Demolition of Naval Installations at Mariveles
Mar 12, 2018 13:24:45 GMT 8
Karl Welteke, chadhill, and 2 more like this
Post by steveu on Mar 12, 2018 13:24:45 GMT 8
Hello,
I have a personal letter from Donald G. Thompson (C.O. of "L" Co, 31st Inf (US)) to my grandmother (wife of the late Major James J. O'Donovan) after the war. Thompson was a personal friend and wanted to relate to her his memories of their experience together. This wonderful letter concludes with this interesting paragraph...(my transcription follows)
I would like to learn more about these operations. The only reference I can find to them is in the book "The Fall of the Philippines", where on pgs 459-460 it states
I'm looking for source material, or memoirs that refer to these operations. Does anyone know more about it?
Thank you,
Steven Unwin
Grandson of Maj James J O'Donovan
I have a personal letter from Donald G. Thompson (C.O. of "L" Co, 31st Inf (US)) to my grandmother (wife of the late Major James J. O'Donovan) after the war. Thompson was a personal friend and wanted to relate to her his memories of their experience together. This wonderful letter concludes with this interesting paragraph...(my transcription follows)
"I was wounded on the 6th April 1942 by Japanese heavy artillery and was taken to the base hospital. 3 days later the surrender came. However, on the last two days of fighting Jim (Major James J. O'Donovan) organized and commanded a small task force of Filipinos, American soldiers, scouts, navy and marines around the town of Maravales. It was the navy base and thru Jim's command and men, the navy was able to destroy many naval installations rather than surrender them to the Japs. His actions on those 2 days were highly commended by several officer and men I talked to after the surrender. He must have done a great job of defending that town. I am sure having known him I did that it was a great defense!"
"Captain Hoeffel informed the Navy Department, "am destroying and sinking Dewey Drydock, Canopus, Napa, Bittern tonight." Soon the rumbles of explosions could be hear from Mariveles while flames shot high above the town, lighting up the sky for miles around. The climax came when the Canopus blew up with a tremendous roar. "She seemed," wrote an observer, "to leap out of the water in a sheet of flame and then drop back down heavily like something with all the life gone out of it."
The Navy's fireworks were but the prelude to the larger demolitions that were to follow when the Army's ammunition was destroyed. Though stored in the congested area adjacent to General Hospital No. 1, the engineer and quartermaster depots, and Luzon Force and II Corps headquarters, the TNT and ammunition had to be destroyed where they were. There was no time to move them to a safer place and hardly time to transfer the hospital patients away from the danger area. In the dumps were hundreds of thousands of rounds of small-arms ammunition and artillery shells of all calibers. Powder trains were laid to the separate piles of ammunition, and shells of larger caliber were set off by rifle fire.
Destruction began shortly after 2100 and at 0200 the first TNT warehouses went up with an explosion that fairly rocked the area. Then followed a most magnificent display of fireworks. Several million dollars’ worth of explosives and ammunition filled the sky "with bursting shells, colored lights, and sprays of rainbow colors....Never did a 4th of July display equal it in noise, lights, colors or cost."After the explosion shell fragments of all sizes fell like hail and men in the vicinity took refuge in their foxholes. The headquarters building at King's command post, a flimsy structure about 200 by 20 feet, was knocked over by the blast and the furniture was scattered in all directions. When morning came the men were surprised to note that all overhead cover was gone. "It is miraculous,": wrote one officer, "that we came through this.""
The Navy's fireworks were but the prelude to the larger demolitions that were to follow when the Army's ammunition was destroyed. Though stored in the congested area adjacent to General Hospital No. 1, the engineer and quartermaster depots, and Luzon Force and II Corps headquarters, the TNT and ammunition had to be destroyed where they were. There was no time to move them to a safer place and hardly time to transfer the hospital patients away from the danger area. In the dumps were hundreds of thousands of rounds of small-arms ammunition and artillery shells of all calibers. Powder trains were laid to the separate piles of ammunition, and shells of larger caliber were set off by rifle fire.
Destruction began shortly after 2100 and at 0200 the first TNT warehouses went up with an explosion that fairly rocked the area. Then followed a most magnificent display of fireworks. Several million dollars’ worth of explosives and ammunition filled the sky "with bursting shells, colored lights, and sprays of rainbow colors....Never did a 4th of July display equal it in noise, lights, colors or cost."After the explosion shell fragments of all sizes fell like hail and men in the vicinity took refuge in their foxholes. The headquarters building at King's command post, a flimsy structure about 200 by 20 feet, was knocked over by the blast and the furniture was scattered in all directions. When morning came the men were surprised to note that all overhead cover was gone. "It is miraculous,": wrote one officer, "that we came through this.""
Thank you,
Steven Unwin
Grandson of Maj James J O'Donovan