Post by fots2 on May 11, 2011 14:03:44 GMT 8
Here are a few more "Then & Now" photos.
Middleside Barracks pre-war
Damaged Middleside Barracks March 1942
This is the most intact end of one of the buildings that made up Middleside Barracks
Building 41, Ordinance Magazine. The western end of the Mile Long Barracks can be seen at the top right.
Another view of Building 41.
A spur of the trolley line was in front of Building 41.
Engineer Dock in 1922
The Mile Long Barracks Library
This may be the location of the library in the Mile Long Barracks. I am standing further down the room than the original photographer but the columns, windows, doors and paint scheme looks the same.
The view of Rock Point from beach level.
General MacArthur returns to Corregidor in March 1945 via the South Dock. Breakwater Point is in the distance.
Looking across the South Dock towards Breakwater Point.
Japanese Shinyo boat caves on the north shore of Corregidor.
A look at Bottomside north with Malinta Hill in the background.
The concrete steps from Middleside to Topside. The 1921 map shows this route to be part of the original trolley line. The 1932 map shows only the steps here.
It is impossible to get all the steps in one photo anymore. A few steps are destroyed but mostly tree branches block the view.
The 155mm gun position of Battery West.
Only the concrete gun block remains today.
Another view of Battery West.
On Middleside was the Army Service Club, Building 518. I have also heard it referred to as the Enlisted Men's Club and YMCA.
1945 view of the Building 518. The large structure below it is the eastern end of Middleside Barracks.
Middleside Barracks pre-war
Damaged Middleside Barracks March 1942
This is the most intact end of one of the buildings that made up Middleside Barracks
Building 41, Ordinance Magazine. The western end of the Mile Long Barracks can be seen at the top right.
Another view of Building 41.
A spur of the trolley line was in front of Building 41.
Engineer Dock in 1922
The Mile Long Barracks Library
This may be the location of the library in the Mile Long Barracks. I am standing further down the room than the original photographer but the columns, windows, doors and paint scheme looks the same.
The view of Rock Point from beach level.
General MacArthur returns to Corregidor in March 1945 via the South Dock. Breakwater Point is in the distance.
Looking across the South Dock towards Breakwater Point.
Japanese Shinyo boat caves on the north shore of Corregidor.
A look at Bottomside north with Malinta Hill in the background.
The concrete steps from Middleside to Topside. The 1921 map shows this route to be part of the original trolley line. The 1932 map shows only the steps here.
It is impossible to get all the steps in one photo anymore. A few steps are destroyed but mostly tree branches block the view.
The 155mm gun position of Battery West.
Only the concrete gun block remains today.
Another view of Battery West.
On Middleside was the Army Service Club, Building 518. I have also heard it referred to as the Enlisted Men's Club and YMCA.
1945 view of the Building 518. The large structure below it is the eastern end of Middleside Barracks.
Yeah, right!!!! Unless GIs were different back in Pre-War times, I can't imagine some grizzled, "old Sweat", way out there in the PI, pining away long, tropical evenings in the Post Library. No, I shouldn't say that since I do remember being "without sufficient funds" during the last few days before payday, lolling around the Base Library on various USAF stations where I was assigned. The Base Service Club with it's free Bingo Nights came in handy also. The allusive 5.00 dollar evening "Grand Prize" for a Bingo Card Blackout never came my way. Five bucks in those days would pay for "drinks all the way 'round". Not today. Maybe two or three beers and you would be destitute. Again, I say, those were the days. Cheers. Postscript...Fots..Each and every time I view your pics of the "golden staircase", I can't help but wonder about how many pre-war Corregidor troops, who lingered in San Jose's beer halls, missing the last trolley to Top Side, ended up trudging up those steps. I would venture that, more than once, some laggard would just lie down beside the stairs and sleep till the sound of morning Bugles. Again, my imagination gallops away. Your "now and then" photographs always tend to trip my fantasy trigger. Keep it up.