th of December 1941, the topside hospital was directly hit several times, killing one medical officer and injuring others of the personnel. From this date on the hospital was untenable and the whole hospital installation was moved to the Malinta tunnel. With the cooperation of the Engineer Corps this tunnel hospital was enlarged so that 1,000 patient beds became available. This proved to be entirely adequate and there never was a time when there was a shortage of hospital beds. An operating room was established and all surgery for Corregidor and the fortified islands' casualties was done here."
"The tunnel hospital deserves a word of description, though its fame has been spread so that it is generally quite familiar. It consisted of a series of concrete-lined tunnels used as wards which were offshoots of the main tunnel. Every available space was utilized and three-deck beds were used so that eventually 1,000 beds became available. Latrines, flushing type, showers, and running water were available. To conserve water certain hours were allotted for use of showers. The wards were organized similarly to those in general hospital, with doctors, nurses, and enlisted men assigned to each ward. Light was furnished continuously by a neon-type fixture."
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