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Post by Registrar on Dec 20, 2012 19:05:11 GMT 8
On December 19, 2012, Historian DR. RICO JOSE, wrote as follows concerning this PBS Documentary:
The Yamashita people did come to see me and interviewed me on the Philippine campaign, the Battle of Manila, the war crimes trials, memory of the war etc.
I gave them the best I could, indicating particularly that the atrocities in Manila were not committed by crazed men but men following orders.
I also tried to stress to them that Iwabuchi and Yokokayama were in touch with Okochi and Yamashita respectively, although the radio communications were not perfect.
I gave them a copy of my article on the Japanese side of Manila published a couple of years ago, and also stressed that Gen. Muto told other war criminal suspects not to admit guilt and thus safeguard the reputation of the Japanese Army.
I told Allan (Ryan) that I believe Yamashita knew what had happened - I will try to find my source on this and send it to him. So I hope I have done my part.
Actually, they were referred to me by the National Historical Commission last September...(private comments deleted)...so I couldn't say no.
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Post by Registrar on Dec 20, 2012 18:56:59 GMT 8
In a message dated 19/12/2012 17:49:34 GMT Standard Time, ANGUS LORENZEN of BACEPOW writes:
Several years ago, the Japanese television giant NHK made a video titled, Remembering the Battle of Manila. It purports to have done research at the U.S. National Archives as a basis. It uses all of the tricks that televison has for implying authority when there is none that exisits. For instance, its claim to National Archives authority is proven by showing a sequence of someone walking through the stacks. The theme of the video is that the U.S. was totally at fault for the huge death rate of Filipino civilians. First, it states that U.S. forces surrounded Manila, preventing the Japanese forces from leaving the city, which was the reason that the Japnese had to fight there. We know that is false because the 1st Cavalry and 37th Infantry entered North Manila and did not start their effort to cross the Pasig River and move around to the east for several days, and the 11th Airborne was still well to the south and took several weeks of hard fighting to enter the Manila suburbs to complete the surrounding of the city.
The two glider regiments of the 11th Airborne Division landed on Nasgubu Beach 70 miles south of Manila on January 31, 1945, and the 511th Airborne Regiment jumped on Tagaytay Ridge on February 3. The two forces joined up and started their advance on Manila. They were delayed for several days by heavy fighting near Nichols Field and Fort McKinley, leaving the back door open for two weeks for Admiral Iwabuchi and his troops to escape Manila, had they wanted to.
[ NOTE: While other American troops were driving on Manila from the north, the 11th Airborne made an amphibious landing 60 miles south of Manila, 31 January 1945, at Nasugbu, and began to drive north. The first combat jump by an element of the division in the war, that of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment on Tagaytay Ridge, 3 February 1945, met no resistance. The 511th crossed the Paranaque River 5 February, and reached Manila, meeting fierce Japanese resistance. Nichols Field was taken, 12 February, and Fort McKinley was flanked, 12-16 February, and finally taken, 17 February. Throughout this period, and until 10 February, the Japanese Forces held control of corridors to the East, and could have staged a fighting withdrawal had they been ordered to. That significant forces remained in Manila was intentional, and the claim that it was an error not to allow them to stage some form of fighting withdrawal is a modern myth. Registrar.] Second, it shows the same combat film sequence several times - American troops lying on a street firing rifles over the heads of Filipinos also lying in the street. This is repeatedly described as Americans shooting AT Filipinos. Third, it admits that the Japanese were forced to kill some civilians, but only to prevent guerillas from infiltratring their defenses. Killing women, children, and babies in huge numbers somehow prevent the guerillas from infiltration? These are just a few of the egregious statements made in this Japanese video. To my knowledge, it has not been shown on U.S. television. I suspect it was primarily made for consumption in the Philippines and other Asian countries. At the time I reviewed the video, I wrote to a number of people and stated that if this video was ever shown on U.S. TV we would have to initiate a passionate campaign against it to set the record straight.
