|
Post by JohnEakin on Jan 18, 2011 0:01:07 GMT 8
Doesn't surprise me in the least. Actually, I believe it was typical that they policed up all the remains after the war and in many/most cases botched the identification of the remains. Most are now buried in the Manila American Cemetery as one of the 3,744 unknowns interred there.
IMHO, at the very least, every one of these heros deserves his name on a headstone. I'm glad they are known to God, but I think they should also be known to man and remembered properly.
In most cases, there will be information in a man's IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File, which can be FOIA'ed) which will connect him to an X-file (which is a file on un-identified remains). The X-files have the location of the current grave. The IDPF's contain the name of the NOK - who is usually long gone, but it is a start at finding a living family member (really not that difficult).
If the right family member can be found and a family reference sample (DNA) can be obtained, there's an excellent chance the remains can be identified. At that point, the family can elect to leave them in Manila or return the remains to the states at government expense for burial in a national or private cemetery. Even if they are un-interested in returning the remains of their family member, their DNA sample may - by exclusion - help some other family to identify their loved one.
Typically, a couple of IDPF's or X-files can be obtained under FOIA at no charge. (hint-hint, let me know if you need the address) FWIW, I've asked for all the IDPF's and X-files on the unknowns from O'Donnell and Cabanatuan - about 165,000 pages - and they sent me a bill for $24,750. We're now in Federal Court arguing that a fee waiver is appropriate.
There's a lot more to the story, but the bottom line is the records needed to find these men have now been declassified and can be obtained as a first step in identifying their remains.
Oh - and if you have any doubts about maybe it would be better to leave them where they have laid for the last 60 years - the most requested song in Viet Nam was by the Animals, We Gotta Get Out of This Place. I don't know what the equivalent song was during WWII, but I'm sure all GI's share the sentiment.
Best,
John
|
|
|
Post by JohnEakin on Jan 18, 2011 0:27:00 GMT 8
I just remembered a story that may provide some insight on the recovery of remains from Corregidor. One of the men rescued from Cabanatuan was Abie Abraham, a M-Sgt from the 31st Infantry who had survived the Death March, O'Donnell and Cabanatuan. (He has written several books and I believe is still alive.) I believe he was married to a Filipino and asked or was asked to remain in the Philippines and work with the graves registration units cleaning up after the fighting died down. The camp cemeteries were pretty obvious and the story is that they traveled throughout the countryside interviewing locals to find isolated graves. Apparently, this phase was pretty through.
Regarding Corregidor, the information I've seen makes me think there were quite a number of graves in different locations on Corregidor. I've also seen references describing burials on Caballo Island, but all I have heard of were in a cemetery there. I know that even in the camps there was quite an effort to account for everyone and I'm sure there were locations included in some of those statements. However, I've only seen one abstract, that of 2LT Walter Gage, which says much more than just buried on Corregidor. (In his case, 200 ft SE Kinley Fld, Corregidor, PI).
What I'm getting at, and why I think the Corregidor clean up was probably a little disorganized is that I've not heard of anyone from Corregidor working with graves registration to find the graves and I would imagine that any Filipinos (as well as GI's) who were there at the time were probably keeping their heads down and wouldn't have been aware of the location of a grave unless they were there when it was dug.
|
|
|
Post by chadhill on Jan 21, 2011 2:32:55 GMT 8
Very interesting posts, John. And best wishes for success in your legal case. It's hard to believe they would send such a bill when you are doing their work for them! Work that they should have seen to long, long ago. They should be sending you a message of gratitude, not a bill. Here's a link to a story how in May 1945 Abie Abraham assisted the Army's 601st Graves Resistration Company in recovering bodies from the Death March road. Scroll down to the subtitle SGT JAMES T. KENNEY, Q.M.C. to begin. The article is from the January-February 1946 issue of "Quartermaster Review". www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/mortuary/tragic.htmI found a bit more information about YN3 Grisham's death on 31 December 1941. He was "dockside" helping to unload and move supplies to Malinta Tunnel. A tractor rolled over on top of him. One source said this happened just after a Japanese attack. Yes, this sounds like it may be a case of another botched recovery, of losing a set of remains. Seems it should have been known to GR where the burial site was, and who was buried there. I remember watching a PBS(?) or Discovery Channel special several years ago having to do with how the remains of 400 buried marines were lost on Tarawa, when the base and airfield was rebuilt over and around them after the battle. Their families were told their status was KIA/BNR or MIA. A veteran and a couple of researchers like John went back there a few years ago and found the burial sites of 120 or so of them, if I remember correctly. It's hard to understand how these things happen.
