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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2010 12:35:47 GMT 8
I am researching this captured Japanese photo of the surrender at Malinta Tunnel. Does anyone have any details about when and where it was taken? The Japanese version is in portrait orientation, with more detail of the wires strung to prevent a suicide plane attack or bomb going through the entrance. Also, I've read about Harry Corre and William Sanchez identified in the photo. Yomiuri Shimbun says the photo was taken May 8, and Kazamaro Uno's "Isle of Delusion" seems to indicate the press corps arrived around then as well. But most American sources list the photo's date as May 6. Am I making an error with any of the above information? Was anyone else besides Mr. Corre and Mr. Sanchez ever identified in the photo? Thanks for your assistance. This is a wonderful site!
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Post by fots2 on Jul 31, 2010 20:18:57 GMT 8
As for “where”, I can tell you that this is the west entrance of the Malinta Tunnel. Sorry I have no information on the exact date of this photo. Hopefully others can provide more information for you.
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Post by okla on Jul 31, 2010 23:40:15 GMT 8
Hey Guys...What gets "sticky" with these 1942 photos is that some of them were "re-staged" for Japanese newsreel/journalists/etc folks. The pics might have been shot only a fews hours after the event or maybe even a day or two later. Due to this it is tough to discern which ones are at the actual surrenders/etc or later. I have heard/read that the famous shot of the "death march" segment (taken looking from the front of the column, with the POWs all with arms lifted) was staged. It, of course, is an actual photo of the infamous event, but one is led to believe that the Amer/Fil troops had just laid their weapons down when in fact it has been a couple (or more days) since Gen'l King met with the enemy. Those unfortunates weren't required to keep the hands in an upright position for days on end. Even the Japanese had their standards concerning treatment of prisoners, low as they might have been. As for this particular shot of our guys filing out of the Malinta entrance, I have never heard that (other than the allied wounded and accompanying medical personal) were allowed to remain in the tunnel complex. All others were evacuated from Malinta as quickly as possible so one would think that this photograph was taken May 6 unless a fairly large group of POWS were herded back into Malinta for re-inactments for the benefit of the news guys from Nippon. All this, of course, is pure conjecture on my part, relying on an aging memory from past readings,etc. One thing I can say for sure, though, I remember the event as if it happened only yesterday. I absolutely (at 10 years of age) couldn't believe that the Japanese could have taken Corregidor. It was impregnable, wasn't it? I was still trying to fathom our defeat on Bataan and this happens. Singapore had tested my resolve, but those guys in Malaya weren't Americans. I was starting to believe that maybe, after all, one American wasn't going to be able to whip 10 Japanese as we had been led to believe.
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Post by EXO on Aug 1, 2010 10:58:37 GMT 8
Okla hits the nail on the head here - there are few original photographs available to us which have not been posed, or their captions mis-stated for propaganda purposes. Al McGrew ("H" Battery) did know at least one of the men in the photograph, and said that it was a 'set up' photo. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of the man in the photo, or even which one he is. I do recall that that he was in the photo in the expectation that it would be published in the USA and that it would show him as alive and well - and that he declined to put his hands up. An excellent example of propaganda is the photograph of the lowering of the Corregidor garrison flag which was widely distributed. It was staged solely for the camera. Unfortunately, less than careful scholarship has seen the resulting film clip enter into the public domain as an actual occurrence. The truth was that Col. Paul Bunker commanded a work detail which retrieved and burned the garrison flag prior to the surrender. A member of that work detail, Val Gavito, wrote an article about the true circumstances of the lowering of the American flag over Corregidor on 6 May 1942. It's at: These pictures are from:
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Post by batteryboy on Aug 2, 2010 7:46:16 GMT 8
The photos were taken anytime between the 7th -10th of May 1942. no way that these were taken exactly ont he 6th as that time the garrison was still in the surrender process. The Japanese staged a series of mock up landings and flag lowering dramas. Most of the Japanese troops that are marching did not arrive until the 7th and mid-8th.
FWIW,
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Post by chadhill on Sept 2, 2010 8:00:47 GMT 8
While stationed at Subic from 1985-88, I ran into 1941-42 Corregidor vet Max McClain on one of my trips to the island. He had started out stationed at Battery Crockett, and then later transferred to Searchlight # 5. A group of us buffs invited him to Subic for some San Miguels, and after a few he opened up and talked to us about some of his experiences. It was from him that I first learned that one of the three Japanese tanks that landed on the beach was a US M3 Stuart which had been captured on Bataan.
After Corregidor surrendered, Max wound up at Cabanatuan, and was later sent to Manchuria (Unit 731) where he witnessed horrible experiments done on POWs. After V-J Day, Max said the freed POWs found a sadistic Japanese guard that they all hated, and drowned him in a camp latrine.
As I recall from my notes, Max said that he was one of the few POWs in this photo, in front of Malinta Tunnel, with unraised arms. He is in the second row from the bottom, third from the right, with the hair parted in the middle. He was proud that he had not raised his hands during the taking of the photograph.
I don't know the exact date of the famous photo in question here. It is from the book "Philippine Expedition Force", by Gasei, published by the Japanese during 1943 in occupied Manila. I am fortunate enough to own one of the few surviving copies of this rare book. Photos from it are published elsewhere on this website.
I read some time ago that Max passed away, and think it was about 2005.
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Post by chadhill on Sept 2, 2010 9:23:56 GMT 8
Here is the photo reproduced. Max McClain is in the second row from the bottom, third from the right, with hair parted in the middle, arms not raised, head tilted to photo's left.
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Post by buster on Sept 2, 2010 14:59:18 GMT 8
Thanks for the ID and the background of it. It certainly establishes the consciousness of the photograph, and changes its meaning forever.
It's like an early version of the Vietnamese propaganda photo of the Navy Pilot who managed, ever so subtly, to get his middle finger extended.
From some of the things that I was told first hand by a POW, the story you relate of the drowning of a guard in a latrine seems to be too kind a demise. It was probably the best they had on the moment.
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Post by chadhill on Sept 2, 2010 21:26:53 GMT 8
Buster, let me correct myself. After reposting the Malinta Tunnel photo last night, I pulled out my copy of "Philippine Expedition Force" and found that this surrender photo is not in that book.
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Post by okla on Sept 2, 2010 22:15:47 GMT 8
Hey Buster....Your comments reminded me of a Chinese/North Korean propaganda photo taken in 1953 of a POW pilot from my outfit (51st Fighter Interceptor Wing) studying Communist literature during a "brainwashing" session. The pilot from the 51st was F-86 Double Ace Captain Harold Fischer who was also displaying "the bird" symbol with his middle finger discreetly extended. The Reds didn't pickup on it. The photo wasn't published stateside until Capt Fischer was released after the Korean Ceasefire was in place. I have long wondered if today's media would have respected his safety and not published the photo or not. Back in 1953 if that shot had appeared with explanations,etc I would imagine our guy would have gone "missing", don't you? As to the drowning of the sadistic Japanese guard, I seem to remember reading, at one time or another, that a group of Brit, Aussie,Canadian POWs buried one of their tormentors alive. The unique thing was in their case was that they didn't use common dirt/soil,etc. The used rocks about the size of baseballs. I would imagine that the guard was crushed before he suffocated. Vigilante justice prevailed in both cases, methinks.
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