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Post by rik on Oct 10, 2013 21:56:19 GMT 8
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Post by rik on Oct 8, 2013 12:34:17 GMT 8
I don't think it is a lack of respect for the accomplishment, I think it is a matter of scope. Iwo Jima was at the same time and the casualties were so much greater Well, like I said, I think "respect" is probably the wrong word. What I meant was more a lack of being recognized for its importance. For instance, I can't remember Corregidor ever being taught in any of my history classes in high school or college yet I can recall practically every battle in Europe and North Africa being taught ad nauseum. The Pacific part of WW2 seems to get reduced to: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the US retaliated by capturing a bunch of islands in the south Pacific culminating in raising the flag at Iwo Jima, then dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki thus ending the war. How can you teach the Pacific campaign without at least going into some detail about Corregidor? I own dozens of WW2 documentaries on DVD, probably several hundreds of hours worth and not a single one of them give The Rock more than a passing mention. If they do, it's usually as a side note to the Bataan Death March.
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Post by rik on Oct 8, 2013 1:32:56 GMT 8
Okla, I like the way you think: holding out as long as they did under completely impossible odds quite possibly cost Japan the war in the long run. Consider that the Japanese 4th Division was earmarked to go augment Japanese forces fighting in the island campaigns after Corregidor was captured; by the time Corregidor was finally taken, the 4th Division was decimated so badly (down to somewhere around 10% strength I think?) that they had to be sent back to Japan to be decommissioned. If they'd taken Bataan and Corregidor as quickly and cleanly as they anticipated and the 4th did go on to augment their forces fighting the island campaigns, how many of the the Allied victories would have been losses? Would Japan have been able to invade Australia as they planned? I think one has to read some of the detailed accounts ("Saga of a Fortress" is my favorite) of what the defenders of Corregidor went through, not just to survive but to inflict massive damage to the Japanese war machine to really get a sense of exactly how important The Rock and Bataan were to the eventual Allied victory in the Pacific. And that was only the first half of its part in the war; the airborne operation to retake it was nothing short of miraculous when you consider everything that could (and should) have gone wrong but didn't. It was like a great tragedy in two parts with a bittersweet ending. Taken together, there really was no greater subplot to the Pacific campaign. It astounds me that Hollywood has never bothered to make a major production film about Corregidor. Hell, the miniseries "The Pacific" omitted Corregidor completely.
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Post by rik on Oct 7, 2013 15:45:08 GMT 8
"Respect" probably isn't the right word but this is something I've been wondering since learning the whole story of The Rock. The average American is very, very familiar with the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy and rightly so as it was certainly the pivotal battle in winning the war in Europe. So why doesn't Corregidor get anywhere near as much attention? I would argue that Corregidor/Bataan was as important to winning the Pacific theater as D-Day was to winning the European theater. Not only that but you could also make the case that the men and women who held out as long as they did under impossible odds on The Rock sacrificed as much as the men who landed in Normandy, also under impossible odds. It's not my intention to denigrate D-Day at all, I've just always thought that Corregidor deserves to be held in equally high regard. It disappoints me greatly that more Americans don't know anything about Corregidor beyond it being just another battle of WW2.
Thoughts?
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Post by rik on Oct 6, 2013 13:47:48 GMT 8
Congrats Rick, I did a similar trip about a year ago - overnight private tour on Corregidor, Veterans Day ceremony at the American cemetery, Manila tour and Bataan/Mt. Samat tour. Loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back!
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Post by rik on Sept 7, 2013 14:20:51 GMT 8
Watched it a couple weeks ago. It was ok, nothing really special. Based on historical facts, some of which I didn't know but found interesting. Tommy Lee Jones did a really good job for the most part but for me he was not the right actor to play MacArthur because it was like watching Tommy Lee Jones, not Douglas MacArthur. Also, there is really nothing about the PI in the movie at all, it's strictly about the decision of what to do with the Japanese leadership after the war. I don't understand why Hollywood has never made a really great movie about Corregidor in the past 30 or 40 years. It'd be the perfect topic for a war drama or even a mini series.
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Post by rik on Sept 7, 2013 14:10:37 GMT 8
Bob, I will happily take you up on that offer and I'll even bring my two young boys. It will do them good to learn about their history first hand. This past November I was able to do a tour of Bataan, I might have even passed by you. We won't make it back this year but next summer for sure, if not sooner. San Mig on me...
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Post by rik on Sept 5, 2013 23:34:58 GMT 8
Okla, at our beach there is a bar where a few ex-pat Americans (and Brits, Aussies, Scots, Norwegians, Canadians, etc) hang out and I've gotten to be friends with most of them. One in particular is a retired Air Force E9, he is great. I've also met some of the guys from the local VFW in San Fernando too. I'm so f'ing jealous of those guys, they are living off their military retirements comfortably. Unfortunately I only did 7 years active (and 7 in the reserves) so I don't have the military retirement coming in. Currently I'm a GS12, Step 4 which is really good money but at some point you wonder if it's worth the stress and bullshit that the government puts you through. I would honestly move to the PI today if I could ever find a job that paid at least 25-30k a year there. Near impossible, I know, and this is my heartbreak.
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Post by rik on Sept 5, 2013 21:06:04 GMT 8
(Continued from original post...)