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jan 21, 2011 5:04:32 GMT 8
Hey Chad.....Didn't they, just a very few years ago, find the graves of a squad sized, group of USMC on the "Canal" ? It was supposedly a patrol that was ambushed some distance from Henderson Field. Wonder why they would be buried "on the spot" rather than brought back to a friendlier area. Might be another "necessity is the Mother of invention" situations. I suppose these kinds of situations will always happen as long as people are shooting at each other. Hasn't been too many years ago that another one of Custer's troopers was recovered. at the Little Big Horn. There are twenty or so 7th Cavalry members reportedly buried in a known ravine that are still being looked for as I understand it.
|
|
|
Post by JohnEakin on Jan 21, 2011 8:42:09 GMT 8
Very interesting posts, John. And best wishes for success in your legal case. It's hard to believe they would send such a bill when you are doing their work for them! Work that they should have seen to long, long ago. They should be sending you a message of gratitude, not a bill. Thanks, Chad. Its hard to understand their logic in withholding the documents. The people there now didn't have anything to do with the coverup, but their continued withholding of the documents makes them complicit.
|
|
|
Post by chadhill on Jan 21, 2011 10:57:58 GMT 8
John, it makes me scratch my head, too. I ran into the same kind of thing, though on a much smaller scale than you, while doing some research years ago on the Korean War. But at least they didn't try to bill me- Okla, I missed that about the squad on the 'Canal. I heard about the Custer trooper but didn't know about those being sought in the ravine. In 1999, the remains of some of Carlson's Raiders (2nd Raider Battalion) who did not return from the Makin raid in August 1942 were found. Among those identified were Sergeant Clyde Thomason, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor.
|
|
|
Post by dmether on Jan 21, 2011 13:19:35 GMT 8
[/urlhttp://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd480/dmether/] I loaded the map in photobucket.
I have a copy of the 22 March 1948 Termination of search area, island of Corregidor, Fort Mills, Fort Drum, and Fort Hughes.
The search was made with 3 officers, 1 enlistedman, 33 Philippine Scout enlistedmen, 1 US civil service employee, and 4 non-US employees.
In it, the ARGS searched from 14 Aug 1947 to 28 Feb 1948 in a final effort to locate all MIAs on those locations.
48 total remains and one group of probably 8 unseperatable remains were recovered with 33 being identified. All are believed to have died in May 1942, not in the retaking of Corregidor.
The location of the isolated burials were all on Bottomside, except the group of 8 which were located east of Malinta Tunnel. The 48 dead were all located in foxholes, the Japanese did not allow them to be buried properly.
Those identified were: Branchen, William J. Biddle, John C. Davis, Leon Pierome, Joseph A Quey, Mario Bullaro, Charles J Suyat, Jose A (Scout) Pack, Leslie O. Monticello, D (Scout) Wederbrook, Roy A Ford, Norman C Dirain, Horminigildo (Scout) Bernardo, Manuel (Scout) Smetana, Pete A McCormack, Nicholas J Duck, James E Aarhaus, David L Pulley, Woodrow W Irgram, Ernest D Smith, James Prokash, Clarence H Haskin, John E Pelayo, Jesus (Scout) Fairchild, D D Thomson, Burton G Booth, Ralph H Wolfe, Carl Stoos, John Otter, Bethel V Gage, Charles S Compton, Harold W De Costa, Thomas
Its kind of hard to see on this map, but it is the location of were they were found. Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by chadhill on Jan 21, 2011 15:38:27 GMT 8
Dmether, than is a fascinating document. I'll have to study the names and map further, but there are three things that come to mind right now. First, please allow me to repost that map expanded: The name John E. Haskin is on the list. He was a USMC Quartermaster Sergeant that was KIA on Water Tank Hill//Denver Hill about 0345 on 6 May 42 and posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Does the document state where his remains were found? Two water towers are shown on the map. Was it near one of them, and if so, which one? The history books so far are unclear which water tower he and USMC Sergeant Major Thomas F. Sweeney fought on. Thank you. Bethel V. Otter is also on the list. He was a USN Lieutenant, formerly of the USS Canopus, that commanded Company T of the 4th Battalion Reserves on Corregidor. He was KIA leading an assault on a machine gun nest at about 0730 on 6 May near Battery Denver on Denver Hill. Does it show where on the hill he was found? It looks like your map displays three civilian cemeteries along the road east of Kindley Field. Does the document show that any military personnel were buried in them, named or unknowns? YN3 Kenneth F. Grisham of the Navy Radio Intercept Tunnel was buried in one of these after his death on 31 December 41. I don't see his name on the list but wonder if it names anyone else. What a find, Dmether, and thank you for sharing it here!
|
|
|
Post by dmether on Jan 21, 2011 16:14:08 GMT 8
Unfortunately, the documents a little too large to post. Here is what it says:
"This report covers search areas 18-A which includes Corregidor (Fort Mills) and the outlying islands of Caballo (Fort Hughes), El Fraile (Fort Drum) and Carabao (Fort Frank).
