Exploring Bataan

[bgps]

Hello everyone, I'm just retired to the Philippines and am in the process of moving to Pilar, Bataan. I've lived in the Philippines off and on for a total of nine years. WWII Philippines is a passion I've had since the early 1980s and it continues to this day. I like to research the battles and events that took place then explore the actual sites. Most of my time has been spent at the Villa Verde Trail and in the hills north of Pinatubo. I have volumes of research material on these two battles that I obtained from three visits to the NARA WWII Records Branch.  Recently, I've been researching the battles that took place in Northern Pangasinan and now Bataan. I'm also planning to visit the sites where atrocities took place. Is anyone out there interested in meeting up to compare notes, share photos or for joint exploration? 

[chadhill]

Hello bgps,

I live stateside but was stationed at Subic Bay for 3 years during the '80s and was able to explore Corregidor and a number of sites on Bataan during that time. I'm hoping to return early next year and search a number of battle locations and atrocity sites, including the Pantingan River Massacre site which I have researched pretty extensively. I'm sure there are others here than would be interested in linking up with you as well.

Chad

[bgps]

Chad, Nice to hear from you. I was at Clark for nine years and made many trips to Subic. I dove off of Dungaree Beach and a few other areas including the New York and a Japanese patrol boat.

I never explored Bataan but took a couple of camping trips to Corregidor before it became the tourist attraction it is today. At the time there was only a small group of military (< 10) stationed there. 

I'm now researching Bataan battle sites as well as atrocities. I've been focusing on the Pantingan River Massacres.  Last week I hiked to beyond where Trail 29 intersects Trail 8. If you're not yet familiar, from the Pilar - Bagac road, Trail 29 is concreted over for several miles then turns into a dirt track (now mud) that's wide enough to drive my truck down and runs about 3K to the junction with Trail 8.  From there it's either hiking or motorbike. South of the junction the trail follows the rim of the gorge and continues climbing the ridge line to the high peaks. I parked at the end of the concrete road and hiked from there. I descended the gorge midway along the saddle that divides the gorge (East side) from the Pantingan River Valley (West side) Lacking research material I'm relying on previous postings and maps. The Map signed by M/Sgt Abie Abraham guided me there. I'm also using Google Earth Pro and a Garmin 65S GPS. Depending on the WX I plan to revisit several times to explore the gorge and look for signs. 

As far as battle sites, I drove by the Upper Pocket and would like to walk it as well as the points and perhaps to the MLR NNE of Mt Samat. I'm just getting started and still settling in to Pilar. 

Where are you in the U.S.? 

Regards,

Doug

[chadhill]

Hello Doug,

Good to hear from you. I live near Nashville, TN.

Yes, I'm familiar with the area near the junction of Trails 29 and 8, but only from studying it with Abraham's map, google maps and the 1944 AMS charts. I have not actually been there yet.

About 3 years ago I tracked down an avid, serious US researcher (won't reveal him publicly here) who lived in Bataan during the 1990s and almost certainly located the main massacre site, as well as the Tuol Pockets. We had a number of lengthy phone conversations and he pointed out the exact location of the site to me on google satellite maps. It was in an area just north of the trail junction, and was more of a shallow, washed out ravine rather than a deep gorge.

He found a number of convincing artifacts including ID tags from 1st Corp PA units that were known to have been massacred. He sent me a number of photos from the area. We believed there were probably at least 2 other sites, also, after reading the survivor accounts and testimony from the war crimes trials by Felix and Vargas. The Abraham chart from Lawton's IDPF and the x-files also show a secondary site just south of the main one.

During 2019 I posted the following blog about the massacre site here:

corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2205/pantingan-river-massacre-site

In this blog I had proposed a certain site for the massacre. However, that was months before I had talked with the researcher. The site which he found was several hundred yards to the north of mine. I had wanted to update my posting with his location. However, he was leary about me publicly revealing his location because of the looting and scavenging that he feared would occur, and I agreed to withhold it. However, I will be glad to share it with you since you are obviously a very serious researcher.

There is also another entirely separate massacre site near the Tiis River, in the area near Trail 5. None of the history books mention it. Abraham believed it contained the remains of 43 unburied Americans and an unknown number of PA dead. All remains were unburied and had their hands tied behind their backs with W-110 telephone wire, as at the Pantingan site. I obtained many of those X-files courtesy of John Eakin and David Metherell. This site is about 3 miles due east of Bagac and I will be glad to share info with you about that, too.

Getting late here and I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I'll send you a personal message on this site with my contact info and try to get an email off to you soon. Hope to meet up with you some time in the PI.

Best, Chad

[fots2]

Good day Doug,

Welcome back to the Philippines.

Another individual who would be interested in your explorations is Karl Welteke. He lives in Barrio Baretto, Olongapo so not far from you. He may not have seen your post yet.

I am also in the Philippines and am interested but I live further away. I rarely get to Bataan due to family life etc. Perhaps I'll see you someday on Corregidor or even Bataan if something really special is going on.

Regards.

John