|
Post by victor on Jan 9, 2008 17:57:32 GMT 8
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jan 10, 2008 6:25:59 GMT 8
vic....once again you have posted some great stuff. the google shots of the terrain are the next best thing to actually being there. most of the info i have on the abucay fight comes from the book, "bataan, our last ditch", by john w whitman. you are probably familiar with it. lots of good, detailed stuff on the whole bataan campaign, if you havent read it. as i said in a previous post, my nephew's new wife's grandfather served in both G company and H company of the 31st inf(US) during the bataan campaign. dont know which company he was with during the abucay fighting, but either way he was in it up to his eyeballs since both G and H were heavily engaged. as i also said, he escaped to corregidor with a hundred or so members of the 31st only to be captured a month later. man, how i wish i had met this fellow and picked his brain. his granddaughter said he was very sharp mentally until his death in the l980s. just think of the info he could have shed on the whole 1942 situation and afterward. keep up the great work. you are obviously a very good student of this whole, historic event. also, you should pursue getting information pertaining to the soldier in the 45th scout regiment that you think might be your relative. what a proud thing to think he may be your uncle???it has been said there were no finer troops in any army during world war II than the philippine scouts. i certainly believe this to be so.
|
|
|
Post by victor on Jan 10, 2008 20:38:33 GMT 8
Thanks. Been fascinated with the campaign since I was a kid. Can't explain why. Here is my treasured copy of Bataan, Our Last Ditch. I'm in the process of having as many Bataan vets I meet sign it. Also, this book has quite a bit on the 31st Infantry (click link) Click this link for Baby of Bataan book
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jan 11, 2008 9:50:21 GMT 8
vic...what a neat idea with having bataan vets sign your copy of "bataan, our last ditch". before i bore you to death on this subject i thought i would throw you a few anecdotes i picked up from some philippine campaign vets that i served with way back in 1951-55 while a member of the USAF in korea and other locations. like you, i have been addicted with this overlooked (i in my opinion) part of us military history. everytime i met or became acquainted with one of these men i probably worried them to death asking questions, but to a man, they seemed very willing or even pleased to shed a little light on what happened to them back in those terrible days. one man, that i served in korea with, had been a waist gunner on one of the B-17s that was destroyed at clark field. he, like many of his cohorts, were given springfield .03 rifles and formed into an army air corps provisional infantry unit. they served on the right side of the MLR of II corps next to manila bay. ironically, he was married to a japanese woman that he had met during the american occupation in 1948. another fellow who was an anti-aircraft gunner on corregidor said he weighed 190 pounds when the war began, but came out of bilibid prison at a strapping 110. regardless of how much he ate, he never could pass 150 lbs again. one man, a warrant officer when i knew him and our squadron supply officer, was a former scout, but i never asked him whether he was in the 45 or 57 regiment, not knowing that much about the actual units involved in the campaign. mister lono escaped during the death march and being a scout promply joined up with the guerillas. after the war, when the scouts were officially disbanded, he transfered to the army air corps and consequently the USAF in 1947. in the early spring of 1952 i stood a formation at great falls AFB montana at which time this old missouri farm boy was awarded the bronze star for action against the japanese on the abucay line. he was put in for the medal shortly after being released from the POW camp and the paperwork followed him around until 1952 when it was finally completed and he was awarded the long overdue medal. he went from the depression era CCC camps, to the us army (31st infantry regt) in the philippines, to the death march, hell ships, and a coal mine in the japanese homeland. he left the army in 1945, but reinlisted in the army aircorps in 1946 and eventually became a master sergeant in the USAF in 1952. quite a story for him. lastly, before i joined the USAF in 1951 i was enrolled in ROTC at oklahoma state univ. the regular army sergeant in charge of the armory where we kept our M-1 rifles was a death march survivor. he spent most days seated at his desk, checking off who was and was not cleaning their weapons,etc and drinking whiskey from a paper cup. he kept his fifth of jim beam whiskey in his lower desk drawer. the lieutenant colonel, in charge of the ROTC program, just looked the other way. as long as this guy could hold his head up and looked spiffy in his uniform he was in the clear as far as the colonel was concerned. the army had given old sarge this soft job due to his past record and hardships in the far east. i couldnt agree with them more. now, all these men had varying experiences,etc, but one common theme ran thru their ordeal. to a man, they all told me, that they believed, at least for the first 2 or 3 months, that help was on the way from uncle sam. after all, they were americans, and the government and folks back home wouldnt let them down. i just wish you had been there to talk to these fellows and maybe gotten them to sign your book. hope i havent worn you out with these yarns, but like you, i cant get enough of the bataan-corregidor saga. i am 75 years old and hooked worse than ever. thanks for listening and keep up your "digging" on the subject.
