Then and Now Photos

[darthdract]

Thanks Fots for posting those photos. I love the ones you took of Lorcha dock, amazing photos I am jealous I was not able to take good photos when I visited I was too overwhelmed with the experience.

[okla]

Hey Fots... and the "beat goes on" and I love it. Absolutely great stuff. You mention the "failed" resort located at the 92nd Garage Area. I, for one, remain well pleased that this enterprise "failed". I also think that all those structures should be demolished and the area returned, as nearly as possible, to it's original state (I realize that the hangers being reconstructed is out of the question). Just get rid of the building on the bluff and the cabanas. Also, it is my understanding that the huge craters were made by "block buster" (1000 lb ) type bombs dropped from B-24 Liberator Bombers. I believe one of these type bombs is what destroyed the Government Ravine Vaults during the softening up of the "Rock" prior to the landings of the airborne and seaborne troops. Thanks again for posting these "now and then" pics. I eat this stuff up, as you well know. Cheers.

[okla]

Hey Fots....On a second pass thru the latest group of photos, I was struck by the pic of the Garage area with the line of "pup tents",etc arranged along and near the shore. If memory serves, Al McGrew stated that he and the other recruits were immediately assigned to that area for "recruit" training, before being assigned as "permanent party" to either the 59th or 60th CA Regiments on Topside. Could this explain what this group of tents and personnel denote? My uncontrollable imagination has, evidently, kicked in again. It's a disease, you see. I never have discovered a cure.

[wwalker]

Excellent presentation Fots! Thank you for posting the photographs. I especially enjoyed the ones of the golf course area and the 92d Garage area. Okla, you are probably right about the pup tents. Every enlisted man that I've ever talked to that served on the Rock prior to the surrender received their basic training on the concrete there at the 92d Garage. For many of the defenders of Corregidor, their journey on Corregidor began there and ended there on that sheet of concrete at the 92d Garage. From what I understand, when the recruits arrived there in 1940 and 1941, they were immediately led down to this area for their basic training and slept in tents. After their basic training they were assigned to a battery. Here is a letter that my grandfather Raymond Walker wrote to his mother not long after his arrival on Corregidor on September 16, 1941:

Dear Mother,

I haven't heard from home yet but am looking for a letter most any day now. I realize how far away from home I am, for it takes about 2 weeks air mail to get a letter there and an answer back. I have been busy since I came here but I like this place fine. It is a pretty place after you get here. It was a long hard trip and we had to come through the war zone to get here. We took our time and had to be careful not to hit any mines. A boat hit a mine here and was knocked plumb out of the water. I will be to duty by the time you get this letter. I have been drilling hard but I like it. I wore a gas mask one day and the rubber got so hot that it blistered my face. We are going through the gas chamber tomorrow. Tell Bill that Jimmie Mehaffey has been in Sternberg hospital and that Hoffer and Hatch are playing ball tonight. How is that brother of mine? Has he got his car yet? Tell him I will be back in about two and a half years and then we can have fun together. I will leave this rock a month before my discharge. Tell Gerald [his brother] that the monkey's wake me up every morning. They climb into a coconut tree by my window and do they holler! When daybreak comes you can't sleep for them. We can't go to town but once every four months. We are 35 miles from Manila out in the blue ocean on a Rock about the size of the palm of your hand, but it is the prettiest place in the Philippines. We have to drill four hours a day. The natives do all the work. They shine our shoes and make our beds. We just roll out of bed, go and eat, and when we get back everything is cleaned up. I sure miss the boys that I used to run around with back home. But there is no life like a soldiers. We don't have any draftees here. I have seen things that a lot of boys will never get a chance to see, and rich people pay thousands of dollars just to make this trip over here. And just think Uncle Sam paid me, and all expenses to come over here. Tell Gerald that he does not want to be a soldier. There is more to word than he thinks. It is hard to be a good soldier. It has now taken me two months, and I have two more weeks to go, then I hope to be as good as they come. We are just three flying hours from Japan, and we can expect them over here any day. We are having our winter here, but it is about 100 in the shade, so what do you think our summer will be like? Tell all of my friends hello for me. With lots of love to mother and brother.

Pvt. Raymond E. Walker
Box 8 Corregidor,
Ft. Mills P.I.

Its interesting to note the mention of war with Japan by a Private as early as September 1941. This is the only correspondence that I have that was sent by my grandfather during his time on the Rock. I found this letter printed in his hometown newspaper. I also have his round original dog-tag that he managed to hang onto through his 3 and a half years as a POW.

