Post by okla on Oct 16, 2010 3:13:53 GMT 8
Hey Fots...Thanks so much for the new postings of "now and then" shots of Corregidor. As you gotta know, by now, these postings will alleviate my most recent "withdrawal" pangs for a considerable time since there are so many of them to ponder. I am sure I will have more queries as time goes on, but I do have a couple of quickie observations I want to get to before my rapidly failing mental capacities fail me. First, in the pic of the early,"simple" Cinema (the photo with what one would think were a couple of British Colonials standing before the structure)...are those bullet holes all over the front of the building?
I thought at first glance that maybe it was something in the film, but they certainly look like damage from shrapnel or actual machine gun bullets. Who could have been firing at the theatre in those early days? A second observation is how fouled Enlisted Men's Beach is nowadays. But you have stated in earlier presentations how Manila's garbage finds its' way to this hallowed ground. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that present day beaches are so littered. Finally, but I am sure it won't be my last query/comment, I can't help but wonder, when looking at these young, healthy GIs, if any of them ended up in captivity and came out, if at all, of confinement as walking skeletons. Even if these pix were taken in the 1930s they could have re-upped and were present when hostilities began. Anytime I view individual soldiers' photos, taken at pre-war Corregidor, I always have these "wonders". One more item...I am not finding a horizontal view of the cistern. Is it in that pic of the Cine and I am just missing it? As I said, my mental facilities are not so good at crunch time. This is great stuff. Enough here to keep me busy for many hours. All I can say, other than thanks again, is YOU THE MAN. Cheers. Postscript...The Topside view of Corregidor, looking east...Seems to me that you are standing in the previous photographers' exact footsteps or damned close to it. 
I thought at first glance that maybe it was something in the film, but they certainly look like damage from shrapnel or actual machine gun bullets. Who could have been firing at the theatre in those early days? A second observation is how fouled Enlisted Men's Beach is nowadays. But you have stated in earlier presentations how Manila's garbage finds its' way to this hallowed ground. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that present day beaches are so littered. Finally, but I am sure it won't be my last query/comment, I can't help but wonder, when looking at these young, healthy GIs, if any of them ended up in captivity and came out, if at all, of confinement as walking skeletons. Even if these pix were taken in the 1930s they could have re-upped and were present when hostilities began. Anytime I view individual soldiers' photos, taken at pre-war Corregidor, I always have these "wonders". One more item...I am not finding a horizontal view of the cistern. Is it in that pic of the Cine and I am just missing it? As I said, my mental facilities are not so good at crunch time. This is great stuff. Enough here to keep me busy for many hours. All I can say, other than thanks again, is YOU THE MAN. Cheers. Postscript...The Topside view of Corregidor, looking east...Seems to me that you are standing in the previous photographers' exact footsteps or damned close to it. 