If PBS is now to pick up the cudgel for the Japanese, then it is time to start a wide ranging campaign against this distortion of history by a U.S. government supported media outlet. Cheers, Angus
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Post by Registrar on Dec 20, 2012 18:44:24 GMT 8
Posted on behalf of John Rocha, who was intimately involved with the Foundation that established the Memorare-Manila 1945 monument in Intramuros:[/i] Although I was not interviewed for the NHK’s video titled “ Remembering the Battle for Manila”, I nevertheless came out several times as the editor extrapolated scenes from previous NHK interview regarding Memorare-Manila on numerous events that was held on the liberation of Manila highlighting Japanese atrocities against non-combatants. On several instances, I was quoted out of context and my name was changed. I protested to the Japanese Embassy and the local NHK representative but to no avail. This video was repeatedly shown in Manila on the History Channel. Through the use of half truths, self-serving interviews, ingenious splicing of old footage...etc.. an erroneous impression on the Battle for Manila was achieved, insinuating the Japanese were acting in self-defence against the civilian population which they alleged was heavily infiltrated by armed guerrillas and worse yet, the false allegation that US troops also committed atrocities against civilians. In reality Historical BASURA. Thanks and regards, John
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Post by Registrar on Dec 12, 2012 11:06:11 GMT 8
The following are some vignettes sent to me by Nancy L. Bert, concerning her husband Gene, which had been lost in 2008 and are now found: When WWII started Gene tried seven times to get into the army. He finally was accepted in spite of a heart murmur. His company commander was Van Heflin, the movie star. When Gene saw the poster about signing up for the first parachute training he was eager to go. Van Heflin tried to dissuade him because Gene wasn't very strong. He went anyway. He was always the man at the end of the line for marches, etc. He made it! Then he got pneumonia and had to ship out with the 503rd instead of the 501st. His doctor of today, who put him on Hospice in August of 2006, is amazed at his health and said of all her patients he is a survivor. He has congestive heart failure, only about 1/3 of his lungs (he had pneumonia 12 times in his life - once in Korea), has malignant hypertension, and had renal failure, but I think I reversed that with careful diet. I know that I am prejudiced in his favor but I think he is a most remarkable person. When I asked him, "Was John Eisenhower your card playing partner?", he said that yes he was. I gasped and Gene said, "Don't worry, Dear. He was really smart at cards but Pierre Salinger wasn't as good." Isn't that funny? Another memory: One time Gene was jumping (not combat) and he and a major (probably Maj. Arlis Kline) landed in a rice paddy and before they could collapse their chutes the wind took them across the paddy; the major yelled to Gene "I'll beat you across!" They were later reprimanded for clowning around. Once in Jump School (Gene trained with the 501st, became ill, and subsequently shipped out with the 503rd) Gene did a night jump and landed in a tree. He felt the branches. They were very small so he thought, "I must be way high in this tree. If I get out of my chute and get down as far as I can and let go, I'll probably break my legs in the fall. But, if I hang here I am going to freeze to death." So, he got out of his chute, hung down, let go and dropped about four inches. On another jump he had to use a borrowed chute. When he jumped and counted the prescribed amount his chute didn't open. He waited a bit longer and then pulled his reserve chute. He felt the opening shock and then he landed. He had his kit bag in his hand. The shock he felt had been a delayed opening of his main chute. Had both chutes opened he would have had a big problem. Did this man lead a charmed life, or what? Did I relate the circumstances of Gene's having landed in a ravine and that the sides to the top were of shale? He climbed up with the help of some pipes coming from a nearby pump house. The other man with him ran and hid in the pump house. Gene yelled at him to get out of there because it was a stationery target. The man wouldn't listen to Gene and the pump house took a direct hit. He thinks that man may have been Husky but he is not sure. The pump house was blown all to bits. (Harvey R. HUSKEY, Pfc Cannoneer, Battery “A”, 462d P.F.A. Bn., was killed on Corregidor on 16 February, the day of the jump. Bennett M. Guthrie wrote of him: One bizarre incident of the Corregidor campaign remains as a unique and eerie mystery. Whereas all those missing in action from the 503d Infantry are accounted for and their deaths confirmed by witnesses, the single missing in action report of the 462d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion indicates that Cannoneer Harvey R. Huskey of Battery A was never seen again after he parachuted from his plane onto Corregidor. The assaulting paratroopers turned every rock and pebble on the Rock at least twice in their relentless search for the enemy. Yet the remains of this artillery man were never discovered.
His remains were found after the 503d/462d departed Corregidor, , and Harvey Huskey was buried in the Highland Cemetery in Allen County, Kansas in October 1949.)