|
|
|
Post by victor on Jan 11, 2008 19:07:43 GMT 8
I never EVER tire of these stories. Thanks for sharing them. If you remember more, I'm all ears.
I'll post whatever new material I come across with too. Thanks.
|
|
|
Post by victor on Jan 22, 2008 4:30:44 GMT 8
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jan 23, 2008 5:54:18 GMT 8
vic.....as usual, you have again come up with some excellent stuff, material very close to my heart. you are about the best student of the bataan, corregidor campaign that i have come in contact with in lo these many years. keep it up. you are fast becoming my pipeline to very pertinent poop concerning the 1941-42 philippine campaign. viewing these lastest pics, i just cant but wonder how many of these hikers/campers/etc know what "sacred" ground they are walking over. there, evidently, are no markers or monuments at the hacienda. at least none are visible in the photos. again, thanks a bunch for your latest endeavors on helping us better understand what happened at this location during those bleak days on january 1942.
|
|
|
Post by victor on Jan 24, 2008 10:01:12 GMT 8
Thanks okla, just taking advantage of the wonderful world of the internet as a research tool. I wish the web was around when I was in school.
|
|
|
Post by victor on Jan 10, 2009 6:46:21 GMT 8
I'm hoping to visit the Abucay Hacienda area next month when I go home for vacation. I'm doing a little bit more internet "recon" of the area trying to match and determine battle positions of the Philippine Scouts and the American 31st Infantry during the battle for the Abucay line. The Abucay Hacienda area is now turning into a "college town" since the Colegio de San Juan de Letran opened a new campus there. The campus' main building can be seen from the satellite image and looks like it was under construction at the time when the Google satellite image was taken. Here are some notes and material I came up with: click for bigger 31st Infantry counterattack/advance: Here's a random video I found possibly made by some students from the school. It features intramural games and cheering. I wonder if they know the history of the land that their school is built on. I'm sure there's quite a few college romances that blossom here now where death, despair and destruction once happened I'd say that was worth the fight (Hi Paul, this thread might be a candidate for the Bataan area of the forum. Thanks)
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jan 11, 2009 0:31:22 GMT 8
hey vic...again, you have posted tremendous stuff. i certainly realize that the site of the abucay line isnt gettysburgh, but for me personally i would have rather seen it remain in its pristine condition. i dont know how much the terrain at the line has changed since 1942, but you can rest assured that it has changed beyond recognition now that a college sits astride the "sacred ground". oh well, i suppose this is progress so i will go with the march to greater things. my attitude just reaffirms my own march to oblivion. i well remember my one and only visit to the site of picketts charge at gettysburgh and the panorama of the ground that the rebs had to pass over. way over to the north edge of the parkland a colonel sanders chicken joint could be seen. no more out of place than the abucay college i suppose, but at least the park boundary still protects what the government had the foresight to bar development from popping up. its great that, at least, some of the kids at abucay appreciate what took place right under their footsteps as they pass on to their next class. i still think there should be some type of monument or marker to indicate/honor the fil/amer efforts against the japanese that january so long ago. keep up the great work. i check your website each and every day and always look forward to your contributions on this site as well.
|
|