Story of a book & a Japanese boat sunk by gunfire
Because of this book and the WWII gun fire story we visited the former Fort Wint, Grande Island, in Subic Bay.
Army Lt Chester K Britt was one of 1,619 POWs that were on the Oryoku Maru. Lt Britt was first assigned to Fort Wint on Grande Island in 1940, then when it was abandoned on about December 24, 1941, he fought on Bataan, was on the Bataan Death March, then spent the next 2-1/2 years at Camp O’Donnell, Cabanatuan, Davao Penal Colony, and Bilibid Prison which he left at the end to board the Oryoku Maru. He survived the Oryoku Maru, then the Enoura Maru, then the Brazil Maru, then 3 months at Fukuoka POW Camp #3, then almost 4 months at the POW camp in Mukden Manchuria. He was freed on August 16, 1945. He died in 1953 due to health problems from his time as a POW. When he died my friend was only four years old.
His son and 2 school mates wrote this book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt and ask us to deliver dedicated copy to the present Grande Island Resort, click here and here for the 2nd link:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2275/army-chester-britt-ship-oryoku?page=1corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2374/relentless-hope-true-story-survivalThe researcher of the book, John Duresky asked us get a visual image shot to Point Sueste from Battery Jewell because of this story, a short paragraph from this URL, click here:
corregidor.org/chs_munson/wint.htmOn December 18 1941, a small boat with about 30 armed Japanese soldiers was observed heading toward Sueste Point Light House at the mouth of Subic Bay. Several shots were fired across its bow, but the boat did not stop or alter its course. Firing was then directed on the boat using one 3-inch gun at Battery Jewell and one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun at Battery C-91st. The boat was sunk with no survivors.
On today’s Grande Island vegetation prevents you get a visual from any of the 5 former coastal gun batteries and the whole western coast (very rocky) cannot be reached directly due to vegetation. We had to walk down the western rocky coast from the island NW corner to reach a position under Battery Jewell to get visual shot to Sueste Point.
Randy Anderson, the main person of creating the Hell Ship Memorial in Subic Bay was my partner. We were impressed with the looks of the resort. The landscaping is beautiful and all the old trees are big and are still healthy. The 10-inch Battery is locked up because it serves as a part of the Subic Bay International Airport Radar System. Only Battery Woodruff is hard to visit or even to indentify, it is a casualty of WWII. The other 3 batteries are cleared and open to be visited. This day, a company with over 100 employees was booked here and stayed here at least one night and we saw a large ethnic Chinese family visiting. The Mine-casemate is open to be inspected and has lights put in place for safety. The resort has a huge swimming pool and it is properly taking care of. Our day visit cost 2500 pesos per person and included the transportation, a guided tour with a golf cart, and a meal. It was a beautiful day, we enjoyed it and topped it off with a beer, I had two.
Z749 is in back of Battery Jewell, our guide, at left, took us there via the Mine-Casemate and we met the spouse of the Grande Island Resort manager (off island today) and told her about our mission to deliver a book and she told us that a plan for a museum is in the works. Randy Anderson, the main person of creating the Hell Ship Memorial in Subic Bay, was my partner and is right in the picture.
Z750 is in the dining hall, bar and event building, we are turning over the book Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt, this is the front cover
Z751 is in the dining hall, bar and event building, we are turning over the book Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt, this is the dedication in the book to the resort.
Z752 I had to walk over 100 meter over and on top of these rocks from the NW corner to reach this point on the Grande Island west coast to shoot this picture.
Z753. Is the bottom section of a the San Antonio 1-50000 map, 7072-IV, and shows the points, Grande Island and were I shot the pictures from.
Z754. A boat crept into the picture and I could not help thinking about the shooting event on the 18th Dec. 1941 for the Battery Jewell getting the 3-inch coastal gun ready and receiving the order to fire at an Imperial Japanese Invading boat approaching Sueste Point.