If someone would seek his death file, the answer would likely be found. – Registrar )
When Gene had to hide under a manhole cover, one of the Epsom (Impson) brothers was with him. He doesn't remember which one. That was a hair raising experience (maybe that's when Gene went bald - just joking). Wasn't Larson one of those killed on Monkey Point when a rock fell on him? Wasn't it his daughter who asked about him several years ago at a time when Gene still had a good memory? That's how I found this site, by entering Gene's name in a search under the 503rd and it mentioned Gene's having seen his body under the boulder. Gene says it's difficult for him to remember because it was so long ago. In Australia, some of the men went AWOL to Gimpy (Gympie, the first rail stop of any size north of Brisbane.) Don't bother looking for they were never charged. Captain Pope and Gene went to Gimpy and when they walked into the bar/pub where the men were having a drink they looked up, saw the captain, and said, "You too, Captain?". Gene had often told me that when his stick was ready to jump, Capt. Pope said they were to jump when he said and not when the pilot indicated they should. As a result not one man went into the water. The (Impson) brothers were a part of his stick. Gene was very proud of Captain Pope (who later became a Conn. legislature); when he died my husband grieved. Nancy L. Bert (Of the conflicting stories, I prefer the comment of this author that “not one man (from Gene’s stick) went into the water” to the stories told postwar that both Impson brothers actually landed in the water. Having spoken with a number of paratroopers, I believe that there is no evidence that any paratrooper landed in the water during the jump. - Registrar)
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Post by Registrar on Dec 9, 2012 20:25:28 GMT 8
Post Ondoy, i believe that more were hospitalised from Leptospirosis than snakebite.
Leptospirosis is among the world's most common diseases transmitted to people from animals. The infection is commonly transmitted to humans by allowing water that has been contaminated by animal urine, notably rat urine, to come in contact with unhealed breaks in the skin, the eyes, or with the mucous membranes.
The justifiable caution which one naturally has with snakes in floodwaters serves us even better to evade the complete failure of kidney function brought about by our microscopic enemies.
Our neighbor spent days in critical care close to death because of the Ondoy floodwaters.
I will now caution myself against my getting even further off topic. Snakes on Corregidor give me the heebiejeebies BIGTIME! Even more concerning is to consider the state of medical preparedness there.
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Post by Registrar on Dec 7, 2012 12:01:49 GMT 8
‘ABANDONED PHILIPPINES CEMETERY RANKLES VETSBy Jeff Schogol - Staff WriterAIR FORCE TIMES.comFirst Published : Tuesday Dec 4, 2012 When he walks through the dilapidated Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines, Dennis Wright says he feels one overriding emotion: anger. Before World War II, more than 5,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines and Army civilians were buried at several cemeteries in the Philippines. Later, those remains were sent to Clark in order to make room for a cemetery for World War II fallen. In the ensuing years, military dependents were buried at Clark. Then in 1991, a massive volcano eruption covered the roughly 8,600 tombstones there in more than a foot of ash, just as the U.S. was leaving the Philippines and Clark Air Base. More than 20 years later, the gravestones lie halfway buried in ash and weeds. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars post has taken responsibility for maintaining the cemetery, but the donations it receives allow members only to keep the weeds at bay, said Wright, whose development company has offices in the Philippines and has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for improvements. To Wright, the troops, veterans and military family members buried at Clark Veterans Cemetery have been abandoned by the U.S. government. “We take all these guys who died from 1900 to World War II — who were there, they were happy, they were resting in peace — we get them up, we march them to Clark, we put them in a boring field … and then we forget these guys?” Wright said. “Now, I’m telling you, when you sit there and look at that, it can only do one thing to you: Make you mad and make you angry that our government has got 8,600 U.S. servicemen and their dependents who are buried at Clark who were abandoned and then forgotten.” The callousness toward those interred at Clark Veterans Cemetery stands in stark contrast to the World War II fallen who occupy their former resting places, said Wright, a retired Navy captain. “Is World War II dead soldier more important than World War I dead?” he said. “Is he more important than Vietnam War dead? Is he more important than an Iraqi War dead?”
It would take about $2.5 million to get rid of all the ash and reset the tombstones, but the local VFW takes in between $25,000 and $30,000 in donations each year, so it can only maintain the cemetery as is, Wright said. Moreover, most of the VFW members are in their 60s, so they have problems keeping up the cemetery.
“It shouldn’t be done by a bunch of aging veterans who aren’t getting any younger,” he said.
That’s why Wright is chairman of the Clark Veterans Cemetery Restoration Association, a nonprofit organization advocating for the American Battle Monuments Commission to take over responsibility for the cemetery.
