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Post by chadhill on Dec 4, 2011 15:16:17 GMT 8
Well guys, those last comments by Phantom about the Spanish-looking walls near the chapel got me scrathing my noggin. I thought I had done all my homework, but went back again and looked thru all the literature and photos that I have, and poured over a couple dozen more websites. Four hours later, l have to report that two of the websites said the chapel was built during the Spanish era. If so, that poo-poos my hunch that it was built by the USN after WW2 at the tennis court site. So...after more picture studying...here is a closeup view of the tennis court from a different angle in the 1944 photo (north is not at the top). The yellow arrow points to a building that could be the chapel, the red arrow points to the tennis court. If that is indeed the chapel, then the tennis court is SE of it and should be somewhere in the vicinity of the Red Cross building on the 1977 chart (see chart, Reply #67 above).
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Post by chadhill on Dec 6, 2011 5:04:35 GMT 8
For orientation, here is the full 1944 photo from the previous page of this thread. This time the top of the photo points almost north. Sidney Stewart, in "Give Us This Day", wrote that from the tennis court "...just beyond the trees, were the former marine barracks" (p.181). To the upper right of the tennis court, beyond the tree row, are several buildings. Interestingly, the furthest away building is the approximate site of the USMC barracks on the 1977 chart. Pre-war shots of the USS Rochester at Rivera Point:
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Post by chadhill on Dec 7, 2011 5:31:34 GMT 8
Here's a bit of information, apparently from the proceedings for the war crimes trials. In a sworn deposition dated September 24, 1945, Major Robert E. Conn, Jr., 45th Infantry (PS) stated: "During the period we were on the tennis court, approximately eight men died from wounds, starvation, lack of medical care, and exhaustion. Two of these men were personal friends of mine, being Captain Dwight H. Gribben and Lieutenant William F. Hogaboom". The name Hogaboom opened my eyes. The marine officer received the Navy Cross in the fighting for Mount Pucot, Longoskawayan Point and Lapiay Point, Bataan. He had commanded Company P, 4th Marines during the battle for Water Tank Hill on Corregidor. After checking ABMC and DPMO, I learned that both Hogaboom's and army Captain Gribben's remains were unrecovered. Their names are listed on the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery. Curiously, Corporal Eugene L. Specht, USMC, is buried there. Specht had his gangrenous arm amputated without anesthesia at the tennis court, and died on the last day as truck transportation arrived. I'm not sure of the IDs of the other POWs that died there. The private hellship memoirs of George L. Curtiss were written in 1947. After his death in 1971, the papers were lost until rediscovered by a family member in 2009. Curtiss noted, too, that at least 8 POWs died on the tennis court. He stated that the burial details could dig only shallow graves at the beach for them. Manny Lawton, in "Some Survived" (p. 172) also wrote that men were buried near the seawall. I would prefer to hope that Hogaboom, Gribben and the others are not still entombed there. Perhaps their remains were recovered but went unidentified and are buried as unknowns, as unfortunate as that would be. * * * * * Under terrible stress, combined with their pitiful physical condition, it is not surprising that POW survivors had somewhat differing memories of the walls surrounding the tennis court: Conn, in his 1945 deposition, said the tennis court had a wooden fence enclosure. After interviewing survivors for a December 1945 article in the Chicago Daily News and Post-Dispatch, reporter George Weller stated "it had the usual wire strung around, with an unpainted wall about 6 feet high at the bottom". Manny Lawton wrote in 1984 that the tennis court was "enclosed by a 15 foot high chicken wire fence". Sidney Stewart noted in 1956 "It was surrounded by ball wire, rather like small chicken wire".
