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Post by pdh54 on Jul 21, 2014 11:57:31 GMT 8
Hi beirutvet,
I found those pictures by googling images for Topside Barracks. I looked for about 2 hours before deciding on those.
Could that pole be for holding the flags of the companies or battalions or what ever they are called that lived in the barracks?
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Post by pdh54 on Jul 21, 2014 12:45:59 GMT 8
Here is another angle on those structures. It is from a different film. The pole looks like it is attached to the top of the building on this picture. Maybe it was used for flags and signals and such to Bataan maybe? or radios? Here it is from another angle
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Post by chadhill on Jul 22, 2014 12:11:36 GMT 8
Nice finds, Patty! The top photo makes it look like these structures were on top of the barracks. I had wondered if they were mounted on long legs next to the barracks. The bottom pic shows a son of Nippon carrying a Japanese flag (see video also) which I bet he wants to mount on the pole. Your SWAG that the pole may have been for flags or banners of US units living in the barracks strikes me as right on.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jul 22, 2014 19:59:22 GMT 8
Do I understand this right; the captures came from Japanese videos. These structures are not on any prewar or 1945 recapture pictures. Did the Japanese built them? Can anyone put the direct URL of the video in this thread?
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Post by pdh54 on Jul 22, 2014 20:32:30 GMT 8
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Post by okla on Jul 22, 2014 20:32:34 GMT 8
Hey All....I will add my insignificant drivel to the discussion. Methinks, since these structures, as Karl says, do not appear in prewar or liberation photos,etc that these things were built and utilized as some type of Japanese signal station. The Mast (for lack of a better word) served for raising and lowering signal flags, ala shipboard signal activity. Why two were needed, who knows, when one would seem to suffice if this was, indeed, their purpose. I suppose that the Airborne guys or the pre-invasion bombardment preparation blew both into the North Channel when the "drop" was made on the Rock. Just SWAGs on my part. Cheers.
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Post by westernaus on Jul 22, 2014 21:13:57 GMT 8
A bit off the topic , but HAPPY BIRTHDAY OKLA on the 24th .
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Post by pdh54 on Jul 23, 2014 3:46:13 GMT 8
Dare I add something about the pole? Here is a picture I found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNB_Portsmouth of a pole that looks basically like the ones seen in the barracks pictures. This photo was taken in 2013 Could we assume these poles were used to communicate across the area? During the months preceding the surrender, Corregidor was being blasted A LOT! To me it makes sense to have a back up means of communicating when wires and lines have been destroyed/interrupted by bombs. The glitch I see is that while Topside doesn't seem to have a pole pre-war, the photo of Middleside does show one pre-war. So it was being used for something pre-war. Maybe the groups who resided at Middleside wanted one pre-war to show which groups were in residence, and Topsides groups didn't. Then as the need arose, the pole was emplaced and used for communicating. Oh well, that is the fun with this site, coming up with explanations, sharing them, and maybe getting shot down, but always learning something new. Haha! Patty
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Post by beirutvet on Jul 24, 2014 0:11:51 GMT 8
Hi Patty
I like your find, but as for no flag pre-war, take a close look at the photo you posted of the entire length of MLB. Is that a smudge on the picture or is that a flag I see at the location of where that pole would be? While it may be too far to see the pole itself, there does seem to be something about where a flag would be if that pole were there. Can you see what I am referring to?
Also some of your pics make it appear as though the whole structure in question is rising from the INSIDE of the ruins of MLB. Too difficult to confirm from these photos.
If they are coming from the inside of the ruins, I am more inclined to think they are Japanese built(still a swag, though) as I could not see Americans raising those structures in the middle of being the most bombed site (per square mile) on earth, but still not sure.
As for the pole, its bent portion at the top could be from battle damage so still possible it is pre-war as it is not attached to the unknown structure in question.
Is anyone else having fun with this, or is it just the ramblings of a nit-picker?
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Post by pdh54 on Jul 24, 2014 1:21:38 GMT 8
Hi beirutvet, Great Eyes! Yes that does look like maybe a flag of sorts flying behind(?) the building. I have a touch screen on my laptop(thank you hubby) and when I expand the photo it shows up fairly well. I also took a snap of it with my phone- an older one- and it shows but not clearly, very blurry. I tried again, but it was worse. My son has a better camera on his work phone. Maybe I can get him to help me. My phone's camera is pitiful. I'll try later tonight. Maybe it's really a UFO, LOL.
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