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Post by victor on Aug 16, 2008 20:12:43 GMT 8
Been playing around with adobe photoshop. Came up with this little tribute to the PS. click for bigger
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Post by okla on Aug 16, 2008 21:57:34 GMT 8
hi vic....your latest contribution is, as usual, excellent. the philippine scouts were possibly the finest soldiers ever. they were, at least, among the elite troops of world war II. i posted on this forum sometime in the past, cant remember just when, that i served with an ex-scout in the USAF. i dont know which regiment he was with, but he was on bataan so it almost had to be either the 45 or58 infantry regiment or the 26 cavalry. he was captured when bataan surrendered but escaped from the death march somewhere enroute to san fernando. fought as a guerilla until 1945, transferred to the army air corps and subsequently ended up in the USAF in 1948 when the air corps became a separate branch of the us military. he was a warrant officer when i knew him. i do so wish i had quizzed him a bit more, but being an enlisted man i didnt feel it proper to just go up to "mister lono"(i am sure you know that warrant officers were addressed as "mister") and start grilling him. he was a great guy and i am sure he would not have been offended by my questions, but i was uncomfortable being only a sergeant and he was an officer. i hoped that sometime i might be pulling a shift as CQ and mister lono was pulling similar duty as OD and we could have passed the long midnight hours talking. that way i could really have picked his brain. shortly before i was discharged in early 1955, mister lono was shipped to japan. i wonder what thoughts he might have had at knowing that he would be in a position of authority over the people that had so abused him, his people and country. nice talking to you again.
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Post by EXO on Aug 17, 2008 22:21:25 GMT 8
Vic,
Keep playing with Photoshop, that is a good tribute, well done.
As for the poetry, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. It hits the spot!
Thanks for the posting.
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Post by victor on Aug 18, 2008 22:42:14 GMT 8
Thank you. Will post more later.
Yes that poem by Lt. Henry Lee does hit a spot. Too bad he perished in the Oryoku Maru but his poems were found and published in the book "Bataan Uncensored"
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Post by victor on Aug 20, 2008 5:22:29 GMT 8
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Post by okla on Aug 20, 2008 7:32:15 GMT 8
vic....that display is absolutely fabulous. worthy to actually be in a "real" museum. you are to be congratulated. you obviously have put a great deal of effort into accumulating your collectibles. being a bataan-corregidor "geek" does this to a person. i would be the same way if i had been able to have access to such items as you possess. i have a world war 1 helmet, but it is actually from the first war. i also have an army .45 pistol, gun belt, canteen from world war 11, but dont know the history behind any of my items. i have a framed operational map of the 2nd line of resistance on bataan hanging in my den, several books and that's about the extent of my small accumulation. i will tell you vic, you are a guy after my own heart. as long as folks like you are out there, bataan and corregidor wont be forgotten. keep it up. postscript...did you ever find out if the guy in the scouts was a relative????would be great if he was some relation. something to really be proud of.
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Post by okla on Aug 20, 2008 7:39:25 GMT 8
vic.... when blowing up the pic of the newspaper announcing the surrender of bataan, i see the famous photo of the "one man army of bataan, captain arthur weymuth (not sure of the spelling of the last name) and his filipino aide. i am sure you are aware of the fact that captain weymuth survived the war and prison camps and was elected sheriff of one of the counties adjacent to denver, colorado and served in this capacity for many years. just thought i would throw this little tidbit it.
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Post by victor on Aug 20, 2008 10:33:18 GMT 8
Thanks okla, I thought these knick knacks would be appreciated by members of this forum. What I actually have arranged for display in the pictures are not even half of what I have. I just don't have the table space to set them up (and time!). I will post updated pictures though when I somehow get to arrange more for display. If you have the time, maybe you can arrange your collectibles into a display too. Then show us pictures I never did find out if that guy who was KIA in Bataan was a relative. I don't know how else to pursue the research. As for the One Man Army... here are some pictures: www.homeofheroes.com/footnotes/2007/01January2-wermuth.html
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Post by okla on Aug 20, 2008 23:27:34 GMT 8
vic....thanks for the additional info on the "one man army". would it be safe to say that they dont make "em like that anymore? ?i certainly envy you in the fact that you have actually been to bataan (corregidor? ). i believe if i had ever physically been there i would have been limp from all the ghosts that would be around you. i am sure that i posted on this forum at one time or another that i attemped to extend my hitch in the far east by transferring to clark field instead of returning to the states. sadly, there was no opening at clark for my job specialty and i rotated back to texas for the remainder of my enlistment. one of my best friends from high school was stationed at subic bay for three years and he never ventured down into bataan nor did he take a tour to corregidor. he was just never that interested in the historical aspects of where he was assigned for 36 months. i have often asked my self why he was in the philippines and i was in korea. there "aint no justice". if only i had gotten that clark field assignment all would have worked out for me. to old now to ever make the trip. i am physically able, i suppose, but just dont have the initiative for so long a trek (wont get into the money angle). keep up the good work.
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Post by okla on Aug 21, 2008 22:24:08 GMT 8
vic....let me bother you with one more little item before i exhaust you. i notice in your very fine pics of your display the springfield .03. probably the finest shoulder weapon ever made as far as accuracy and durability goes, but did you know that the garand m-1, shortly before the war, was issued to the scouts and, i think, the 31st infantry regiment of the philippine division. i have this info somewhere in my books on the 1942 philippine campaign. of course, the rest of the american-filipino forces depended on the .03 and enfield, but the elite scout regiments (not sure about the 26th cavalry) and i think the "all american" 31st infantry had the garand prior to hostilities. i was really surprised to learn this little tidbit. i always assumed the garand came into use much later in the pacific war. i do know the USMC landed on guadalcanal with springfields to begin that campaign. dont know when the marines finally received garands. i will keep searching my junk for the exact story.
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