WW

[okla]

Hey WW....Thanks a bunch for posting the letter. I believe it shows the viewpoint of the 1941 rookie recruit soldier is about the same as any recruit's outlook whether it be 1941, 1951 (when I was a rookie, prior to shipping to the Far East), 1971, 1991, or 2011. GIs are GIs and some things remain constant The letter certainly indicates that those troops, heading for and already stationed in the PI, were very aware of the looming Pacific war clouds. Also the three hours flying time from "Japan" certainly, indicated to your Grandfather that Formosa was, in his view, part of the Japanese Empire. Cheers. That letter gives a valuable insight into the mindset of a young, lonesome American soldier, on the verge of what would become the defining period of his life. Cheers

[okla]

Hey Fots....On my third run thru this latest production of "nows and thens" the damaged concrete "end" to the Golf Course Bench brought to mind a notion that it would be great if two undamaged ends (or even damaged and repaired, if possible) could be recovered, and restored to it's prewar glory, with new "lumber" for the seat and back installed and this relic placed in the lobby of the Corregidor Inn with an appropriate plaque. Of course a red velvet rope should be placed around the bench so as to prevent some big arsed tourista from sitting on said seat. Just thinkin'. I fully realize, in my case, that this is a lethal pursuit. Cheers.

[fortman]

Hi Fots,

Thanks for the photo of a magazine of Battery Way. It is an excellent example of the high quality of construction work on Corregidor. Yes, it is hard to believe that it is 103 years old, and went through a war.

fortman

[The Phantom]

Thanks for taking the time to put this photo gallery together Fots.
Like being there.

A few comments;

Okla, the bench might work out as we know the location of 2 other damaged benches.........
But putting one in the hotel, maybe the museum, behind ropes for sure like you said.

As to the placement of the tents for the recruits near the beach in 92 garage area, I'd say that was to try and get any kind of cooling breeze they could get from the shore area.
You go to that area today you will know the meaning of the word, HOT! By 10;00am it's already blistering in 92nd beach area,
no wind, dead air.
I had also read that the recruits were trained in 92nd Beach area because anyplace else was a cake walk after training was completed!

As to the lovely villas in 92nd beach area, they were recently remodeled, "AGAIN", with repaired roofs, walls, steps, new beds and air-conditions, but alas, no new guests.
The fellow recently in charge of that upgrade, is no longer in power on Corregidor.
They had also started fixing up the recreation center on the hill, (for how long?)in 92nd Garage beach area, also halted.

As to the level where the tents are in the picture, today they would be in the water due to uncontrolled erosion from storms that hit the island.

In the background of the photo of the Hospital there appears to be a garden on the hillside, possibly used by the Americans who were sent back to Corregidor for cleanup duties in 1942 onward.


Fots, could Battery Globe have been just south of the swimming pool?
There appears to me to have been a gun position there of some sort? (Where the chicken was tied up and trapped.)

As to the photo of Malinta Point / housing, 4 or 5 years ago I was in that area and there were small concrete foundations and steps leading up to them.
( The area was visible because it had all been cut back to the soil that year.
Trees were then planted that people bought........ they got a rock below their tree, with their name on it.)

Unfortunately it's difficult to get into this area today as the Kudzu in very invasive here.

The Golf Course was amazing!

[okla]

Hey Fots...I am still nosing thru these excellent "nows and thens". I concur that your not knowing whether the interior view of the top floor of the Mile Long Barracks is the same squad room or not. In the 1949 photo, the right hand door's upper right hand corner has a chunk of concrete missing, whereas in your pic, the same door frame seems to be fairly whole. Of course, this minor detail doesn't a hoot in Hell make. Due to the shadow, one can't detect whether that gash in the present day floor is present in the 1949 picture. Being weakened from the bombardment of 1942 and the 1945 bombing and fighting, the portion of flooring might have caved in fairly recently. Who knows, but we certainly know one thing. this is one of your better "productions", among a bazillion other efforts. Thanks (for the umpteenth time) for posting this fantastic stuff. Cheers.

[fots2]

WW, that is a very interesting letter. Thanks for posting it.

----------

Okla, as Phantom says, other pieces of concrete bench exist but are broken. There may be enough pieces lying around to stick one together.

Have you been in contact with westernaus lately? You mentioned that he would be going on the Corregidor day tour any time now. I will go to Corregidor tomorrow and return on Monday. If he is going soon and it is possible for him to spend one night there, we can meet up and have a little walk somewhere.

Good point about the Mile Long Barracks squad room. There are more than one of these rooms so the photo could have been taken in any of them. One other thing is that these structures are slowly deteriorating these days so weakened concrete is flaking off in many areas.

----------

Phantom, I have never seen a sketch to show exactly where Battery Globe was located. Perhaps WW has seen such a thing. I agree with you that those are definitely prepared positions south of the swimmimg pool (on the golf course) but little else is obvious. There is one other place though that was a position of some sort. There is one hand-dug hole right beside an area ringed with rocks. This may also have been part of Globe but I cannot say for sure.