Proposed legislation in the Senate would do just that and allocate $5 million to renovate the cemetery, but Wright does not expect the measure to pass during the current legislative session.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who introduced a bill this year to have the American Battle Monuments Commission assume responsibility for the cemetery, said the U.S. government has a “moral responsibility” to take care of veterans cemeteries.
“There’s no reason that the brave service members buried at Clark should be deprived of the honor they have earned and that veterans at other cemeteries are afforded,” she testified before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in June. “It’s time for the U.S. government to fulfill its responsibility to care for this sacred ground.”
The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, who said the U.S. government needs to respect veterans after they have been laid to rest.
“This cemetery has been unjustly left behind and it is a disservice to veterans who have passed and those living all over the world,” Begich said in a statement to Air Force Times.
One of the most impassioned advocates for having the monuments commission take the cemetery under its purview has been Nathan Beeler, an 11-year-old from Avon, Ind., who has traveled to Washington to lobby Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other top lawmakers.
“I got involved with this in third grade because we were randomly browsing through the Internet and we went over a little article talking about a veterans cemetery buried in disgrace, and so I felt angered because our veterans died for our freedom and when they’re buried in disgrace, it doesn’t make sense, so that’s why I started to do something,” he said.
When Beeler talks to members of Congress about the proposed legislation for Clark Veterans Cemetery, he makes sure to include that the bill is “budget neutral.” As the story about the cemetery gets out, the bill has a better chance of passing.
“One person will be touched by it and then they’ll talk to more and more people, and I know many people were touched by it, so I feel very optimistic,” Beeler said.
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Post by Registrar on Dec 3, 2012 6:26:02 GMT 8
My father Clifford J. Bedore Jr. passed away this AM from complications following a stroke at age 93. He was a member of the Service Company for the Corregidor jump.
This thread appears at the request of Cliff Bedore III
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Post by Registrar on Sept 29, 2010 10:35:47 GMT 8
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Post by Registrar on Sept 4, 2009 11:13:18 GMT 8
After a little research, and having had the benefits of discussions "off the record" , I think we can add the following to " Drum Lore": explosive damage was largely pre 1960's, and mostly a hangover from the war; any dynamite damage is actually quite old, and can't be accurately dated; recent claims by locals of dynamite scrapping are baloney;
the turrets had been gutted post-war by unrestricted scrapping via the old way (acetyline torch, metal saws and steel grinders) by the time that Drum had become a ship navigation aid for entry to Manila Bay; nothing has remained of the carriages for decades;
[c] at least three of the early scrappers involved ultimately were blinded, due to their not using proper welder's goggles during their employment;
[d] the barrels rested on large blocks of teak wood and a few metal remnants;
[e] the blocks of wood survived the two typhoons of 2006, and the barrels did not collapse due to the typhoons.
[f] the barrels were still in place when the CDSG visited post-typhoons 2006.
[g] As can be seen from a then/now comparison from photographs, further damage has occurred since the CDSG visit. It almost certainly wasn't dynamite scrapping since the CDSG visit.
[h] My prediction for the future - I have no confidence that any outcome for Drum will hold any joy for buffs. On Corregidor, at least, there is a regard for the value of history. They learned the lesson there that scrap metal can be sold only once, but that history sells every day of the week. On Drum, I see no evidence of that learning, and no likelihood of it in the future.
At the risk of being nominated for the "best bleedin' obvious statement of the year", Drum does not belong to we military history buffs. It is an asset of another country, to do with as they wish. While we may lament that historical assets are not always maintained and protected, we can hope that in the event that attention ever falls upon Drum , that care is taken to ensure that any refurbishment is structurally and aesthetically sympathetic with the historic status and heritage that Drum deserves. The best we could hope for is someone be consulted about what the historic state of the facility used to be.
(Yeah, as if.)
I do want to emphasize, lest anyone not be aware, that Corregidor Foundation has NO jurisdiction over Drum, and thus has no direct authority to do anything - or even to prevent anything involving it.
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Post by Registrar on Aug 31, 2009 8:49:06 GMT 8
tiyoalan,
yes, great effect on the 3-D picture. Have you tried it anywhere else on the island?
is it a program effect on your camera, software, or something you have discovered can be done in editing? well done.
this guard loves having his photo taken - I was doing a panorama series, which sometimes involves 30 or more photos taken from the same spot, and he came out when I was half way through - I was too far away to shout at him to leave. He just stood there....
Can't hardly blame some of those guys, they have a quiet time.
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