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Post by cbuehler on Mar 19, 2013 23:21:37 GMT 8
A note to all who may find battle relics: Please be aware that when you locate any relics that they are the remains of history. It is your responsibility to record exactly where they are found and to maintain or provide this information to others. Additionally, you are responsible for curating and preserving them for the future. In many cases, these relics provide valuable historical information as to what may have happened at the location where they are found. Also, always inform the local residents of the importance of these relics and to not discard them. They are tangible pieces of history, no matter how small, and I urge all of you to keep this in mind.
CB
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Post by victor on Mar 20, 2013 2:00:39 GMT 8
Hi Conrad, I fully agree. The very few that I have, I set up in a shadow box with labels and brief write-up of what happened in the area they were found in. They also serve as part of any educational display we happen to do. This are my very few Bataan artifacts. Notice it is part of the display -- near the armpit of this Bataan cavalry veteran. Victor
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2014 20:13:51 GMT 8
Relics.
In 1979 I found an aluminum (?) prewar style identity disk (later redesigned as the "dog tag" which was somewhat rectangular, compared to the prewar circular identity discs). Found it under about an inch or so of earth in the area of the Senior BOQs at Topside.
The name on the disc was PAUL D BUNKER, Col USA.
Kept it with the intention not so much as a personal souvenir, but with the original intent to get it to his descendants.
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Post by chadhill on Mar 9, 2014 4:01:08 GMT 8
Wow, happysniper, welcome aboard and what a find! You didn't by chance recover the 1941 portion of Bunker's diary with that ID disk, did you? The long-lost section of his memoirs might shed some insight on his failure to disarm the minefields the night of December 16-17, as the SS Corregidor sailed through the North Channel towards La Monja and disaster. corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1168/loss-corregidor?page=1
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 9, 2014 6:53:55 GMT 8
Col. Bunker's relatives have stated that they have the rest of Col. Bunker's diary, but have chosen not to release it at this time.
As the battles on Bataan and Corregidor were waging in 1942, according to Col. Carlos P. Romulo, 3 servicemen were making identification tags,(Dog Tags) inside Malinta tunnel 24 hours a day to get tags on all the troops on Bataan and Corregidor. (American's first?) Unfortunately most Philippine troops died without tags on Bataan and Corregidor and were thus unidentifiable after their deaths.
I don't believe he stated what they were being made of.... but they had a machine to cut them out.
The information is from "I SAW THE FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES" BY CARLOS P. ROMULO. Some interesting reference to the homes on the tail used by Mac Arthur, Quezon and the High Commissioner after their Topside residences were bombed in early 1942.
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Post by chadhill on Mar 9, 2014 7:31:19 GMT 8
One more thing, happysniper...do you have any info as to what happened to the 1.1 inch "pom-pom gun" up on Malinta Hill after the 1942 siege? Fots and phantom found its base mounting plate recently, an incredible discovery, posted on the Malinta Hill thread (my apologies, not trying to put you on the spot, welcome aboard!). corregidor.proboards.com/thread/532/malinta-hill?page=18Phantom, just a side note about the Bunker 1941 diary, from my 5/21/2012 post on the SS Corregidor thread: There has been speculation as to why Colonel Bunker's published diary begins on January 3, 1942, leaving out the time frame of the SS Corregidor. Someone thought a Bunker relative was in possession of the prior material. In an earlier post, Phantom suggested Colonel Keith Barlow (USA, retired), editor of "Bunker's War", could have some information on the whereabouts of the missing entries.
I tried to track down Colonel Barlow, but was unsuccessful in locating him. On a whim, I searched Bunker's diary on the anniversary of the catastrophe, December 16-17, 1942, wondering if he would reflect on it. Again I found nothing.
