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Post by The Phantom on Jan 29, 2010 11:08:04 GMT 8
Going on site of "Col. Bunker's War" next month to investigate and follow his described locations, roads, trails, exploits, etc.
Investigate his world in modern times, as few can.
A history book on the ground in front of you as you walk, turning pages as you go.......
Realizing the opportunity I am lucky enough to enjoy.
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Post by okla on Jan 30, 2010 1:00:35 GMT 8
Hey Phantom....You are, indeed, fortunate to be able to do this. I wish I could be in your shoes. Be sure and keep us "unfortunates" up to speed. Man, that trip sounds like a "hoot".
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Post by The Phantom on Jan 31, 2010 13:03:20 GMT 8
Hope to be there with fots at the same time, Exo and a Veteran? Carlos and Steve F. also? Lots of San Miguel's in trouble there at Mac Arthur's......
We will keep everyone informed as possible, which means fots reports as he is so inclusive and through, written word and photo story.
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 26, 2010 5:43:04 GMT 8
Bunkers Tunnel report coming soon.........
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 28, 2010 20:29:36 GMT 8
On this trip to Corregidor in 2010 Fots and I decided to solve the riddle of where did Col. Bunker build his C1 Tunnel since we, really I, had never seen it on all my trips to Corregidor and the fact that it is such a prominent part of his Book, "BUNKERS WAR", we wanted a definitive location.
Was it buried like so many other tunnels were after the war by bulldozers? Buried by satchel charges during the war?
We actually spent 2 days looking, putting all the clues from the book to use in our quest.
Some of the clues used:
(Fots, jump in any time with your memories, as my brain fails me at times when heated to that degree in the jungle).
1/ The Tunnel had a concrete floor.
2/ The tunnel came out below Col. Bunkers Azatea on the north west side of CI Bunker.
3/ There was a stream in a dry bed where the Tunnel came out below Col. Bunkers Azatea.
This stream had to be closed off from the tunnel entrance by the Engineers with a concrete revetment to keep water out when the rains started again months in the future, ( hopeful planning by Bunker at the time).
4/ The tunnel was LARGE, long and with many laterals. Several bodegas and office space for C1 and G1 personnel. Bunker talks of moving his big desk into his lateral and a good big chair later.
5/ The Marines liked the Tunnel and tried to take over part of it for their own use, they were on beach defense in the area, so was it near the shore? (They were of course chased away by the Navy loving Bunker).
6/ Bunker could drive to the Tunnel entrance on both ends so that puts the Tunnel near roads at both ends.
7/ Bunker talks about walking "UP" to C1 Bunker from C1 Tunnel to meet with other officers.
( We reserve the right to Flesh this entry out with quotes from the book but it would impede the story at this time).
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 28, 2010 21:00:09 GMT 8
When Fots and I went to the area of C1 Bunker the trail into the area had been cleared to a great degree of vines and small trees from Battery Wheeler's road.
We proceeded to C1 Bunker.
We decided to split up and look for C1 Tunnel.
For me, I have noticed that lots of tunnel and cave entrances can be concealed by bamboo stands, palm like plants, flowering plants,(C1 Bunker) ornamental plants planted on the roofs of bunkers etc. all those years ago. Some of these obstructions were definitely planted by prewar personnel, and have gone wild over the years. Others may have taken advantage of the extra water that collects in caves and tunnels and sent their roots down to take advantage of said water. Or were they planted after to war to block entrances, or mark them?
On top of Bunkers C1 Bunker is an unbelievably beautiful flowering plant that covers most of the area. Beauty run amok.
So I went south from C1 Bunker, and Fots went east. I immediately ran into vines that grab, and steep hillsides. I spied a bamboo thicket and made for it, spending over an hour trying to get close enough to look for the tunnel. So I'm stooping, cutting, tripping my way along. Call out to Fots, and he can't hear me any more.
I give up on this thicket and continue south and end up on a road/trail going along the cliff face and gradually down.
For hours we scan this area with no results, I'm dying from the heat and tough climbing and decide it's best to quit for today. But I have come down a long way and am hoping the road/trail (Crockett Trail) will take me out without having to climb back up. Of course not, I make contact with Fots who is above me and I have to climb up a steep ravine full of large rocks as my only possible way out. I get to the road above and am basically one whipped puppy. 3 Gatorades down already.
After a brief rest Fots takes me to a tunnel entrance I have never seen before. It opens from Crockett Trail that winds along the hillside. We go inside and I declare we are in Bunkers C1 Tunnel! Not so fast says Fots.........
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 28, 2010 21:03:53 GMT 8
To be continued..........
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 28, 2010 22:33:38 GMT 8
I'm sure others already knew where Bunker's C1 Tunnel was, it's huge and hard to miss once located.
I know in past years I had not ventured into the area where it is located. At any rate, the story continues........
Fots and I explored the Tunnel. It's high, wide, with several offshoot tunnels of various sizes and lengths. The floor of the Tunnel is about 2 ft deep in dirt and debris. The ceiling, and walls, and the roof are rough cut, or blown out, rock. The work of the Engineers Bunker is always talking about.
Lots and lots of broken Saki bottles in most laterals, giving testimony to the fact that this tunnel was a staging place for drunken Bonsai charges in 1945 towards Wheeler and other areas of the island.
It was getting late in the day, I was to pooped to pant, don't remember the time. Fots and I decided to return the next day to try to tie clues together from the book, and to determine in our minds, if this was indeed Bunkers C1 Tunnel.
The next day we returned to the tunnel and investigated the inside again. I made note of the fact that the tunnel was to big and extensive for anyone else but a Col. Bunker to get the Engineers and all other workers involved in it's construction.
