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Post by chadhill on Sept 2, 2010 22:49:56 GMT 8
Okla, I remember that Life magazine published a photo of the USS Pueblo crew while they were in North Korean captivity. Some of the crew was displaying "the bird". When the NKs saw the photo and discovered what it meant, they beat the offenders badly.
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Post by chadhill on Nov 23, 2010 9:22:50 GMT 8
I recently watched a 1988 VHS tape I have of the late Corregidor vet Max McClain. He started out at Battery Crockett and wound up rotating through the searchlights, primarily manning searchlight # 5. Max was revisiting the island in 1988, and I was fortunate enough to meet him. Before long, I'll post some notes. One thing he mentioned that might have to do with this thread concerns Queens Tunnel. Max said that some of the surrender photos were taken there. He also said that after the surrender, several tunnel POWs walked just outside the Queens entrance to relieve themselves. They were caught in the act by Japanese soldiers, and bayonetted. This photo is from "Philippine Expeditionary Force", 1943. Can anyone tell if it was taken at the Queens Tunnel entrance?
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Post by okla on Nov 23, 2010 10:27:38 GMT 8
Hey Chad...One thing for sure. This ain't the main portal to Malinta so I suppose Queen is as good a possibility as any. Wasn't said Tunnel a Navy area??? If so most of these people seem to be Army except for a couple of guys who are wearing US Navy "dixie cup" hats. All this is just conjecture on my part. I suppose that after the white flag was run up that Army and Navy were intermingled to a great degree in some areas. Cheers. Postscript....Have there ever been any sloppier looking troops on the planet than the Japanese??? Of course, their dress/appearance certainly didn't take away from their battle worthiness, did it?
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Post by chadhill on Dec 1, 2010 5:10:59 GMT 8
Okla, an old Philippine paperback I recently re-found had the tunnel photo in it, too, and said it was taken at the North entrance. Here is a post-surrender view of Wainwright's personal quarters in Malinta (Philippine Expeditionary Force, 1943):
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Post by okla on Dec 1, 2010 8:23:26 GMT 8
Hey Chad...Rather Spartan quarters for a Lieutenant General, would'nt you say??? Wonder what price those two mirrors, especially the one on the left, would bring at a military memorabilia auction??? I would imagine there are plenty of collectors who would relish the idea of owning the mirror used by "Skinny" Wainwright in the dismal depths of Corregidor's Malinta Tunnel. What say you??? I certainly wouldn'r mind having that alarm clock. Wonder if Genl Wainwright was the last person to wind it before this photo was taken. My over active imagination is beginning to kick into play. I had better go watch a ballgame or something. Wife will start giving me those odd looks again. Cheers.
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Post by chadhill on Feb 13, 2011 12:25:14 GMT 8
This Japanese photo was said to have been taken on Corregidor. The intact foliage behind the POWs makes me wonder if it may have been on Bataan instead.
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Post by okla on Feb 14, 2011 2:32:09 GMT 8
Hey Chad....Gotta agree with your questioning of whether this pic was taken, maybe on Bataan, rather than "the Rock". The "moon scape" that was Corregidor on May 7, 1942 was severely lacking much greenery. Not enough for a platoon of locusts to munch on. Maybe this group of POWs were gathered on some slope located on the South side of the Fortress that hadn't suffered as much shelling as vast portions in other locales more exposed to the enemy. I notice that the Japanese, carrying the machine gun mount, has his grubby paws in the shirt pocket of the GI at the extreme left of the photo. Also, I wonder if that cigarette in the mouth of the trooper, in the right hand portion of the pic, might be his last smoke for quite some time. As I have said, several times in the past, these close up shots of the faces of our guys and the dismal situation these unfortunate Americans find themselves to be in, is rather depressing to me. I always wonder how many of the portrayed guys will live to see home again. I will try to find a bit of solace in telling myself that the Japanese "machine gunner" was a recipient, later in the war, of a bit of napalm squarely on his dugout or trench down on Leyte, etc, if he lasted that long. Cheers.
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