Recently I was researching a friend's late father, who served on the minesweeper Tanager and survived the war, finally being rescued from Mukden by an OSS parachute team in August 1945 (that's another story). I happened to pick up "Bunker's War" for info on the 92nd garage captivity days and found this entry for Saturday, May 23, 1942 (p. 164). The POWs were about to be transported offshore from the 92nd garage to three Japanese ships, and were quickly gathering their things:
"In our shack we weeded out our belongings, for the Japs had warned us to make our bundles as light as possible. I discarded my black bag and most of its contents, including my diary for 1941 (with a wrench). Lt. Simpson thought he could manage it and put most of my discards in one of his 2 bags (but later had to discard and abandon them)".
So it would seem there is no hope that a relative might someday release Bunker's unpublished entries from December 16-17, 1941. They no longer exist.
It looks like Bunker left his 1941 diary at the 92nd garage...unless the relatives somehow have it, and I hope they do. What a find happysniper, that ID disk!
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Post by wwalker on Mar 9, 2014 12:37:43 GMT 8
Hello,
Chad, you raise a very important mystery to the history of Corregidor in those days of 1941 and 1942. Col. Bunker's diary is one of those important mysteries. I too, like you, hope that the missing pieces of his diary are still in existance. I feel like there is a pretty good chance these pieces still exist. I am learning more and more in my research that a lot of records managed to be saved from obscurity. As I'm sure you have noticed in your reading of Barlow's edited version, the diary starts late and has holes in it. One particular hole in the diary is not just the entry of the night the SS Corregidor tragically sank to the ocean floor, but also the day that the air-raid shelter at Battery Geary was hit. Although he gives brief mention of the incident later in his diary, there are not many answers to what exactly happened. All we get in the edited version is his decision to relieve Captain Ben King of his command of Geary and transfer him to Fort Drum. One thing we do know for fact is that the battery lost most of its experienced mortar men in the shelter incident.
A veteran that served in the mortar pits at Geary remembered that these deaths were not talked about. Matter of fact, he had good friends who were in the bunker and he didn't learn about their death until a couple of days after it happened. He had been away from the battery on litter bearer duty, carrying the wounded from other parts of the island to aid stations when the shelter collapsed. As he remembered it there was a deep red sunset that evening. After that he chose not to make anymore close friends.
What makes the question of Bunker's diary so important is that it is one of the most significant primary sources to the siege of Corregidor. Diaries are of central importance and the lack of these kinds of sources are what makes the fall of the Philippines so mysterious and books so narrow. I have no idea whether he had anything to do with the sinking of the SS Corregidor and I have no absolute evidence to prove he OK'd the mines be left on. There were a number of young officers who didn't see eye to eye with Bunker and this is reflected in the Belote brothers' interviews and their book, as well as other books. Its a classic example of the age old conflict of "old school" vs. "new school." If there are remaining pieces to this diary they need to be brought out. Furthermore, he also mentioned taking photographs during the siege and sending them home to his wife Landon. I would love to see more of Bunker's diary.
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Post by okla on Mar 10, 2014 0:27:38 GMT 8
Hey All...I wonder if those lost pages of Colonel Bunker's Diary contain more of the Colonel's low esteem for the US Navy/USMC and for Filipinos in general??? As I have remarked, previously, Paul Bunker may have been the bravest Soldier since Audie Murphy, but I will always believe that there will always be some serious questions regarding his views of others and decisions he made. The SS Corregidor affair will always cast a shadow on his Military career in my humble. Just sayin'.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2014 5:13:32 GMT 8
Wow, happysniper, welcome aboard and what a find! You didn't by chance recover the 1941 portion of Bunker's diary with that ID disk, did you? The long-lost section of his memoirs might shed some insight on his failure to disarm the minefields the night of December 16-17, as the SS Corregidor sailed through the North Channel towards La Monja and disaster. corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1168/loss-corregidor?page=1 Sorry, no paperwork. Found it atopside, not far from the ruins of the Post HQ building....in 1978 or 1979....
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2014 5:18:50 GMT 8
Further apologies, I have absolutely no idea what happened to the pom-pom gun atop Malinta Hill....
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