The detachment arrived in Corregidor on 14 August, 1947 with three (3) officers, one (1) American enlisted man, and five (5) Philippine Scouts with the mission 'To close the islands in one month.' This job and time estimate was based on what little information was then available about a few isolated burials and on our ignorance of the true condition of the place and nature of work to be done.
After a week of reconnoitering, clearing and test digging we became convinced that if the job was to be done in one month, we would need at least a company of about a hundred men. After five years from the surrender, the islands have been covered with trees, and under brush so that in order to make any recovery it was necessary to clear not only the spot indicated in our leads but a wider area, since the places indicated were not accurate. The area at the end of Malinta Tunnel alone which was covered by debris twenty feet deep, would require more than a month if dug by hand by a hundred men."
Report goes on to talk about leads:
"Brief summary of action taken to follow up leads or information obtained:
(1) Denver Hill area where last stand was made was search four times. Found twenty (20) remains. (2) The Beach Defense area from North Point to Malinta Point was searched four times. Found twenty-five (25) remains. (3) Area around 92nd Garage, supposedly the site of a mass burial, was searched four times with negative results. (4) Area around Kindley Field wsa searched three times. Found three (3) remains. (5) Area south between Camp Point and Monkey Point and Battery Point were searched twice with negative results. (6) The rest of islands including Caballo, Carabao, and El Fraile were searched only once for lack of positive information and found no remains. (7) The following places were dug by the bulldozer with results indicated: (a) East of Malinta Tunnel-found one or more remains. (b) Around two water towers on Denver Hill found no remains. (c) Post Cemetery-No remains found; probably all were previously disinterred. (d) Some places along the road that were indicated as possible burial place-no recoveries."
To answer your questions, no, unfortunately it doesn't tell where they were found.
Thanks for enlarging the map, much clearer.
|
|
|
Post by dmether on Jan 21, 2011 18:30:25 GMT 8
I have another document (again too large to post, because I scanned them) from a John K. Borneman, Chaplain.
Date: 9 August 1947
"In May of 1941 I arrived in the Philippines for duty and was assigned as Chaplain for the 60th Coast Artillery anti-aircraft Regiment on Corregidor.
Following the surrender of Corregidor in May of 1942 the Japanese would not permit us to bury our dead, the majority of these were killed in action during the invasion the night of May 5-6 1942.
Several days after the surrender the Chaplains took the iniative and went around Corregidor burying the dead and this included the digging of the grave. However no markers could be placed on the graves due to the tense situation then prevailing; in fact the Japanese threatened to shoot or decapitate any person discovered in the act of taking care of the American casualties.
This work we continued until 1 July 1942 when all of us were removed to Philippine Military Prison Camp No. 1 at Cabanatuan. During our internment in this camp 2,666 men died and were buried in the camp cemetery. It was from here that I was liberated 30 January 1945 by action of the 6th Army Rangers.
In the summer of 1946 I spent three months on Corregidor and in Manila locating isolated graves. This work was not entirely satisfactory to me due to the fact that it was the rainy season and our work was constantly interfered with by typhoons. In addition I twice had the Japanese prisoners who were the labor detail, removed from Corregidor for long periods and finally at the end of September they were taken away permanently for preparation to be sent back to Japan.
No map was available of Corregidor as it existed in peace time and this was necessary due to the changes in topography caused by American action in retaking the Rock in February 1945.
As nearly as I can estimate there are about 112 bodies still to be recovered on Corregidor. I have secured an engineer map from the Army Map Service and forwarded it to the Memorial Division in Manila.
Since my return home I have answered more that 2,200 letters from relatives of men who did not survive the war or prision camp and these are still coming in at the rate of about 50 a month.
I am therefore much interested in the repatriation of our Philippine dead.
Is there a possibility of returning to Manila under the auspicies of the Memorial Division to complete this work? I know there is none under the Chaplains Corps due to the dwindling number of Chaplains required in the Philippines and the consequent cut in funds for their work..."
No idea if the military took him up on his offer.
|
|