Malinta Hill

[beirutvet]

Hello Fots2

Thanks so much for sending the videos, they were TOO COOL!  It was great to see the footage of where I was walking on that most sacred of soil.

Where can I find all of your other videos and pictures?  Would love to get lost in them for hours.

Do you go to Corregidor regularly?  Would love to team up on some future trip

Thanks again

[fots2]

Hi beirutvet,

Check for a PM please.

[beirutvet]

Hi Fots2

I'm sorry, check for a PM?  I'm not sure what you mean, can you clarify for me?

thanks

[pdh54]

Hi beirutvet,

I think he means the message link at the bottom of the banner at the top of the page.

You will see the words Home Help Search Calendar Members Profile Messages.

Just click on Messages

Patty

[fots2]

For the lazy people in the world like me, PM = Personal Message.

Thanks for helping out Patty.

[chadhill]

Years ago I read that there were only two known 1942 Japanese photographs which existed of the 1.1 inch pom-pom gun atop Malinta Hill (plus the short newsreel clip). One photo had been published during the occupation in Philippine Expeditionary Force. Recently I came across the other, submitted in a post by "Peter H" on the Axis History Forum.

(photo courtesy of Peter H)




For side-by-side comparison, here is the print from Philippine Expeditionary Force, by Gasei, Manila 1943.

[fots2]

That photo is new to me, thanks. Did you notice the broken bolts in the base ring?

[chadhill]

Fots, you bet I noticed the broken bolts in the base ring!





As we see above, the two base ring bolts on the right have either broken off or have possibly been backed out enough to unbolt them from the mounting plate that you and Phantom discovered. For a refresher, the photo below (from page 20 of this thread) even shows what appears to be the heads of these bolts:




But now look back at the first photo. A stain can be seen on the bottom of the upper ring. I'll SWAG that this stain is from cooling system fluid that leaked out when the gun was damaged during the April 29th bombing. The barrel cooling jackets are connected with tubing to a pump or reservoir just above the upper ring.

Again in the first photo, I believe stain can be seen through both of the left base ring bolt holes. I think those two bolts have either been manually removed or, if the gun was blown over on its side, the two heads might have sheared off, leaving the studs still embedded in the mounting plate- in which case those studs would probably extend out of the mounting plate. However, there are no studs sticking up in this photo:

(photo courtesy fots2)


Therefore, I'll SWAG that at least some of the bolts did not shear off and were removed by hand. There also seems to be no apparent damage to the mounting plate or base ring. IMHO it is unlikely that the pom-pom was blown over on its side in the explosion, but was manually removed from the mount. My apologies if this is too much of a rehash of the discussion on page 20, but the newly found photo gave me some more SWAGS-

[chadhill]

Another pom-pom mystery...who was the Navy man that helped set the weapon up for Battery M, 60th Coast Artillery? The best clue comes from the Belote's Corregidor, The Saga of a Fortress on page 48:

...a Navy 1.1-inch pom-pom gun with four barrels...originally intended for the USS Houston and salvaged from the wrecked Cavite naval base, was mounted atop Malinta Hill. Its water-cooling system gave some trouble, but Gunner Otto ("Wiley" to the others), the Navy chief supervising installation, improvised a pump operated by a Crosley automobile motor, and a Mobile Battery crew under Lieutenant Stanley O. Friedline manned it.

Gunner Otto ("Wiley")...

In one of his many fine posts here, Bob Hudson assembled numerous Corregidor burial reports and made available a link to them on his thread "Ft. Mills Death Cards":

corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1208/ft-mills-death-cards

A couple of years ago I reviewed the April 30th, 1942 Burial Report. It deals with men who were buried the day before, April 29th, the date the pom-pom was put out of action by bombardment and a number of its Battery M crew killed.

(courtesy Bob Hudson)


Here we see the Battery M men who perished:

1LT Stanley Friedline (wounded in action and died)
PVT Russell G. Johnson (wounded in action and died)
PVT Thomas G. Moore (killed in action)
PVT Oliver G. O'Bryant (killed in action)

The Belotes, on page 126 of Saga, state that Friedline and five of his men died. Lieutenant Colonel E.L. Barr, in his history of Battery Mobile, says that Friedline and four men died of burns that afternoon, and that four others were seriously burned. But neither set of fatalities seems to add up with the burial report.

