Corregidor Visit 15th to 19th Feb. 2023
Mar 8, 2023 15:17:35 GMT 8
victor, chadhill, and 2 more like this
Post by Karl Welteke on Mar 8, 2023 15:17:35 GMT 8
Wednesday, the 15th of Feb., the first day.
For the purpose of commemorating the 78th Anniversary of raising the 48 star flag on the 16th Feb. 1945 by the 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment troops on the day of their aerial assault.
We were a team of 4 people. One of us, John Moffitt went 2 days earlier by boat from Bataan and when we other three arrived he had a big surprise for us; he found a forgotten gun battery which we did not know. Kevin Strahm celebrated Valentine Day in lower Bataan and met us two remaining people at Villa Carmen to catch our boat to Corregidor there. The other two were Paul Whitman the webmaster of the huge Corregidor.org and forum web pages. He met up with me in Olongapo, the day before and we drove Wednesday morning, the 15th. Feb 2023 to Villa Carmen and caught our reserved boat.
The procedure of visiting Corregidor, if one stays over night or several nights is covered in another place.
We arrived in Corregidor about 10am, got received by the Corregidor Foundation Staff (CFI) and John Moffitt. They checked our temperature and our shot cards. The sea was a little choppy but not too bad, the wind was from the NE, from astern, on our way across the North Channel. We had a light lunch and made plans for our first day. The price of the boat, as advertised was 3000 peso each way. The caretaker asked me this time to pay 4000 in advance and 2000 peso on the return trip 4 days later.
We also talked to the CFI Management and made plans for tomorrow for the Flag Raising Anniversary. We will meet tomorrow at 8am and proceed to Topside on Corregidor, the former Fort Mills and have the ceremony. As usual, CFI will bring the 48 Star Flag which was donated a few years ago by the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia.
Our plan for today was to walk up to Malinta Hill and then to the Fort Mills Officer Beach and have a look at the new completed road to it. On the way to the trail to Malinta Hill we pointed all the points of interests. On top of Malinta Hill we looked at historic points and got some nice views to west and east of Malinta Hill.
On our march to the Officer Beach we had a look at the concrete defense trench south of the road and the location of Battery RJ43. At the Officer Beach I got reminded there were 4 tunnels used by the Japanese suicide boats.
We walked back to Bottomside via the main Malinta Tunnel and had a close look at the area in front, west, of the entrance to the main Navy Tunnel “Queen”. This area has been recently used to store earth and debris from them the road construction and then this material was then moved as fill in improving the roads, such as the road to James Ravine.
Then we strolled to Ramsey Ravine, along the south shore of Corregidor Bottomside. The restaurant building, next to the road to the west entrance to the Malinta Hill Tunnel has been razed and is rebuilt. CFI told us in the future it may be used as a restaurant. A long time ago it may have been a Philippine Navy structure because around the flag staff were imprinted Navy Ratings with their names. The Navy Guard team that has been on the island has moved to the existing building at the SW corner of Corregidor Bottomside. WE noticed the Philippine Marine Detachment is still quartered at the reception complex next the South Dock. Nothing else has changed on Bottomside. He had a short look at the WWI Defense Position V-M-I.
It was a struggle to reach the South Road at Ramsey Ravine but we managed to get on it and walk on it to Barrio Conception. We entered Barrio Conception and wanted to locate the Half Moon Shelter and a fairly massive bunker which we knew about. We found them and then used the recent cleared walkway ( by CFI) between Barrio Conception and the Fort Mills Stockade. We passed the Corregidor post WWII school and the Spanish Fort.
Kevin Strahm wanted to have a look at the Corregidor Inn; he had stayed there in 1990. It is closed now but the builder and manager, Sun Cruises, had to quit their service to and on Corregidor because of the virus from Red China; it killed the Sun Cruises business to and on Corregidor. Before the virus Sun Cruises executed a big renovation job for the Corregidor Inn but the lack of using it and the lack of maintenance is beginning to tell.
We got together with Mr. Jerry Rollin who is an honorary advisor to the operation of Corregidor, he happened to be on the island. He will join us tomorrow for the Flag Raising Ceremony. He also told us that the acceptance event for all the work that has been going on the island will be about in a week.
At 6pm we had our meal at the Mac Arthur Café and Lodge, it was good and a hearty thanks to Miss Jhing, she is always doing a great job and makes us feel welcome. Today it was Lumpia, chicken and veggies.
Then also preparation has to be made for the next day, like cleaning up from today, sharpen my bolo, fill the canteens, choose new clean clothing etc.
During the socializing evening John Moffitt told us about his great find, the gun battery near Cape Corregidor. We will visit it tomorrow after the Flag Ceremony.
=========================================================
Here are the pictures of the first day, Wednesday, the 15th of Feb. 2023. The numbers of the pictures are referred to all the numbered pictures posted in two complete albums. They will be linked later.