At the Northwestern end of the tunnel complex that opened to the outside there was a large concrete wall in the entrance. Fots and we talked about any signs left that could prove the ownership of the tunnel. The walls and ceiling were rough concrete and there was no sigh of electrical pipes or outlets. I did find part of an old outlet in the dirt.
The tunnel has been dug up, pushed around, piled up for years. A school kid found one of Bunkers personal items in it years ago. Don't know what it was. At any rate i had determined that we should check out a few things I said would help prove its authenticity.
i dais all tthe wall and ceiling were probaly made of metal or some other type of material that was usable after the war, and th
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Post by The Phantom on Mar 28, 2010 23:33:10 GMT 8
I'm sure others already knew where Bunker's C1 Tunnel was, it's huge and hard to miss once located.
I know in past years I had not ventured into the area where it is located. Have never followed Crockett Trail or ventured into the rough terrain. If you are not in front of either C1 Tunnel Entrance they are very hard to see. At any rate, the story continues........
Fots and I explored the inside of the Tunnel. It's high, wide, with several lateral tunnels of various sizes and lengths. The floor of the Tunnel is about 2 ft deep in dirt and debris. The ceiling, and walls,are rough cut, or blown out, rock. The work of the Engineers Bunker is always talking about.
Lots and lots of broken Saki bottles in most laterals, giving testimony to the fact that this tunnel was a staging place for drunken Bonsai charges in 1945 towards Wheeler and other areas of the island.
It was getting late in the day, I was to pooped to pant, don't remember the time. Fots and I decided to return the next day to try to tie clues together from the book, and to determine in our minds, if this was indeed Bunkers C1 Tunnel.
The next day we returned to the tunnel and investigated the inside again. I made note of the fact that the tunnel was to big and extensive for anyone else but a Col. Bunker to get the Engineers and all other workers involved in it's construction.
At the Northwestern end of the tunnel complex that opened to the outside there was a large concrete wall in the entrance. Fots and I talked about any signs left that could prove the ownership of the tunnel. The walls and ceiling were rough concrete and there was no sign of electrical pipes or outlets. (I did find part of an old outlet in the dirt).
The tunnel has been dug up, pushed around, and piled up for years. A school kid found one of Bunkers personal items in it years ago. Don't know what it was. At any rate we had determined that we should check out a few things I said would help prove its authenticity.
I said all the walls and ceiling were probably made of metal or some other type of material that was usable after the war, and the electrical was probably attached to that. Bunker mentioned in his book they couldn't get the wood to do the walls etc. and he pulled some material out of a bombed building to use instead.
So without that as proof anywhere, I started to dig with my boot in the bottom of one of the holes dug in the main corridor. and low and behold there was the CONCRETE floor that Bunker described, "being laid with water pipes and drainage for the shower and toilet at the Northwestern end".
That's one sign, so out of the tunnel by Crockett Trail entrance and up and over the Hill to C1 Bunker. Once there, now knowing the general direction of the Northwestern exit/entrance, we headed down a partially visible trail immediately outside C1 Bunker. With all the bombing and time elapsed we could hardly say we were on an old trail for sure, but it lead in the general direction we wanted to go.
And low and behold, we came to the exit/entrance to Bunkers C1 Tunnel coming out South of Wheeler, northwest of C1 Bunker.
A few clues remained to be found. And they were right in front of us. There, by the tunnel entrance was the dry stream bed that Bunker spoke of, and in front of the entrance to C1 Tunnel was the concrete wall built by the Engineers to keep the water out in the distant rainy season.
And above the entrance to the tunnel was Col. Bunkers Azatea that he would retire to so often to rest, read, and share a drink with other officers. The Azatea is a blown up mess now, floor buried in debris, not a very large building, or should i say personal retreat for Bunker.
But it can be seen to have had concrete walls inside and a concrete ceiling and cap above the entrance, where they would sit out in the air in bygone times for those drinks and cool fragrant mornings between bombings, as described by Bunker. The Azatea is located in a position where it would be near impossible to hit from either Cavite or Bataan, facing directly to the western sea.
Perhaps a 'Navy" ship took it out in 1945?
The area from the Azatea to the above road was again without a true trail or path up, but as previously stated, bombs and time do heavy work. There could have been steps or a cut path with a railing? The distance from the Azatea to the road was perhaps 15 yards? Directly above the Azatea was the path and a road to Battery Wheeler. Along side the road was a concrete shaft going down several feet, that held the electric and communication lines from Bunkers Bunker to Wheeler and beyond, G1 etc? The road above Bunkers Azatea led to C1 Bunker by foot or car.
The C1 Tunnel goes though the entire hill from Southeast to Northwest. Perhaps right under the C1 Bunker? From a turn in Crockett Trail to Bunkers Azatea.
In conclusion, we think we have retraced Bunkers daily life as possible today, as described in his Diary, "Bunkers War". Being able to retrace history like this is nearly impossible and we realize the privilege to have been able to do it.
Will return next year in better shape, (always say that, never seems to happen), and with more Gatorade and sugary snacks for further exploration.
Who's there next year?
Could this route be on a "Trail of Discovery" in the future for overnight tourists, maybe some vintage trash cans along the route?
Your turn Fots........
Cynics and detractors feel free...........
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Post by fots2 on Mar 30, 2010 1:05:09 GMT 8
Hi Phantom,
Good report there. We had a good time playing good cop-bad cop with all the 'evidence' at our finger tips.
I want to get a James Ravine trip report out of the way and then I will reply in more detail here with some photos. It will be awhile.
So you want to punish our old bodies again next year do you? ;D
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