I was recently pondering this and suddenly noticed on the burial report the name William D. Wiley, US Navy (wounded in action and died). Could this be the "Wiley" who helped rig the pom-pom?

A search of the USS Canopus muster roll for December 31, 1941 shows Mr. Wiley aboard:



As we may recall, it had long been thought that the pom-pom gun was brought directly to Corregidor from Cavite about mid December 1941. However, recent research indicates it almost certainly went to Mariveles first (see pages 19-21 of this thread) and arrived at Corregidor in early-mid January 1942. Beginning on December 25th the Canopus had been at anchor in Caracol Cove in Mariveles Harbor. Wiley may have serviced the weapon while it was at Mariveles during this time, and accompanied it to Corregidor in January to instruct Army personnel in its setup and usage.


A further search of Canopus records shows Wiley being transferred to the 4th Marines on February 28, 1942 (see line 5 on lower chart).

I'll SWAG that this Wiley is the same man referred to by the Belotes as having helped set up the pom-pom in January 1942. I would bet that after being transferred to the 4th Marines on February 28th he once again spent much time helping the Friedline crew on top of Malinta Hill. Unfortunately, he was there with them on Hirohito's birthday, April 29th, when the massive barrage took place. William Douglas Wiley was born January 6, 1918 in Louisville, Kentucky. Some sources list him as a Seaman 1st Class, others as a Coxswain. He is buried in Plot N, Row 6, Grave 155 in the Manila American Cemetery.


The following burial report from Bob Hudson's link shows one more Battery M casualty, who was wounded in action but then died and was buried on May 3rd. He may be one of the four men who Barr said was seriously burned. I cannot be sure that PVT Robert C. Prichard was in the pom-pom crew, but if so it would confirm the Belote's total number of fatalities, while not disputing Barr's figure for that day.

(courtesy Bob Hudson)



Here is part of the January 12, 1942 entry for the War Diary, Inshore Patrol, 16th Naval District. Note the entries for 1855 and 1919. The first entry mentions what was probably the final batch of 1.1 inch ammunition to arrive from Mariveles; another had been sent over by lighter on January 10th (see page 20 this thread). The 1919 entry states that ...AA C.P. Malinta Tunnel will handle 1.1 when it arrives here... I'll SWAG that by "it" they may be referring to the actual pom-pom gun. I have found no other entries that can be interpreted as referring to the weapon.

[chadhill]

Latest wrinkle in the Gunner Otto (Wiley) saga...

I spent much of the afternoon browsing thru 100 pages or so of the 16th Naval District War Diary and came across two passing references to "Gunner Otto" that had absolutely nothing to do with the elusive pom-pom gun, the USS Canopus, or the 4th Marine Regiment. There was no mention of anyone by the name of Wiley. Curious, I spent more time searching my library and the 'net and finally came upon an impressive obituary at findagrave.com for a Leon John Otto.

(Gunner Leon John Otto while a Japanese POW)



Otto was born November 15, 1906 in Tobias, Nebraska. He joined the USN in 1925, served aboard several battleships, and was promoted from Petty Officer 1st Class to Warrant Gunner in 1938. Otto was assigned to the US Naval Ammunition Depot at the Cavite Naval Yard when war broke out and eventually found himself on Corregidor, where he received a Silver Star. After the surrender he went to Cabanatuan, then to Japan on the hellship Taikoku Maru. At war's end he found himself at Motoyama POW camp and weighing 75 pounds less. Otto retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander in 1953, and died in 1962. Here is a link to his full obituary:

www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3422750

There is almost no doubt in my mind that this is the man the Belotes wrote of in Saga-in fact, since he had been based at Cavite he may have been instrumental in assuring that the USS Houston's spare pom-pom was not left behind on the dock during the evacuation. According to John Gordon in Fighting for MacArthur (page 177) there were several Navy men involved in installing the weapon atop Malinta Hill. Perhaps William Wiley was indeed one of them. That would explain a number of coincidences, including the Belote's use of his name in their book. But here I go, SWAGGING again. Think I'll take a break before I SWAG anymore.