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Post by Nowhere Man on Sept 24, 2018 12:58:44 GMT 8
The more times change, the more they remain the same.
Lucky MacArthur never got appointed to the US Supreme Court.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Oct 22, 2010 20:40:43 GMT 8
Watch out on that timing, the cemetery closes early and, besides, the light dies around the walls of the missing early too. Both can be the luck of the draw. Manila Cemetery I e-mailed someone I know who works there, and he advises that persons who want images of the wall should "go to www.abmc.gov where there is a link to request photos titled "help." Being government, it does operate on governmental principles - there's a form, snail mail, the usual palaver. The form is at www.abmc.gov/services/abmc7.pdfUnder the circumstances, if Fots2 can ever get there for you, what he can do with a pocket camera is magic.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Oct 7, 2010 15:45:16 GMT 8
IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIMEby Siri Holm Lawson, Webmaster (Webmistress?) at warsailors.comfromwww.warsailors.com/singleships/williamstrachan.htmlWilliam Strachan going into Havana, April 30, 1939. Afterdeck of William StrachanTorvald A. Kibsgaard worked as able seamen on the M/T William Strachan, but became sick and paid off in Manila on Sept. 9-1941 where he was admitted to a hospital. The William Strachan had arrived Manila the day before. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he and some other Norwegians were transferred to a motel in the city. After the attack on Manila they were unable to get out due to the fact that Norwegian ships were directed elsewhere, so in order to avoid internment they all joined the US Navy. Torvald, age 23 was put in charge of the tug S/S Henry Keswick and transported supplies to Corregidor; a Norwegian engineer from Bergen was also on board (see a Guestbook message from the captain's grandson). On New Years Eve (after D. MacArthur had decided to withdraw) Kibsgaard was again sent to Corregidor, and from then on the 2 Norwegians transported supplies back and forth between Corregidor and Bataan. Henry Keswick was shelled and sunk at "North Dock", Corregidor, and in March the 2 shipmates were on the previously Chinese S/S You Sang. While loading bombs during the battles for Bataan, You Sang was sunk at the Bataan harbour Mariveles. After the fall of Bataan in Apr.-1942 Kibsgaard took part in the ammunition transport to the gun positions on Corregidor using trucks. The day after the invasion, on May 5 he was given a gun and ordered to the trenches with the other soldiers, but when he started to display symptoms of severe shock he was picked up and taken to a hospital at Malinta Tunnel, where he was diagnosed with shock as well as malaria. The fellow in the white singlet on the left is Torvald Kibsgaard, 1941. Second on the right is Ingvald Øksenholt. After Corregidor had fallen (May 6-1942) he was ordered by the Japanese to clean up after the battles, remove the bodies etc. From then on he was a prisoner of the Japanese, first sent to Cabanatuan, then in 1943 to Batangas (both on Luzon) to help build the airport there. When the Americans bombed the airport they were working on early in 1944 he was transferred to Camp Murphy where he stayed until Oct.-1944. His next stop was the Bilibid prison, Manila where he met several other Norwegians. After MacArthur had retaken the Philippines, the Japanese wanted to avoid letting the prisoners fall into the hands of the Americans so thousands were moved to Japan. Kibsgaard and 2 other Norwegians (Johan Skulstad and Ragnvald Augustin - listed on Page 3 of my POW's section - see also the external links to POW rosters at the end of this page) were placed on the cargo ship Hokusen Maru, initially bound for Japan, but after 41 days of terror they were landed at Formosa (now Taiwan). Several ships in the convoy had been sunk by American submarines, and a lot of prisoners had died on the ship due to the horrendous conditions on board. After about 4 weeks of "resting up" on Formosa they were put on another Japanese transport and moved to Omuta, where they worked in the coal mines for about 6 months until the war was over. Images from Thore Kibsgaard, son of Torvald Kibsgaard.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Sept 26, 2010 20:45:31 GMT 8
"Facts? We ain't got no facts. We don't need no facts! I don't have to show you any stinkin' facts!" (The Media Speaks!)
