Malinta Hill

[The Phantom]

Great past-present shots fots.
I want to have a close look up there.

Those chubby Japanese prisoners EXO posted again above, were in a camp situated on Bottom-side between Sultan Hill and present day Mac Arthur's Cafe, near North Dock area.
A picture I've seen someplace here on the site.

The former campfenced stockade area is now planted with many small trees and "Named rocks" at their bases.
A nice breeze still blows though this area today.

I'm sure we would all agree that the Japanese prisoners on Corregidor, (there to clean it up, and for their own protection), should have spent their time incarcerated in 92 Garage Area, below by the beach where they imprisoned the Americans and the Filipinos in 1942.

With no breeze but plenty of hot still air, little water, high temperatures, little shelter, sea full of floating excrement, summary death for the least infraction.....................
Wait , we signed the Geneva Convention unlike the Japanese.

The fat bellies pictured above meant we were already feeding a future ally against ...........

[okla]

Hey Phantom....If a country doesn't sign (Japan in this case) the Geneva Convention, should they be given or expect that which signatorees are entitled? Not being, in any shape, fashion or form, an International Law guru, I still would vote in the negative.

[chadhill]

Excellent work, fots, and a great job eyeballing those corners of the 75mm shelter. I think you've nailed the position of the elusive pom-pom gun beyond a shadow of a doubt, on the little hill just to the north. Where on the hill would you place it, about the yellow arrow (my SWAG)?

(photo courtesy armyjunk)




Interesting that you did not find a concrete platform with mounting bolts for the gun. I agree the easiest explanation is that it has been buried or destroyed. The 1942 Japanese photo shows a round mounting base plate on the bottom of the pom-pom which has been unbolted from any such concrete platform. I still wonder if the round "shadow" shown above in armyjunk's photo could be part of the mount (see Reply #79).






I tried to find a picture of the 1.1 inch gun lower mounting base, and this is about the best I could do:

(courtesy


This July 1941 photo was taken on the teak wood deck of the cruiser USS Astoria (CA-34) which was lost off Guadalcanal in August '42. What can be seen of the lower mount bases seems mostly round.



Here is another view of a 1.1 inch pom-pom on the USS Astoria:

(courtesy



* * * * *


Using the burial records provided by Bob Hudson in the Ft. Mills Death Cards thread, it can be found that the fatalities in the pom-pom crew from the bombing on 4/29/42 were:

PVT Thomes G. Moore, KIA
PVT Oliver G. O'Bryant, KIA
1LT Stanley Friedline, WIA and later died
PVT Russell G. Johnson, WIA and later died

PVT Robert C. Prichard, who was WIA and later died (buried on 5/3/42) may have also been with the pom-pom crew.

* * * * *

(reposted PEF pom-pom gun photo 8/28/12 which had become deleted somehow)

[okla]

Hey Chad....This is good stuff. I started to post that the Astoria went down at Savo, along with the Quincy, Vincennes and the Aussie Canberra, but reading on, I see where you nailed it's fate. Correct me if I am in error, but didn't the Sullivan Brothers perish on the Vincennes???

[chadhill]

This photo showing a pom-pom from the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was posted by fots back in Reply #71. It has a better view of the gun mounting base:



Compare this photo with the Japanese photo which shows the pom-pom turned on its side with a circular base plate at the bottom. The USS Pennsylvania photo shows that this circular plate inserts into a broader housing that the seats are attached to. After studying the photos from the USS Astoria, it looks to me like the pump or reservoir for the gun's cooling system is located inside this housing.

Now it is clear that the Malinta pom-pom has been unbolted from the housing. My SWAG is that the "shadow" in armyjunk's photo may possibly be that housing. If the housing was bolted to a concrete platform, then that suggests the gun may have been mounted about half way between the yellow arrow and the SL #8 airshaft. However, in that photo the hill appears to be sloping somewhat down at that point, while in the newsreel pic the gun seems to be mounted on a "peak", so to speak. It could be that the housing was discarded and moved downhill out of the way. How steep is the hill's slope there?

(photo courtesy fots2)


* * * * *

BTW, recall that the Malinta pom-pom had problems with its cooling system and was rigged by Navy Gunner Otto to use a Crosley auto motor to drive a pump:

(photo courtesy oldcarandtruckpictures.com)

[chadhill]

Okla, the five Sullivan brothers were on the cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) which went down off Guadalcanal on 13 NOV 42.

[okla]

Hey Chad....Thanks for clearing my failing memory. I, at least, had the Operational Area correct. I knew an old "Seadog" such as yourself would have the correct "nitty gritty". Cheers. Postscript...Did you know anything about that 1934 decision to remove Torpedoes from American Crusiers??? Maybe you missed my query to you on that point. Minute details like that run me nuts. Please relieve me from this fragile state if, at all, possible.

[chadhill]

Sorry ol' bud, I must have missed that quiery. Don't know anything about it, either

[okla]

Hey Chad....Maybe I am hallucinating, but I am sure that somewhere I have read that the question came up when those "Long Lance" Torpedoes, many launched from Cruisers, were taking such a heavy toll on our vessels in the "Slot". Somebody in higher USN echelons raised the question as to why we were fighting with one arm tied behind us, i.e., only US Destroyers were armed with Torpedoes, and these, at this time, were, we prove later, to be malfunctioning, and the Nipponese were firing from Cruisers as well as their Destroyers. I will keep looking, but surely I haven't
taken complete leave of my senses. Stranger things have happened. Cheers. If you don't object, I will continue to defer all questions relating to Naval and Nautical matters to you for consideration

[chadhill]

Okla, I'm sure what you're saying is the way it was, ol' bud, but it's just been so long since I read about it (and maybe I never did) that I can't remember. Believe it or not, naval battles were never at the top of my list If I was still in, that confession would probably earn me a stint in the brig-