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Post by Karl Welteke on Jan 2, 2021 15:23:06 GMT 8
The man at the extreme left is Major Fullerton. Duane Speyer says: The man at the extreme left is Major Fullerton. I was with him and other Bataan Vets on a trip to Manila in 2003. Note from John Duresky and Karl: One down, who are the others? The man sitting with his left hand on the radio dial is still candidate to be Chester Britt! U665. The man at the extreme left is Major Fullerton. Duke signed the photo for me in the book: Fall of the Philippines. The above pictures and information came from this Facebook URL in the Battle of Bataan Group: www.facebook.com/groups/bataanbattle/permalink/10158910641852232/?comment_id=10158911670847232U666a. Battle of Bataan Facebook capture of comments by Duane Speyer.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jan 2, 2021 13:05:06 GMT 8
Army Lt. Chester Britt had two friends who were rescued in the Great Raid. John Duresky sent me these two pictures: U663. 1945 1 31 Max D Wait morning after the night time raid on Cabanatuan. Photo courtesy of the Army Lt Chester Britt research Team. U664. 1941 Max Wait photo taken at Olongapo PI before Japan invaded. Photo courtesy of the Army Lt Chester Britt research Team. John Wrote this: Karl In your first Facebook page below, on Dec 28 Andy Lally wrote this with the photo of the men being liberated at Cabanatuan "....A good friend sent me this picture. I haven't seen it before. Cabanatuan Survivors after being rescued...." I think you'll like the attached you can post. Chester Britt had two friends who were rescued in that raid. 1LT Jules David Yates, a West Point classmate from 1940. Also, Max D Wait, a civilian from the Rock Island Arsenal who volunteered to work on the guns at Fort Wint. Max Wait was identified to us by his daughter, Mary Beth Wait. Both Yates and Wait came to the Philippines with Chester on the USAT Grant. Also, in the replies, Suzan Speropoulos says her dad went to Japan in December before the raid. Only ship I know that went in December was the Oryoku Maru. Wonder who her dad was? John Note from Karl: John Duresky is member of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team The people of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team are: First are Dave Britt, LTC USAF (Ret), son of Chester K Britt, Vickie Graham CMSGT USAF (Ret), and John Duresky. They all graduated from Logan High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1967, and are doing it as a team. Chester Britt graduated from Logan in 1933 and his mother Grace in 1934. Dave wrote most of the manuscript, John editing what he wrote and doing most of the research, and Vickie is the final editor with about 20 years of professional writing in her resume, largely with Airman magazine. They are planning to write a book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt soon!
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jan 2, 2021 13:01:04 GMT 8
Army Lt. Chester Britt had two friends who were rescued in the Great Raid. John Duresky sent me these two pictures: Z096. 1945 1 31 Max D Wait morning after the night time raid on Cabanatuan. Photo courtesy of the Army Lt Chester Britt research Team. Z097. 1941 Max Wait photo taken at Olongapo PI before Japan invaded. Photo courtesy of the Army Lt Chester Britt research Team. John Wrote this: Karl In your first Facebook page below, on Dec 28 Andy Lally wrote this with the photo of the men being liberated at Cabanatuan "....A good friend sent me this picture. I haven't seen it before. Cabanatuan Survivors after being rescued...." I think you'll like the attached you can post. Chester Britt had two friends who were rescued in that raid. 1LT Jules David Yates, a West Point classmate from 1940. Also, Max D Wait, a civilian from the Rock Island Arsenal who volunteered to work on the guns at Fort Wint. Max Wait was identified to us by his daughter, Mary Beth Wait. Both Yates and Wait came to the Philippines with Chester on the USAT Grant. Also, in the replies, Suzan Speropoulos says her dad went to Japan in December before the raid. Only ship I know that went in December was the Oryoku Maru. Wonder who her dad was? John Note from Karl: John Duresky is member of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team The people of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team are: First are Dave Britt, LTC USAF (Ret), son of Chester K Britt, Vickie Graham CMSGT USAF (Ret), and John Duresky. They all graduated from Logan High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1967, and are doing it as a team. Chester Britt graduated from Logan in 1933 and his mother Grace in 1934. Dave wrote most of the manuscript, John editing what he wrote and doing most of the research, and Vickie is the final editor with about 20 years of professional writing in her resume, largely with Airman magazine. They are planning to write a book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt soon!