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 27, 2010 10:19:31 GMT 8
(pasted as received) On August 6, 2010, U.S. Ambassador John Roos attended the ceremony commemorating the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This is the first time since Japan’s surrender in 1945 that the U.S. has had an official presence at the memorial, and many Japanese interpret this as an apology for dropping the bombs. There is further talk that President Obama will also visit the memorial at some future date, thus casting the Japanese people as victims of World War II. Where is the outrage in America? Our media passed over the event with little comment, except for a few outlets suggesting that the apology was overdue, as always occurs on this date. But why do we as a nation have to apologize? The act saved an estimated million Allied casualties and perhaps millions of Japanese lives, including civilians being trained for total resistance, including suicide attacks against our troops. How soon we forget history. Our Euro-centric culture leads us to believe that the start of World War II occurred at the Polish border in 1939. But many historians believe that the worldwide conflagration started two years earlier when the Japanese created the Marco Polo Bridge incident they used as an excuse to invade China. The Japanese had already been in an undeclared war with the weak Chinese government for more than 40 years, invading Korea in 1894, taking Formosa in 1895, Manchuria in 1931, and part of China north of the great Wall in 1932. Then in 1933 they imposed troops into China near Peking to “maintain order”. The incident at the Marco Polo Bridge in 1937 was simply a cover to give them a legal excuse to declare war on the Chinese government, and they soon controlled all of the large industrial cities and ports. Their invasion was brutal with bombings and executions of civilians and the infamous slaughter in the Chinese capital of Nanking. The attack on Pearl Harbor was primarily to prevent the U.S. from thwarting their plans to take over all of Southeast Asia, and they soon controlled an enormous landmass that included China, Malaya, Burma, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and New Guinea, which provided a rich source of natural materials. They also controlled a large number of Pacific Islands to provide an outlying barrier to protect their home islands. When the Japanese cast themselves as “victims” and demand an apology for the bombings, they are ignoring their history of aggression and militancy. Before demanding an apology from the U.S, they must look inward at their own nations actions, which directly resulted in an estimate of between 25 and 50 million deaths in Asia. They should think first of apologizing for the Rape of Nanking, the Manila Massacre, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the biological experiments and attacks on China, the brutal conditions under which Allied military and civilians were held, the slave labor camps, the comfort women, and many other atrocities that they committed. We must not allow any official of the U.S. to act in a way that would imply that we are apologizing to Japan for our actions to end a war that they started. All thinking Americans must arise with outrage at any indication that our government officials are weakening on this issue. I say to those who were prisoners of the Japanese, they took our liberty, our health, and our lives, so let us not now let them also take our dignity. This is a call for action. If you agree with this statement, please write to President Obama, and your Senators and Congressman. Doing so immediately will make a strong and timely statement that we are not going to tolerate our government backing down on the issue of an apology to Japan. Use your own words, or excerpt from this editorial by Angus Lorenzen. Thank you from BACEPOW. (The BACEPOW website is at bacepow.net/index.htm and the original of this posting is at bacepow.net/pr1.htm )
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 24, 2010 20:25:27 GMT 8
One of the errors we ALL make at one time or another is to use the word "cave" when talking about Corregidor. There are NO natural caves on Corregidor, they are all man-made.
Sometimes when a computer won't let you log-in, try your log-in using the "forever" option in the time to remain connected. If it doesn't work straight off, clear the cookies, and try again.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 18, 2010 19:17:55 GMT 8
I came upon these lately, in a spot where you wouldn't expect to see a bunch of sharp and informative WWII photographs - the U.S. Embassy. Well, thanks to those glorious little tax dollars at work, and to Congressman Henry J. Hyde who donated them in honor of the people of Pangasinan, Dagupan, and Lingayen, we have this series. (Hyde served in the USN during WWII and was in combat in the Philippines. He retired at the rank of Commander, after serving as officer in charge of the U.S. Naval Intelligence Reserve Unit.)
January 9, 1945. LCVP's stream toward the beach as H*hour nears in Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. Photo taken by 7th Fleet.
January 9, 1945. Aerial photo of burning beaches on Lingayen Gulf, after terrific bombardment by US warships. Taken by plane from USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38). The airstrip shown in the lower right section of the picture had been captured within a few minutes after the American troop landings. Some of the craft are nearing the beach. Photo taken by: USS Pennsylvania
January 9, 1945. Aerial of landing on beach of Lingayen Island. Taken by plane from the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). Lingayen town, Luzon. All land areas surrounding beachheads had been swept by a hail of steel from bombarding warships. Photo taken by USS Pennsylvania.
January 6, 1945. Cruising disposition taken by allied warships when they came into Lingayen Gulf. Taken by plane from the USS Pennsylvania. (BB-38).
January 9, 1945. Unloading operations at White Beach Two, Luzon during Lingayen Gulf invasion operations by US Task Force LST 469 off shore. As seen from USS FELAND (APA 11). Lt.(jg) Harold Matt. beach-master from USS Feland in right foreground. Photo taken by USS Feland.
January 9, 1945. Lingayen Gulf during World War II. On the day of the landing. Note the heavy surf, which posed an extra challenge for the Allies.
January 9, 1945. Lingayen Gulf during World War II. A view of the landing beaches and supply dumps, looking West.
January 9, 1945. Lingayen Gulf during World War II. Landing beaches, looking West. THESE IMAGES WERE DELETED BY THE EMBASSY AND ARE NOW HOSTED BY THE CORREGIDOR HISTORIC SOCIETY. [/size][/i] HERE'S A BONUS WE'VE PICKED UP ALONG THE WAY
POST MODIFIED BY EXO AUGUST 2012 -
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 8, 2010 15:11:20 GMT 8
Corregidor can be a riddle to us too.
If I might generalize, the people who are regulars at this forum seem motivated mainly by an addiction to the deeper echoes of History, and thus experience a feeling of unease when faced with the ways and means of the tourist trap trade, which trade furnishes essentially a shallow"point and shoot"understanding.