-Images #00 to #02 are Corregidor views in the west direction from Malinta Hill.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #02a is a portion of the Fort Mills 1936 drawing of its facilities on Corregidor. I drew in by hand the approximate track we walked on this day and also marked some landmarks.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #03 to #06 are views on top of Malinta Hill and my two friends are reconstructing the base of the Navy quadruple barreled anti aircraft gun which was in action here in the defense of Corregidor in 1942.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #7 is of a serious damaged gun shelter on Malinta Hill.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #08 to #15 are all from the Fort Mills Officer Beach area, they show the new concrete road going down to it, I learned of the 4th Japanese suicide boat tunnel (pictures # 11 to #13) and scenes of the Officer Beach.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #16 to #20 are shot in the area in front of the Navy Main Tunnel “Queen” (SW side of Malinta Hill). This area has been used in recent times as a storage area of road construction earth debris which was then used for fill in road construction.
-----------------------------------------------
-Image #21 is a new (2023 this year) building at the south side of Corregidor Bottomside. The old building that stood here and maybe was a Navy building at one time was razed. I was told; in the future it may serve as restaurant. The present Philippine Navy guard detachment that had stayed here moved to another building at the SW corner of Corregidor Bottomside.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #22 is the Corregidor Bottomside South Dock reception complex and is now occupied by the Philippine Marine Guard Detachment.
------------------------------------------------------
-Images # 23 to #30 are picture of our march to Ramsey Ravine along the beach, passed the WWI Defense position V-M-I and we are catching a view of Caballo Island which is used by the Philippine Navy now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #32 to 34 are of a strong bunker, I had heard of it ever since I started visiting Corregidor but only about 5 years ago found it. It is located south in a SW direction from the west structure of the Corregidor post WWII school building at the Stockade level.
------------------------------------------------------------
Image #36 is an existing tower, just west of the Corregidor Inn swimming pool. It was renovated in 2022/23 and may be used for an admin purpose in the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Images #37 to #45 are pictures of the Corregidor Inn. We did not meet the person who is assigned to keep an eye on the place that nothing will be stolen. So we took some pictures of the hotel and as you can see it needs already physical maintenance. The water in the pool is just standing water.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #46 is the former Corregidor Inn Recreation Center; it is located on the way from the Corregidor Inn to the MacArthur Café. Someone was apparently using a laptop in there.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested, here are two links to the complete albums:
Uploaded 46 images to my Photobucket account in low resolution, Corregidor Visits, 2023:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/bf0061d2-e6c6-4205-bf91-4640dec647a4
Uploaded 46 images to Flickr in high resolution as an album:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72177720306518826
For the purpose of commemorating the 78th Anniversary of raising the 48 star flag on the 16th Feb. 1945 by the 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment troops on the day of their aerial assault.
We were a team of 4 people. One of us, John Moffitt went 2 days earlier by boat from Bataan and when we other three arrived he had a big surprise for us; he found a forgotten gun battery which we did not know. Kevin Strahm celebrated Valentine Day in lower Bataan and met us two remaining people at Villa Carmen to catch our boat to Corregidor there. The other two were Paul Whitman the webmaster of the huge Corregidor.org and forum web pages. He met up with me in Olongapo, the day before and we drove Wednesday morning, the 15th. Feb 2023 to Villa Carmen and caught our reserved boat.
The procedure of visiting Corregidor, if one stays over night or several nights is covered in another place.
We arrived in Corregidor about 10am, got received by the Corregidor Foundation Staff (CFI) and John Moffitt. They checked our temperature and our shot cards. The sea was a little choppy but not too bad, the wind was from the NE, from astern, on our way across the North Channel. We had a light lunch and made plans for our first day. The price of the boat, as advertised was 3000 peso each way. The caretaker asked me this time to pay 4000 in advance and 2000 peso on the return trip 4 days later.
We also talked to the CFI Management and made plans for tomorrow for the Flag Raising Anniversary. We will meet tomorrow at 8am and proceed to Topside on Corregidor, the former Fort Mills and have the ceremony. As usual, CFI will bring the 48 Star Flag which was donated a few years ago by the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia.
Our plan for today was to walk up to Malinta Hill and then to the Fort Mills Officer Beach and have a look at the new completed road to it. On the way to the trail to Malinta Hill we pointed all the points of interests. On top of Malinta Hill we looked at historic points and got some nice views to west and east of Malinta Hill.
On our march to the Officer Beach we had a look at the concrete defense trench south of the road and the location of Battery RJ43. At the Officer Beach I got reminded there were 4 tunnels used by the Japanese suicide boats.
We walked back to Bottomside via the main Malinta Tunnel and had a close look at the area in front, west, of the entrance to the main Navy Tunnel “Queen”. This area has been recently used to store earth and debris from them the road construction and then this material was then moved as fill in improving the roads, such as the road to James Ravine.