Upon returning back to the "real world", I posted pics of my Corregidor experience on my Facebook account and dutifully tagged Mike Larsen in all the pics involving the 503rd - the drop zone, the monument, etc., along with a short description of each. A week or so later, out of the blue, I received a message from Mike's father-in-law. It turns out that his FIL, Joe, was actually born on Corregidor in 1940 and left when he was about a year old after his father received a direct commission. Joe told me that he had never been back to Corregidor but that he and his wife were retired and traveling constantly. They had been wanting to go visit his birthplace for a while but several friends of theirs had told them that the Philippines was way too dangerous and that they should not go and he asked me what I thought. I told him in no uncertain terms that his friends were completely wrong, that the Philippines was very safe (unless you go to the south where the crazy Muslims are) and that they should definitely do it. I offered to help them with the logistics of where to stay, etc. , should they ever decide to go. A month or so later they came to visit the family and we were able to get together so I could advise them on their trip which they'd scheduled for November. My unbridled enthusiasm as I described the tour and such was so evident that they asked if I'd be interested in accompanying them. I cleared it with the wife and was able to go with them. I did a lot of leg work before the trip, arranging private tours with Carlos Reyes, tour guide extraordinaire, and giving him as much information as I could about Joe's short time on Corregidor. Carlos came through BIG TIME. He arranged for us to have a private tour of the hospital ruins and he did some research to figure out which bombed out room was once the delivery room that Joe was born in. The look on Joe's face was just priceless. It was just an incredible experience. Joe even brought a copy of his birth certificate and gave a copy to Carlos since they did not have one for an American born on Corregidor in the museum. I don't know if it's made it in there or not but it might eventually.
We were also able to do private tours of Manila, Bataan and Mt Samat which we enjoyed thoroughly. As veterans, Carlos also ensured that we were able to attend the Veterans Day ceremony at the American cemetery in Manila, a very moving experience. After the ceremony Carlos introduced us to Leslie Ann Murray who was a small child when the Japanese attacked. Her family had fled to Manila beforehand, thinking they'd be safe, but ended up being taken prisoners by the Japanese. These days she is one of the head honchos in charge of the upkeep of the WW2 American memorials in the PI. We keep in sporadic contact and I've mentioned to her that I would love to get involved with what she does in some way, shape or form.
So that's my story in a nutshell. My dream is to be able to pursue my passion for Corregidor and WW2 history in the PI full time, even if it means relocating my family to the PI but alas, with three young children, I'm not sure I could ever find a job that could support us there. I'd imagine many others on this site have the same dream. So I'll keep trying to get the most out of my once yearly trips there until the day that I can hopefully retire to our beach house and finally follow my passion...
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Post by rik on Sept 5, 2013 20:38:22 GMT 8
Hello to all; I will apologize in advance for the length of my initial post but I have a somewhat serendipitous connection to Corregidor so I hope you will all indulge me. I promise to keep future posts shorter...
My name is Rik, I'm a Department of the Army Civilian (US) working at an Army base in Vicenza, Italy called Caserma Ederle. I arrived here as a young Sergeant in 2000, assigned to the Southern European Task Force (SETAF). In that year, the 173rd ABCT was reactivated here and the following year, the 2-503rd was reactivated as an airborne unit and assigned to the 173rd here. The 1-503rd followed in 2006. In the years that followed I've heard paratroopers constantly sound off with "The Rock!" without ever knowing the meaning or origins of the motto.
In 2002 I married a beautiful woman who I'd met in Hong Kong and who was born and raised in Pangasinan. Henceforth my fate has been irrevocably intertwined with the Philippines however I did not take my first trip to the islands until 2010, I'm ashamed to say. On that first trip I fell in love with the country, so much so that we ended up buying a small beach house in San Fabian on Lingayan Gulf and we now spend a few weeks there every summer for vacation. There are five of us now: myself, my wife Virginia and our three boys - Xavier (9), Luca (5) and Maximus (8 months).
Also in 2010 I met and became friends with a new coworker who happened to live in my town, a fellow named LTC Mike Larsen. After a year or so, Mike assumed command of the 2-503rd, "The Rock" as they prepared for their impending deployment to Afghanistan. Somewhere during this time I happened to be reading up on some WW2 history in the Philippines and came across he story of the 2-503rd's airborne assault on Corregidor. I was familiar with Corregidor and knew it had the nickname of "The Rock" but somehow never connected the dots between that and the 503rd motto of the same name. A few days later I ran into Mike and told him, rather shamefully, that I never knew the connection. He excitedly told me the history of the airborne jump and I replied "You know Mike, we have a small beach house in the Philippines and we go every summer for vacation...I'm planning on doing the Corregidor tour on our next trip and I'd be happy to try and bring you back a little piece of The Rock if you want...". Well, word spread and next thing you know, I had about a dozen current and past 2-503rd buddies who also wanted a piece of The Rock. On our next trip to the PI I did indeed do the Corregidor tour (day trip) and I was absolutely blown away. I'd wanted to be read up on the history of the island beforehand so I'd borrowed the great book "Corregidor: Saga of a Fortress" from the base library and tore through it in the months leading up to my trip which helped immensely. I ended up picking up about 30 small rocks at or near the base of the 503rd monument on Drop Zone Alpha to bring home with me and made many current 503rd paratroopers very happy. As for myself, I was so taken with Corregidor that I vowed to take the tour each and every time we went back to the PI for vacation.
Here's where the story get even more interesting. I will continue in the next post...
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