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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 7:14:51 GMT 8
Explored the top of Malinta Hill first in the late 70s and the last time we were up there was in the mid 1980s, and Dad took pics of everything we found up there, from the human bones we found on the climb up the top, to the unexploded phosphorus rounds we found at the top. Our last visit was with a couple of Boy Scouts from George Dewey High School at Subic when it was still a US Navy base.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 7:20:18 GMT 8
Fots2: yes, I agree Malinta Tunnel is indeed a very interesting structure.
Did you know that in the 1980s, the tours on the island were conducted by Sarkies Tours under the "guidance" of the Dept of Tourism, and tourist access to the island was mainly by hovercraft from Manila (where the Sun Cruises docks)....at the time, despite all of Dad's urgings to Pete Tuazon of the Dept of Tourism, the tour guides on the island would tell people the ventillation sublaterals were McArthur's secret passageways that allowed him to visit the nurses in the Hospital section? No joke, those a-holes would tell busloads of tourists this story, which is both untrue and demeaning to the memory of McArthur.
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Post by fots2 on Mar 9, 2014 9:32:15 GMT 8
My first trip to Corregidor was in 1996 so I missed the hovercraft. I forget the old clunker I was on at that time except that it was a slow trip from Manila.
If you want to have some fun when you return someday, take the day tour and count the number of historical errors are told to the visitors every day. Most people wouldn't notice the errors or even care though. Here is one of my favorites; the nurses were called "Angels of Bataan" because they all died during the war! That particular guide is not there anymore but you will still get a chuckle or two.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 10:55:07 GMT 8
Man-oh-man, the BS that I have heard from the guides over the years, it is enough to make you lose your lunch!
When Professor Rico Jose (University of the Phils) first started exploring Corregidor, he chose to go with my Dad, and they became very close friends, even though (at the time) Rico's focus was mostly on Manila and Dad's focus was Corregidor. I recall one day we were on the island, at the Corregidor Inn (back when it was a 4-bedroom Inn with a dorm that had double-deck beds, using a kerosene-operated fridge!), Dad and Professor Jose were enumerating the mistakes and outright lies being told by the tour guides, over a few beers, and one that especially impressed me was that the reason Corregidor (and by extension the other island forts) surrendered was because the guns were useless to fire into Bataan or Cavite. And these were tour guides, for crying out loud!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 11:08:05 GMT 8
Hmm...your first trip was on an "old clunker"?....let me see...
First commercial trips to the island were on a Czech-made hydrofoil. Can't recall who operated it, but it berthed in the pier area north near Luneta. These were regularly scheduled trips (as opposed to charter-only), until the hydrofoil hit a whale in Manila Bay, severely damaging the vessel. This was, I believe, from the 50's to the 60's.
Next came the M/V Mariveles del Sol, a catamaran that featured a circular restaurant and a dance floor on the after deck. This started I think around the late 70's and ran regular trips to Corregidor (took like 2 hours to get there) until I believe the late 1990s. The Mariveles del Sol has been sold for scrap, but I recall seeing a photo of her last year, aground at some shipyard in the Phils.
In the early 80's the Bataan-Manila Hoverferry Service ran regular trips to Corregidor using three British-made hovercraft, with regular scheduled trips between Manila (from where Sun Cruises docks) to Corregidor and Mariveles. At one time, one of the hovercraft was dedicated to the Mariveles-Corregidor run. They eventually fell into disrepair, one of them catching fire and sinking in Mariveles. The runs of the Hoverferry overlapped with the runs of the Mariveles del Sol. I do not know what happened to the Hoverferry Service.
Then along comes Magsaysay Lines, and Doris Ho (who became a friend of my Dad because of her interest in Corregidor), with the Sun Cruises. It is my understanding that it was Magsaysay Lines that got the Corregidor Inn built into the monster that it is now, as compared to the somewhat rustic Inn that I remember from my youth.
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Post by JohnEakin on Mar 9, 2014 11:37:08 GMT 8
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Post by batteryboy on Mar 9, 2014 17:31:03 GMT 8
Hey Richard,
Glad to have you here. I am Tony Feredo, we met several years ago and I know your Dad very well. I used to visit you guys in your house at Fairview.
Cheers, Tony aka Batteryboy
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 23:19:43 GMT 8
John: sadly, although my Dad had a lotta contact with ex-POWs, I had very little direct contact, preferring the exploring over the interviewing. I will need to sift thru a ton of material to find any of my Dad's interview notes to find anything, and none of it will be recent (i.e., nothing newer than say late 1990s).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 23:20:06 GMT 8
Tony: HELLO-HELLO!!!!!
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Post by westernaus on Mar 10, 2014 12:51:03 GMT 8
Howdy Happy sniper and another welcome to the site . In regards to the Hover craft that you and fots were speaking about I may have the answer. On my first trip to the Philippines from Western Australia in the early 80's , I was seated alongside a fellow who said he was removing some hovercraft from the Philippines to Broome in Western Australia .( By his accent this fellow was British ). Broome is a North West coastal town that was known for its Pearling activities . but at the start of WW2 . it became a stop over point for evacuation of refugees escaping the advancement of the Japs in Dutch East Indies and Malaysia . Dutch Dornier Flying Boats and Australian Catalina Flying Boats , Were attacked ( bombed and strafed by the Japs while refuelling at anchor . Broome had a airstrip which had American , Australian and Dutch aircraft in a position of refuelling and doing maintenance . the Japs also did them over . A lot of people lost their lives and some were never identified . Some of the people lost their lives to sharks trying to escape the burning air craft at anchor . The remains of some of these air craft are still visible at low tides and the intention of this fellow was to run tourist runs in his Hovercraft to the site .
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