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Post by Bob Hudson on Jan 17, 2014 1:37:24 GMT 8
On Sunday, January 26, 2014, four Proboarders will gather together in Mariveles and board a boat / banca (powered catamaran) to travel along the (Points), Agloloma Bay and Quinawan Point. All areas where the Japanese made a desperate attempt to create a second front just west of Mariveles. A huge battle ensued and the Japanese were repelled with heavy losses.
Sherwino (Sherwin), Karl Welteke, Rik the librarian and I will do some exploration with a couple landings, most likely at Agloloma and Quinawan. We will scout and do some metal detecting work, perhaps hike a bit, look for artifacts, consume some San Miguel, and take a lot of photos. I am sure that sometime afterward, Karl will post some highlights of the trip. Stay tuned!
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Post by okla on Jan 17, 2014 2:15:27 GMT 8
Hey Bob....Methinks, the consumption of the San Miguel should be a bit higher in priority in the listing of the planned activities. lol. Just sayin'. It does sound like a great outing is in store. I just wish I could take part in some of these junkets. As I have often stated, in the past, I do envy you guys who live on site and can spend time exploring this fascinating area. Cheers.
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Post by Bob Hudson on Jan 17, 2014 13:33:34 GMT 8
Okla, I may be the only beer drinker on this expedition, hence the low priority on the San Miguel. I don't believe Karl will cover that aspect of this trip.
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Post by chadhill on Jan 23, 2014 14:14:24 GMT 8
If I could tag along with you guys I'd be pouring those San Magoos down, too! Best wishes and y'all have a great trip. * * * * * Hey, for what it's worth, I've been scratching my noggin and thinking about the mop-up operation that took place at Quinauan on February 8, 1942. LCDR Henry Goodall took two motor launches (the "Mickey Mouse Battleships") from the USS Canopus armed with 37mm's and MG's and provided support for two whaleboats carrying about 20 airmen from the 21st Pursuit Squadron. According to John Lukacs this was the first US amphibious landing of WW2, and it wasn't done by the Marines! One whaleboat landed on the south side of Quinauan with a squad of airmen led by CAPT Ed Dyess. The other whaleboat landed a squad on the north side, led by LT Jack Donalson. Their mission was to flush out the remaining Japanese hiding in caves along the shoreline. The squads planned on joining up together (Bartsch, "Doomed at the Start", p. 299-302). Off shore, Goodall fired at caves marked by white sheets hanging over the cliffs. In 1948 he wrote that "On the left was a large and deep cave on which I opened fire with the 37mm gun and on the second shot at about 300 yards or less, the whole cave collapsed" (Whitman, "Bataan: Our Last Ditch", p. 291). Italics are mine. Assuming Goodall's launch was off the west coast of Quinauan and the cave was to his left, this could place that cave somewhere in the vicinity of the red line I have drawn above. I had hoped to find the cave during my very brief, time constrained 1986 trip to Quinauan but was unable to do so. corregidor.proboards.com/thread/793/quinauan-point-1986This 1986 photo shows the approximate positions where I found what may have been the remains of the "40 foot trenches", near the edge of the cliffs, that are recorded in some accounts (i.e; Whitman, p. 288). They were fairly washed out. Some accounts say that after the battle a Japanese command post was found in a ravine, bodies intact (i.e; Whitman p. 292). I climbed down a sharp ravine shown at the left of the photo. It is in the final area the Japanese held. At that time I did not know about the command post, and was trying to keep from falling! But I have wondered ever since if this could be the site of that post. Probably little would remain of it today. I've also indicated where I found the Japanese statue in '86, memory cooperating. I have wondered if that statue was purposely placed near the site of the large cave that Goodall's 37mm took out, with presumably a high number of Japanese KIA's.
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Post by victor on Jan 23, 2014 21:46:14 GMT 8
I'm so jealous... Bob, will Sherwin bring along the metal detector I left you guys? Or are you just cruising along on the boat?
Looking forward to living vicariously through your photos. Cheers.
Chadhill, I can't remember from previous threads if the Japanese statue you found in 1986 is still there. Is it?
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Post by okla on Jan 23, 2014 23:32:32 GMT 8
Hey Chad....Thanks for posting. It's been awhile since you have shared some of your usual "good stuff". A couple of comments, if I may. I betcha those "Fly Boys", when they left the ZI, never envisioned that they would be "hitting the beach", to flush out Japanese defenders, ala "Dog Faces" or "Grunts". Also, that stretch of beach between the Japanese CP and Statue appears to be, almost, "man made", and lastly, am I correct in assuming that the landscape, at that time, was mostly thick jungle type vegetation? Thanks for the new "poop from Group". Always glad to get new stuff to chew on.
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Post by chadhill on Jan 24, 2014 1:27:22 GMT 8
Victor, I seem to remember somebody (Karl maybe?) posting that a local man said the statue is now gone. If so, maybe the base it was mounted on is still there. Okla, yes, jungle covered Quinauan before the battle but much of it was destroyed during the fighting. It grew back after the war, as seen in this 1961 photo by the late Colonel John Olson. What happened to the jungle between 1961 and 1986 I do not know. Okla, that stretch of beach does seem to look rather straight in the 1986 photo, but here are some more views of it from the same year which would seem to cast doubt it was man-made: Looking north from the statue area: Looking south towards the statue area: You're right, I'm sure these aviators had never imagined they would wind up as "Dog Faces". 1LT Raymond Sloan, the 17th Pursuit Squadron CO, was shot in the stomach February 11th during fighting just inland of Silaiim Point and died in surgery that night. According to Bartsch his last words were, "A ten-thousand-dollar pilot shot to hell in the infantry".
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Post by okla on Jan 24, 2014 1:38:36 GMT 8
Hey Chad....The dying Pilot's last words summed up what I was trying to say, perfectly. I say, again, "they don't make 'em like that anymore, although I am sure they do. Yeah, the "man made" beach thing is, obviously, an optical illusion. As you know, as do I, those illusion "grimlins" continually pop up when viewing aerial photos,etc. Hope you and your "Commander" have been doing well since our last conflab. Cheers.
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Post by chadhill on Jan 24, 2014 1:58:43 GMT 8
Still image lifted from my 1986 VHS tape showing what may have been a Japanese position dug near the cliff edges at Quinauan.
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Post by okla on Jan 24, 2014 4:29:19 GMT 8
Hey Chad....It works for me. Let us say that is what it is until we know differently. lol. Seriously, this image does reveal what appears to have been some pretty serious excavating/digging activity. Man o man, I love this kind of thing. Cheers.
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