I was a bit taken aback by your statement. Who are the "some" who suggest that Corregidor need not be retaken because the minefields were no longer operational? From what I understand the USS La Vallette and the USS Radford were not the only vessels who encountered these "non operational" mines.
But that aside, for conversation sake lets say the mines were out of action, do these "some" think that the nearly 6,000 Imperial Marines on the island would not open fire on any and every ship that came into the harbor just because we left them alone? This was not exactly your run of the mill hornets nest that you could reason that if we leave it alone it will not harm us.
This was going to be my next road trip for the wife and I. Your post just made me even more excited about seeing the museum that I have heard so much about. Can't wait!
Can I say something? I am heartsick over this. No, that does not even begin to describe how I feel. It is like being told that a close friend has come down with some terrible disease.
During idle moments I check in to this website regularly. It is a place where one can go to seek a calming influence in a hectic day, to decompress if you will.
Please forgive a technically challenged old Jarhead's question, but if we do find another site that allows 3rd party hosting, will we be able to re-post all the pictures en mass or will they have to be replaced one at a time?
Talk about herculean tasks. How many different threads do we have? How many pages for each thread? How many posts per page are there? For me it would be somewhat time consuming but doable as I did not learn how to post the pictures until about a year ago. But for someone like John with over 5,000 pics, it would be near impossible unless he quit his job or at the very least took a one year leave of absence, neither of which are an option I am sure. I fear that it is a death knell for many of the posts, especially those from very occasional or one time posters.
Which I guess brings us to the $64,000 question, What is available to us at very little or no charge to accomplish our tasks? It was frustrating to use photobucket in that I was bombarded with ads whenever I started doing something but was willing to put up with that to get the job done free of charge. It also seemed to me that something was always different on the site every time I went to use it and had to play around with it to get it right each time.
Last week my wife and I did a road trip to our nations capital. It was not hard finding references to WWII. We started our trip actually just outside of Washington DC in Arlington, VA. Here is what we recorded.
Being a former Marine I noticed this grave immediately. In a very prominent location close to the entrance and clearly visible from the road is the grave sight of General Alexander Archer Vandegrift who commanded the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal and later became the 18th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
All along the walkways there were these small memorials to specific units. For unknown reasons I just happened to stop and look at this one. I was glad that I did.
511th
Saw these beauties sitting on a hill. Perhaps we can have Batteryboy give us the particulars.
Here is the eternal flame atop the grave of John F Kennedy who served in the Pacific. In the background you can see the former home of confederate general Robert E Lee and the flag at half mast.
This memorial was for the Underwater Demolition Team divers who I believe were the precursors to the Navy Seals of today. Maybe we can get our own resident Navy diver Karl to give us the facts on this.
At the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum there were plenty of references to WWII in the Pacific.
Here we see the vaunted Mitsubishi A6M5, the scourge of the Pacific.
Here is a view of the underside of this Zero.
Here is an example of the DC 3 in the guise of Eastern Airlines, but WWII buffs know this plane well. It served in just about every theater of operation under the Army designation of C 47 and the Navy designation of the R4D.
And what trip to the DC area would be complete for a former Marine without visiting the Iwo Jima Memorial.
Around the base of the memorial are written all the major campaigns for the Marine Corps. Here we see the Spanish American war on the south side of the base.
The east side has the commemoration.
The north side needs no intro from me.
I had been to DC many times, years ago, so I never saw the WWII Memorial until this trip. It is perfectly situated on the National Mall in between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It has 2 four sided arches at the north and south ends one dedicated to the Pacific and the other to the Atlantic.
It is beautiful, respectful and well done.
Around the base of the arches are written the major events of the Pacific side of the war. Someone had placed flowers. I wish I could have met who did.
Here is a nice view of a quote from FDR's speech with the Washington Monument in the background.
Along the side were many pictorial depictions of major events. This was the last one and I interpreted it as the freeing of POWs.
From that spot, here is a shot of the Washington Monument to the east.
And here is a view to the west looking through the WWII Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial.
Same view from about 200 yards to the east.
All in all, a magnificent, inspiring and humbling visit.
I too, did the day tour on my first visit. It was just the start.
Like many here at this site, it stirred something inside me as it appears as though it has done to you. We all feel the mystique of what went on there and feel it pulling us back. I do not see how anyone can just do the day tour and not know deep inside that they must return. Or maybe that is just people like us, I do not know. I just know that I will be back there as many times as possible. Perhaps I will see you there.
Welcome aboard.
Shoutbox
JackJensen: I came across my father's name - Capt. Paul Jensen - who was with the CIC, on the forum. I'm hoping to find more, though it appears that his area - Sicily, North Africa - was not the focus of the board. So, I'm not sure how much I can contribute.
Jan 6, 2024 20:44:06 GMT 8
EXO: To clarify: There are a disturbing number of applicants for membership who are not reading the rules. As a result, new members who have not made a relevant post within 3 months may be deleted without further notice, on the ground they are "bots".
Feb 29, 2024 20:10:50 GMT 8
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lf62: Does anyone have the pdf file of 434. US Naval Station (NAVSTA) Subic Bay 1985 map or drawing that they can share with me? Let me know and I will send you my email address.
Mar 14, 2024 15:18:24 GMT 8
fortman: Thanks Karl. Sad to see so much deterioration on Grande Island.
Apr 18, 2024 3:44:41 GMT 8