Perhaps I might liken us to being caught in the EMBRACE OF HISTORY.
Some have commented that it hardly matters what the tour guides tell the folk, as 99% is forgotten by the time the boat returns to the wharf in Manila. They may be right.
Some of us look at Corregidor and want it to attract more tourists, and yet, at the same time, can be disappointed at how history can be diminished when it is "dumbed down" to the tourists who do get there. The island needs money to run, and the cost of maintaining it isn't easily obtained, except from the tourists. So you have to feed the multitude something. It's certainly not the first attraction to provide simple history, "history lite", and it won't be the last.
The reality though, is that there's not enough heavy duty history tourists to fund the place any more (if there ever was.) The veterans, though not all dead, don't travel well any more. It is a big event to get even one, now. Few of their families make the trip any more. So they sell "history lite", mixed with a bit of pizazz adventure, zip rides, etc.
Shame that Corregidor hasn't gotten into full strength Eco-Tourism, which is succeeding elsewhere throughout the Philippines, and is starting to get the country recognized as a desirable natural destination. Eco Tourism and History Tourism are compatible, and there's always a chance that a development of a higher regard for the ecology can clean up some of the excesses of years past. However, Eco Tourism isn't cheap to implement.
What a great shot of the eagle!!! Is that a Philippine Sea Eagle?
Not many people know that some of the largest tourist numbers travelling worldwide are "bird-watchers." Yet Corregidor allows cats! What message does that send?
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Post by Nowhere Man on Aug 8, 2010 14:41:22 GMT 8
Yes, the PTB ("powers that be") have been busy doing what they can to improve the earnings of everyone closely involved, and it's the tourists who were elected the bunnies. Ah, such is the life of the customer.
They (the PTB) really do seem to have made the solo expedition more difficult. Whether they set out to do this intentionally, I really have no idea, but the outcome cannot be denied - it is more rather than less difficult for the solo adventurer, or the small group, to get to Corregidor via banca.
It's a shame really. For an island which wants to market some concept of "adventure", they certainly have priced the great adventure of getting there across the channel by banca beyond the normal individual.
Corregidor offers more, vastly more, than what Sun Cruises serves its day trippers.
There is always, always, something new - and unexpected - to find there.
Don't be discouraged. History is one of those things which are complicated enough that the people who think they understand it are people who are biased about it. Corregidor especially.
I welcome you to the forum and to the website. They are quite different, serve different purposes, and each are readable in their own way. We do have a small group of enthusiasts, and from time to time some of us do like to get there - even if it is as a chance passenger. Corregidor IS best enjoyed with a companion - I myself caution anyone, no matter how well prepared, against getting on some of the difficult trails if one is alone. Corregidor has a habit of throwing surprises at a visitor, dealing them an entirely unexpected experience, that is for sure.
Welcome to that quest.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 22, 2010 11:20:38 GMT 8
Yes, that's the certificate for the jump in the Markham Valley. Col. Kinsler didn't get around to signing them - he had committed suicide under circumstances which, if known, have never been adequately disclosed. For more reading in this era, start browsing through Bless 'em All. The 503d of WWII didn't have an official shoulder patch at this time. (In fact, during its existence, the 503d of WWII never had a patch which had been officially authorised by the Army.) Until Corregidor, they used the Wildcat patch on blue - though again, unofficially. This patch had been designed by the Disney Studio, and the Army was" rather rigid" in the types of symbolism it allowed for Official patches. Have a look at: corregidor.org/heritage_battalion/heraldry/heraldry_503_cat.htmlOnly on Mindoro, after Corregidor, did they recognize that they had done something that needed to be memorialized by a patch of its own - that's when they started with hand embroidered versions of what would develop into the Rock Patch. Patch belonging to Jim Mullaney The definitive original design traces to Tom McNeill, a "G" Company 'trooper, who painted his barracks bag. The McNeill Patch There's a gallery of Rock Patches at corregidor.org/503_patches/rock_patch_glry.htmDiscovering a man's history in the 503d during WWII depends greatly on which Battalion he was with. For instance, things like whether he might have jumped on Noemfoor (and when), how he arrived on Corregidor (1st or 2nd drop, "A" or "B" Field, beach landing), where he fought on Corregidor, what combat patrols or attacks he made - ALL depend on his Battalion. Once that is known, then you can go through the website and rebuild your knowledge of the individual man by getting to learn of his brothers. The website is mostly about 2nd Bn., and this is because it was some young Lieutenants of 2nd Bn who lived until the internet era. Histories were collected, and manuscripts drawn - but next to nobody got to know of them. The photographic images which survive are mostly of the 3d Bn., because the men in "G" had an arrangement to pool and share their images - again, a butterfly effect upon recording history. The reason not much is written of the personal experiences of the men from the 1st Bn. is, sadly, Monkey Point. The entire website has become, virtually, a Regimental History. It just hasn't been done in a book form.
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