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 30, 2020 16:50:42 GMT 8
The other four men zoomed in from John Duresky From the picture: “Listening to the Voice of Freedom in Bataan” above, posted just a day or two ago. U659. Zoomed-in, one of the other 4 men in the famous WWII picture of the Battle of Bataan:”Listening to the Voice of Freedom in Bataan”, courtesy of John Duresky. U660. Zoomed-in, one of the other 4 men in the famous WWII picture of the Battle of Bataan:”Listening to the Voice of Freedom in Bataan”, courtesy of John Duresky. U661. Zoomed-in, one of the other 4 men in the famous WWII picture of the Battle of Bataan:”Listening to the Voice of Freedom in Bataan”, courtesy of John Duresky. U662. Zoomed-in, one of the other 4 men in the famous WWII picture of the Battle of Bataan:”Listening to the Voice of Freedom in Bataan”, courtesy of John Duresky. John Duresky wrote me this when he sent the above 4 zoomed-in images: Thanks. Even if it leads to miraculously identifying one of the other men in that clear Wirephoto it would be great. Those radios were so important to the morale of the men as they were isolated on Bataan. When I see photos like that, and knowing how few men survived that fought on Bataan, I have to wonder what happened to each of them. Hope they all made it but know the odds are against that. I attached close-ups of the other four men in case you might want to add them to your sites. The look on the faces of each man is intense, and no doubt those looks were on the faces of tens of thousands of other men on Bataan. The second man doesn't look much older than 18. For now they are five unknown soldiers. John
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 29, 2020 6:45:32 GMT 8
Is this Lt. Britt in this famous WWII picture? U654. The famous WWII picture of the Bataan Defenders, found by the Army Lt Britt research Team. This picture is from the 1942 4 10 MINNEAPOLIS MN STAR TRIBUNE. The team is wondering whether the lanky individual could be Lt. Britt. The team research member, John Duresky, wrote this to John Moffitt and me on the 25th Dec 2020: Good morning guys, I'd like your unbiased opinions. Early last year I saw the photo in the YANK magazine which immediately I thought looked like Chester Britt. Same photo turns up in articles around the time Bataan fell. Compared the photo in the article to a photo of Chester standing beside his wife. I managed to buy an original clearer wirephoto on Ebay, complete with all the grease pen marks the editors back then used to make photos work better when printed. I thought it looked like him, Dave Britt questioned whether it was him or not. This morning I used the wirephoto and the photo of Chester with Grace, and another profile photo of him taken with Bob Cooper on the way to the Philippines. I had to flip the photos and change angles a bit to match the wirephoto to get the best possible comparison of the face. The body of Chester and man in the wirephoto are both very lanky and can be seen in the full size photos. Man sitting who I think is Chester, and the man kneeling to the right have some sort of armband that I can't quite make out. What do the two of you think? Do you think I have managed to identify Chester Britt in this Bataan photo beyond a reasonable doubt? Two questionable things are in the wirephoto. That man appears to be wearing glasses, and as far as I know Chester never wore glasses....would artillerymen back then wear glasses for eye protection? Also, the man in the wirephoto is wearing coveralls with what look like oil stains which may or may not be standard for someone handling and moving 155mm artillery in the jungle. Would an artillery officer dress this way? Thanks, John He also send these two following picture he used to come that idea/question whether it could be Lt Britt. U655. 1944 10 wirephoto of men on Bataan listening to radio view 2 COMPARISON U656. 1940 9 Chet and Robert G Cooper on USAT Grant en route to Philippines Both John Moffitt and I were amazed about the similarities and agree that there is an amazing similarity. But we both pointed out, John Duresky’s own doubtful questions: Two questionable things are in the wirephoto. That man appears to be wearing glasses, and as far as I know Chester never wore glasses....would artillerymen back then wear glasses for eye protection? Also, the man in the wirephoto is wearing coveralls with what look like oil stains which may or may not be standard for someone handling and moving 155mm artillery in the jungle. Would an artillery officer dress this way? On the 26th Dec 2020, John Duresky came right back and said this: OK, will go on the side of caution and simply note it as an original wirephoto of the men in the paper. Both of you are welcome to post the w irephoto on your site with the article if you like. Who know, maybe another relative will see it and be able to identify one of the other men in the photo who are facing forward. John John Duresky also found these other two pictures and made them available: U657. 1944 10 29 YANK BRITISH EDITION THE ARMY WEEKLY page 8. U658. 1944 10 wirephoto of men on Bataan listening to radio view 1 The people of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team are: First is Dave Britt, LTC USAF (Ret), son of Chester K Britt, Vickie Graham CMSGT USAF (Ret), and John Duresky. They all graduated from Logan High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1967, and are doing it as a team. Chester Britt graduated from Logan in 1933 and his mother Grace in 1934. Dave wrote most of the manuscript, John editing what he wrote and doing most of the research, and Vickie is the final editor with about 20 years of professional writing in her resume, largely with Airman magazine. They are planning to write a book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt soon!
