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Post by kludge on Sept 11, 2021 9:05:45 GMT 8
Hi all. I recently went on a week-long tour of Negros Occidental to take a look at the historical sites there, focused on the invasion routes, assaults on Japanese positions, key infrastructure of the time, and so on. It's a lot of a footage to edit down, so it will take a little while. Here's the first short episode, where we look at Green Beach in Palupandan, Bago bridge and the way up to Silay. This one is more focused on the efforts of the 40th Americal, as they were here first. The next will focus more on the 503rd's efforts on the Tokaido Road. Much of the script is based on the work of the History Battalion in general, and EXO in particular, so I'd like to thank him for that. There's no way I'd have gotten anywhere near the correct chronology without that effort. My hope is that the video reaches a bit of a wider audience and that that in turn brings more eyes to the material on the website, in the hope of raising awareness of the campaign on Negros, which I feel is a greatly overlooked element of the conflict in this theater. Hope you enjoy it!
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Post by kludge on Sept 25, 2021 11:08:34 GMT 8
Hi all. The Tokaido Road episode is finally published. This one was a bit difficult, and I had a hard time editing it, but finally there's a final cut. I hope it does the material and the men involved justice. Please do let me know if there are glaring inaccuracies.
As expected, there are places where modern development, increased population and agriculture has just buried the old trail itself. So, off the highway I'm not sure we can follow the old trail, but where I have my doubts I do point that out. However, given how hard the terrain is once you get up into the foothills, there's almost no chance the road deviates from what the 161st Engineers carved out. I've used the reports and commentary from John D. Reynolds and Bill Calhoun that I think are the most incisive, but there is still much left out. The alternative was to make an hour-long documentary, which is a bit beyond my abilities. On the other hand, we did find a memorial to American soldiers that we did not know about and isn't on the maps. Anyway, enough of the excuses and ass-covering.
If you're enjoying the work then please, please leave a like on YouTube and subscribe to my channel. The YouTube algorithm is absolutely brutal and they shoot down anything that people watch a bit of and don't interact with. Next video will be on the next push from Murcia up to the Campuestohan area. I would really like to raise awareness of this campaign, and the hard work the 503rd did, to a wider audience.
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Post by kludge on Oct 9, 2021 19:23:38 GMT 8
Latest episode, which follows on from the Tokaido Road episode. From Murcia to Fabrica.
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Post by EXO on Oct 10, 2021 10:58:20 GMT 8
Have been enjoying the visiting to Negros again via your videos. You've managed to find so much good film material, and you've have worked them in so well. Just a little issue, by way of background about where the various original attributions might lay. Most all of the writing about Negros originates from Bill Calhoun's early writings. Having worked a few years with Bill bringing them together, I could see that much of the original documentation was the result of John Lindgren spending time in the National Archives pursuing the Morning Reports, Periodic Reports, Incident Reports, diary notes etc. John Lindgren had been posted in Maryland prior to being his time in Germany. John passed copies of the yield to Bill. Unfortunately, the photocopies of many of the documents and map overlays were crap - a product of the technology of the times. They each went on to pursue their areas of interest. (Unfortunately, if John Lindgren ever had it in mind to do a book, it never eventuated, and his materials have ended up I know not where. We've ended with only a few hints of what might have been a chapter - His Outline of Events at Wheeler Pt. On The Night of 18/19 February, 1945 is magnificent. We do have John's backstory in his letter to Bill Calhoun.) Essentially, Bill did much of the original writing, and was the originator and author of the Negros 4-phase analysis. Lou Aiken himself writes that he adopts Bill's analysis. Indeed, I consider that much of the article I ascribed in BEA Vol 4 - Negros to Lou Aiken was initially from Bill. As for John Reynolds, he essentially comes later to the picture because he was compiling the Three Winds of Death column published in Don Larson's "The Static Line". Though I have only seen one or two issues of Static Line, John sent me photocopies of his columns (though I've published only a few.) So I think John Reynolds wasn't the originator either, just the presenter. John had a column, and deadlines of having to publish them. John made sure that Lou Aiken's article footnoted his acknowledged that "1st Lts. Bill Calhoun of "F" Company and John Lindgren of "D" Company (be thanked) for providing most of this material." Throughout, all of these men readily cooperated in getting the history of the 503d "out there" so that it would become more widely known. They had to do this as the 50d was just a Regiment, not a Division with almost limitless resources. When I came on the scene, Don Abbott introduced me to all these colleagues. Early in my development of the website, they didn't understand what the internet was capable of. My first reunion (Fayetteville) was spent mostly trying to meet new folk and trying to explain why they should work with an Aussie to carry the concept of a website. When the 503d's then "Official Historian" Bob Flynn came on board, we really got into gear. Anyhow, I've taken up too much space already.
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Post by kludge on Oct 10, 2021 18:08:51 GMT 8
Thanks so much for that bit of clarification. I will update the credits in the video descriptions to mention John Lindgren. Thanks very much for encouragement. It means a lot coming from your good self. All the guys who served here deserve a lot more credit for the sacrifices they made, and it daunted me a little as to whether or not I could do them even a little justice. Kudos to the National Archive for making all these archive film clips not just available, but copyright-free. The video I did on Col. Satoshie Oie has material that was not available online, but on request they dug out what they had and scanned it for me, all within a week, and very polite and friendly. Really pleased to see your tax dollar at work in this way. Amazing service!
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Post by kludge on Oct 23, 2021 11:06:59 GMT 8
Pt.5 in the Negros liberation series. We follow the 503rd PIR from securing the important lumber mill at Fabrica onto starting to take surrenders all the way down to Bug-ang, capturing important lumber mills along the way. We do pick up a few details from the reports of the time that a few place names are hard to reconcile with modern maps and find the answers to those questions. If you like the content, please give us a like and subscribe. The YT algorithm is absolutely brutal.
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