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 7, 2011 12:19:29 GMT 8
Re the question as to the victims of the Oryoku Maru are remembered? The Hell Ships Memorial has been established in the Subic Bay Freeport (the ex Naval Base Subic Bay) a few years ago. Here is the web page: www.hellshipsmemorial.com/2017-10-21 the above URL does not exist anymore. The best URL about the Hellships Memorial is now only available at our Corregidor Forum: corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1203/hellships-memorial-subic-bayCDR Anderson (ret) was one of one of the main movers to establish this memorial. He told me when he was a Navy LT working in the Naval Base HQ which is just inland from this memorial and now serves as the Freeport HQ, he had to attend to a visiting American woman. I forgot, she was a wife or daughter of one of the victims who died here and wanted to visit the site of the Oryoku Maru and lay a wreath. Then the thought occurred to him “How come there is no memorial here”. And it became a determination to him to establish one. When he retired and became a resident in the Philippines he done just that. I would say it is located somewhat between the location of the former tennis court where the Oryoku Maru survivors were kept and where the ship is resting on the bottom. I participated in the inauguration ceremony and many events later. I established a group of albums about that and here they are here (10 albums now): s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/SBFZ%20Ex%20Naval%20Base%20Subic%20Bay/Hellships%20Memorial/The Oryoku Maru was remembered by the American Service men in 1952 when the ship had to be flattened to allow modern Carriers to use Subic Bay. One gun was salvaged and ended up in front of American Legion Post #4. I posted a thread about that: corregidor.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=forum&action=display&thread=390The gun and the one of the plaques: Here is one of several threads that were started by me on this general subject Hellships and the Oryoku Maru. Hell Ship Montevideo Maru Plaque Unveiled: corregidor.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=forum&thread=490&page=1So to answer the above question, yes, indeed, the Oryoku Maru and the other Hellships are remembered.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Dec 7, 2011 15:04:27 GMT 8
Oryoku Maru Victims Tennis Court Location Using some of Chadhill’s material, marked it up with what I recognize or what I want to point out I want to show you where the tennis court was in my humble opinion. I have been here a frequent visitor and resident In my opinion the tennis court was right here as indicated in the below map. This is how I divided up the real estate between the 2nd angled road (where the Spanish Gate must be) and the Tappan Park. This will help getting our bearings. In this image you can place the tennis court pretty exact in relation to the park, the chapel and the angled road. By the way along with the Chapel the Tappan Park is also very ancient, i.e. pre war. Now in this Chadhill’s 1977 Subic Bay Naval Station map #1 is the single wing BOQ Building. #2 item, maybe was a tennis court but I’m not sure. But no matter what it was it certainly was very close to the location of the tennis court of the WWII aerial shots. After the Navy left in Nov 1992 Legarda Investment built another 3 storey parallel wing to the one I labeled #1. That buried any chance of locating the exact location of the WWII tennis court. As of a couple years now Legarda is broke and this business is in litigation. Here is the complete map of ex Naval Sation area which is now part of the Subic Bay Freeport.
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Post by chadhill on Dec 8, 2011 8:57:28 GMT 8
Very good work, Karl! Golly, how I wish I was there to go exploring with you guys... Karl, at first I didn't think the shape of your building in the aerial photo matched the 1948 chapel photo, partly because it looked like it had a flatish roof instead of the chapel's gable roof. However, after enlarging and studying it I think that is due to the sun's reflection. It also was clear that there is a large tree in front of your building in the aerial photo, as in the 1948 pic. But the clincher, as you pointed out with the Freeport Zone map, is the location of Tappan Park (don't know how I missed the diagonal sidewalks), the Spanish Gate and the angled roads which confirm that Dewey Avenue is in the same place now as it was in 1944, in spite of all the construction since then. And the chapel is on the north side of it. That erases all doubt in my mind. You are absolutely right about the chapel. Again, great work! I also agree with you that a line drawn in the aerial photo from the chapel to the tennis court would run very close to that small lot next to the BOQ in the 1977 chart. I've been thinking about this all afternoon and seem to vaguely remember an open area there in the 1980s. For the non-PI residents, here's a clearer current picture of the chapel to compare with the 1948 photo: Kudos- Chad P.S. Thanks for showing where the Hellship Memorial is.
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Post by fireball on Dec 9, 2011 13:19:16 GMT 8
The Admirals Guest House is currently being rebuilt and so is becoming a mere replica of the historic building that used to be on that site Za332 Admiral’s Guest house in the SBFZ, the ex. U.S. Naval Station Subic Bay, from fireball The Hellship Memorial is as Karl's photos show. It was extremely well maintained and clean (spotless). 2017-10-22 note from Karl: This picture did not show anymore but has been restored on this date!
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Post by chadhill on Dec 10, 2011 3:54:26 GMT 8
Thanks for that update, fireball. Nice picture. Phantom, looks like they're gonna bring it up to code- * * * * * In reply # 82, Conn and Curtiss estimated that about 8 POWs died at the tennis court. Although he did not specify how many perished, Sidney Stewart's account of the horror leaves the impression that more than 8 POWs died at the tennis court. He and Manny Lawton both wrote that on one of the nights 6 men expired. Lawton stated that they were buried near the seawall. Last night I came across another account that gave a much higher number of POW deaths: John E. Duffy, a US Army Catholic chaplain who was held at the tennis court, wrote "We buried 19 men just outside the court in shell holes. Now, if you should say you cannot feed and clothe, house and hospitalize 1400 or more men on a tennis court for a week, I would have to disagree with you. I have seen it done". (But Deliver Us From Evil, p. 96).
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Post by fireball on Dec 10, 2011 22:44:34 GMT 8
Based on Karl's assessment of the likely location of the tennis court the current view is From Lincoln St looking roughly in a westerly direction ivo of the nearest part of the hotel: and from Dewey Avenue looking in the direction of the waterfront:
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Post by chadhill on Dec 11, 2011 8:44:49 GMT 8
Fireball, thank you for posting these pictures. With all the new construction, as Karl said, we may never know the exact location of the tennis court. But I think he was right on with his analysis, and I've come across another POW account which gives a clue. It's from the terrific book "And Somebody Gives a Damn", by the late Bataan veteran Captain Paul Ashton, MD (p.221-235). Warrant Officer Jesse E. Lee USN wrote that "the tennis court was serving as a parking lot in 1986". Karl, that would seem to provide more support to your view that the empty area next to the BOQ on the 1977 chart is the probable site. Lee also said the tennis court "had a board fence surrounding it" and that while he was a POW there "three or four men died daily".
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