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 26, 2020 15:09:47 GMT 8
SBFZ and Subic Bay Views 21st and 24th Dec.2020 I added 8 images to this album, this one, called: Return to the Philippines 2020. This is the URL for the 8 pictures Facebook addition: This is the URL for the album: Return to the Philippines 2020, first impressions and views: www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=karlwilhelm.welteke&set=a.10220937675665330For this Facebook presentation I only chose these 3 images: U651.-This is one of 5 images with views of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ), the former Naval Base on the 21st Dec. 2020, from the 6th level of the 8 story high Shoe Mart Mall (SM Mall) about the former main gate area. The few things that are still recognizable from our Naval Base time are listed here; everything else you see is new. 1= is the Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Club which became a Chinese Restaurant; 2= is the single barracks, across Canal Street from the CPO Club-it became a hotel and a casino; 3= was our Gym-it is torn down now and a new steel frame building is going up; 4=the Philippine Flag is flying at the same place where it jointly flew with the US Flag until Nov 1992. But is flying at a higher flag pole now; 5= is the old Cubi Point Naval Air Station fighter Hangar and is now an international air port terminal but with very little traffic right now; 6= More of the old Cubi Point Naval Air Station hangars- once they were used by FedEx before they moved their hub to Red China. U652.-Since my return to the Philippines this was my first walk on the hills, and got this nice view of Barrio Barretto. I marked a few spots: 1= Two large school buildings were added in the Barretto Elementary School #1, perhaps they are expanding to high school classes. That means Barretto has now 2 elementary and 2 high Schools. 2= is the Barangay (Barrio, Village) Barretto covered, open sided, event hall and basket ball courtyard. 3= is the Barangay, Barrio Barretto Catholic Church, I believe it was built in 1986. 4= is now a budget hotel, this is where the Irish Rose Bar used to be. Then it became a gas station. 5= is the Suzuki Beach Hotel. It was built after the base closure and has expanded now. 6= is Grande Island, the ex Fort Wint. Here is a story you may not have heard. During the Spanish American War and before American Philippine War started, the Spanish Civilians and Military took refuge on Grande Island and did not want to surrender to the Filipino Freedom Fighters. An Imperial German War appeared and assisted the Spanish. General Aguinaldo reported that to Commodore Dewey. He sent a US warship up here and told the Germans to beat it and turned the Spanish over to the Freedom Fighters. As far as I can tell this area was the Maquinaya Naval Firing Range until 1942 and became a Naval Supply Depot in 1945 until about 1959 when it was returned to the Philippine Authorities. It is amazing what has become of this place, not bad! U653.-Since my return to the Philippines this was my first walk on the hills, and got this nice view of Barrio Barretto. I marked a few spots: 1= this is where the approximate 1945 pier and bay swell breaking metal sheeting run. Most of the metal sheeting still exists, mostly underwater and you can see the concrete pilings where the pier run ashore.2= is the large addition of the By The Sea Hotel. 3= is the new Central Park Reef Hotel. Both are hit hard by the virus from Red China and are closed presently. We hope better times are around the corner.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 25, 2020 18:36:25 GMT 8
Subic Town Market and Fishing Port Dec. 2020 On the 16th of Dec. 2020 I had reasons to visit Subic Town. I was surprised to see a new and very large market has been built with plenty of parking. The family has decided to go shopping there from now on. I made an album with 29 pictures in my Photobucket account. If you are going to watch it, I suggest you click slideshow and wide screen; the advertisements should not show up then! This is the URL: app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/254564ee-7cc0-474b-a378-9ca65a09e4a9 For this forum notification I only use this one picture, ice being delivered to a fishing boat! U650. One of 12 pictures of the fish landing area; real early in the morning it is super crowded here with people selling and buying fishes. The 29 pictures are labeled as follows below: One of 5 images of the new Subic Town market; it is big and spacey. The 5th picture was shot on the 23rd of Dec and it was crowded. People stayed apart? One of 5 images of the surroundings around the new Subic Town market; it is easy to park. One of 5 images of the Subic Town fishing boats; I was surprised that there were that many boats. One of 12 pictures of the fish landing area; real early in the morning it is super crowded here with people selling and buying fishes. One of 3 pictures about a large ferry vessel being loaded with Mt. Pinatubo sand; don’t know where to, Red China?