Then we strolled to Ramsey Ravine, along the south shore of Corregidor Bottomside. The restaurant building, next to the road to the west entrance to the Malinta Hill Tunnel has been razed and is rebuilt. CFI told us in the future it may be used as a restaurant. A long time ago it may have been a Philippine Navy structure because around the flag staff were imprinted Navy Ratings with their names. The Navy Guard team that has been on the island has moved to the existing building at the SW corner of Corregidor Bottomside. WE noticed the Philippine Marine Detachment is still quartered at the reception complex next the South Dock. Nothing else has changed on Bottomside. He had a short look at the WWI Defense Position V-M-I.
It was a struggle to reach the South Road at Ramsey Ravine but we managed to get on it and walk on it to Barrio Conception. We entered Barrio Conception and wanted to locate the Half Moon Shelter and a fairly massive bunker which we knew about. We found them and then used the recent cleared walkway ( by CFI) between Barrio Conception and the Fort Mills Stockade. We passed the Corregidor post WWII school and the Spanish Fort.
Kevin Strahm wanted to have a look at the Corregidor Inn; he had stayed there in 1990. It is closed now but the builder and manager, Sun Cruises, had to quit their service to and on Corregidor because of the virus from Red China; it killed the Sun Cruises business to and on Corregidor. Before the virus Sun Cruises executed a big renovation job for the Corregidor Inn but the lack of using it and the lack of maintenance is beginning to tell.
We got together with Mr. Jerry Rollin who is an honorary advisor to the operation of Corregidor, he happened to be on the island. He will join us tomorrow for the Flag Raising Ceremony. He also told us that the acceptance event for all the work that has been going on the island will be about in a week.
At 6pm we had our meal at the Mac Arthur Café and Lodge, it was good and a hearty thanks to Miss Jhing, she is always doing a great job and makes us feel welcome. Today it was Lumpia, chicken and veggies.
Then also preparation has to be made for the next day, like cleaning up from today, sharpen my bolo, fill the canteens, choose new clean clothing etc.
During the socializing evening John Moffitt told us about his great find, the gun battery near Cape Corregidor. We will visit it tomorrow after the Flag Ceremony.
=========================================================
Here are the pictures of the first day, Wednesday, the 15th of Feb. 2023. The numbers of the pictures are referred to all the numbered pictures posted in two complete albums. They will be linked later.
-Images #00 to #02 are Corregidor views in the west direction from Malinta Hill.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #02a is a portion of the Fort Mills 1936 drawing of its facilities on Corregidor. I drew in by hand the approximate track we walked on this day and also marked some landmarks.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #03 to #06 are views on top of Malinta Hill and my two friends are reconstructing the base of the Navy quadruple barreled anti aircraft gun which was in action here in the defense of Corregidor in 1942.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #7 is of a serious damaged gun shelter on Malinta Hill.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #08 to #15 are all from the Fort Mills Officer Beach area, they show the new concrete road going down to it, I learned of the 4th Japanese suicide boat tunnel (pictures # 11 to #13) and scenes of the Officer Beach.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #16 to #20 are shot in the area in front of the Navy Main Tunnel “Queen” (SW side of Malinta Hill). This area has been used in recent times as a storage area of road construction earth debris which was then used for fill in road construction.
-----------------------------------------------
-Image #21 is a new (2023 this year) building at the south side of Corregidor Bottomside. The old building that stood here and maybe was a Navy building at one time was razed. I was told; in the future it may serve as restaurant. The present Philippine Navy guard detachment that had stayed here moved to another building at the SW corner of Corregidor Bottomside.
---------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #22 is the Corregidor Bottomside South Dock reception complex and is now occupied by the Philippine Marine Guard Detachment.
------------------------------------------------------
-Images # 23 to #30 are picture of our march to Ramsey Ravine along the beach, passed the WWI Defense position V-M-I and we are catching a view of Caballo Island which is used by the Philippine Navy now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-Images #32 to 34 are of a strong bunker, I had heard of it ever since I started visiting Corregidor but only about 5 years ago found it. It is located south in a SW direction from the west structure of the Corregidor post WWII school building at the Stockade level.
------------------------------------------------------------
Image #36 is an existing tower, just west of the Corregidor Inn swimming pool. It was renovated in 2022/23 and may be used for an admin purpose in the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Images #37 to #45 are pictures of the Corregidor Inn. We did not meet the person who is assigned to keep an eye on the place that nothing will be stolen. So we took some pictures of the hotel and as you can see it needs already physical maintenance. The water in the pool is just standing water.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-Image #46 is the former Corregidor Inn Recreation Center; it is located on the way from the Corregidor Inn to the MacArthur Café. Someone was apparently using a laptop in there.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested, here are two links to the complete albums:
Uploaded 46 images to my Photobucket account in low resolution, Corregidor Visits, 2023:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/bf0061d2-e6c6-4205-bf91-4640dec647a4
Uploaded 46 images to Flickr in high resolution as an album:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72177720306518826