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 23, 2020 18:05:44 GMT 8
Just added 13 images to my FB album: Return to the P.I. 2020, first impressions, views. For this forum notification I will add only this image: Another short walk in Barrio Barretto on the 16th of Dec. I’m enjoying a cold diet drink in the back of a bar, beach bar and hotel complex which is now called Out-Back Billaboks (not sure I spelled it right). Way back this was the Night Rider Bar but now it got the pool and beach area in back. In the distance we see the historical Grande Island and the former Fort Wint. This is the URL for the posting of 13 images to my FB: This is the URL of the album: Return to the P.I. 2020, first impressions, views: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10220937675665330&type=3
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 20, 2020 17:22:39 GMT 8
Added 20 pictures to an album, returned to the Philippines 2020. The link to the album is below. For your information only the first image is presented here in the forum. It shows Grande Island, the former Fort Wint in the distance. But 2 maps of the stretch of beach of Subic Bay, called Barretto Beach, are added for your orientation. Barretto Beach was once the Marine/Navy Maquinaya Rifle Range until 1942. Then in in 1945 it became the Naval Subic Bay Supply Depot, perhaps until 1959. U646. One of 20 images of my walk to Barrio Barretto Beach on the 5th of Dec. 2020, a Saturday; this was my 2nd day of freedom, after 2 weeks home quarantine since the family returned to the Philippines from Hawaii. The blue, calm waters, the beach of the bay of Subic Bay are irresistible, especially when I think how I spent the months of December in Germany or Utah. I was surprised how much entertainment is going on, a stark difference what I just experienced in Hawaii, under the New Normal because of the Virus from Red China. It is like, I’m free again! The iCove Hotel is next to Mangos and it seems to be full of guests every day. The Palm Tree place is on the other side of Mangos and has the Water Fun Island in front. I entered the beach at Drift wood Beach, walked to Papagayo and had a beer, met and talked to the proprietor, who is Ironman Legend. Walked to iCove, looked around the Beach in front of it, had a cool diet drink and contemplated how happy I am, that the Navy brought me to these shores of history. At the first picture you are able to see Grande Island, the former Fort Wint, full of history by itself. Some of the big hotels are closed or at very reduced operations. The iCove Hotel is located where the Islander Bar was, famous because of its Submarine Service connection. The proprietor of iCove Hotel, is the owner of Arlene’s money exchange, where many of us Vets change their money. U647. Barretto map fm Casa Barretto U648. Barretto map from Arizona Hotel Added 20 pictures to this album, returned to the Philippines 2020. www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10220937675665330&type=3
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 20, 2020 8:55:37 GMT 8
The Main Gate Bridge in the SBFZ, the former Subic Bay Naval Base, 2020. Z04. The Main Gate Bridge of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone(SBFZ) has been closed for vehicle traffic for years, it was apparently unsafe for vehicle traffic. Finally, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) came up with the money to build a new one. The project seemed to be stalled but is now finally taking shape as a wide new bridge. Left is the nicely covered walkway for all workers and visitors streaming on and off the former Subic Bal Naval Base, in numbers exceeding the count during our Naval Base time. Photo is courtesy of my long time brown-shoe friend Carlito Pickering. He always reminds me of a scene in the movie Officers and Gentlemen, one of the fathers of the Gentlemen hanging around in Olongapo City. A Shoemart Mall (SM) has risen of the former Lot 21 just on the Olongapo side of the bridge, about 7 stories high, where this photo was shot from.
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