|
Post by wwalker on Jun 28, 2011 0:28:32 GMT 8
These are a lot of good possiblities on the location of the air-raid shelter. I'm hoping to have somemore information on specifics about the shelter in the next couple of days. Hopefully I will be able to supply some information about what type of structure the shelter itself was, and an approximation as to a location. Thanks for all the good input.
|
|
|
Post by okla on Jun 28, 2011 0:39:45 GMT 8
Hey Guys....Is it known just what type of construction had been done on this tunnel/shelter. Was it still in the "raw" stage, just crude excavation, etc or was some concrete reinforcing progress in place? If only crude digging only had been accomplished it would be easy to see where that massive explosion would blow all signs of any type tunnel/shelter to hell and back with no sign of this project being visible today. Having said all this, I would bet all my meager, worldly possessions that you two guys would come up with positive results if any remnants do, indeed, exist. I will await, with baited breath, the results of your future explorations in this area. This type stuff keeps my battery charged"big time". Thanks again for your efforts..
|
|
|
Post by The Phantom on Jun 28, 2011 2:55:31 GMT 8
Good work digging out the "Bathtub" you two.
Here's hoping no one was using those steps out, when Geary blew up.........if so, he's still there..........
Rainy season now huh? Careful entering the jungle after a rain.
If they built the Air Raid Shelter opposite the Plotting Room, isn't that in the line of fire from Bataan? As Battery Crockett in on the South side of Corregidor?
Maybe the Air Raid Shelter was started when all the Japanese shelling was coming from the Cavite side, it would have been properly located at that time.......... They would have been sitting ducks from Cavite.
And when the Bataan surrender occurred and the Japanese started their heavy shelling from Bataan it was in the wrong place and destroyed as they lobbed their shells over the hill behind the Plotting Room. I look forward to your investigation, I wanna go.........
|
|
|
Post by wwalker on Jun 28, 2011 4:05:49 GMT 8
Ok guys, I have some information to add to this that might help. I haven't been able to get in touch with the man I mentioned above, but I just spoke with another guy that was in Battery H (Geary). According to him:
The shelter that we are speaking of was where an old mess hall once sat for Battery Geary, and that all that remained at that time was the concrete footing of the old messhall. The men from Geary dug underneath this concrete footing and put the dirt on the top of the concrete footing. He said he remembered the concrete only being 4-6 inches thick and it wasn't re-inforced. The shelter had no supports. The shelter appeared to be a mound of dirt after they had dug it out from under the ground and layed it on the top of the concrete shelter. The shelter itself was about 25 feet long and 14-16 feet wide. He said it was close to Battery Geary and that the mess hall that used to be there was used by soldiers that were at Geary in the 1920's. The bomb hit beside the shelter, penetrating the ground and collapsed it in sideways. Apparently they had been doing work on this shelter, and during the bombing they took cover in the incomplete shelter.
I hope this helps, and I will get more information on this, as the fellow had visitors in town for the week, and I am to call him back next week. Then I will ask him more about its exact location.
Regards,
Will
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2011 10:48:52 GMT 8
And the shelling from Cavite first then Bataan following the surrender theory doesn't work as the shelter collapse was January 6th and Bataan didn't fall until April 8th-9th. I also will follow along until the crew on the scene solves this one.
|
|
|
Post by fots2 on Jun 28, 2011 20:24:56 GMT 8
Hi Will, Before I read your last post I had intended to have a look along the east side of the ridge for some sort of tunnel type shelter. That description is quite helpful. Building #103 is shown on the 1921 map but missing on the 1932 map. Sometime between those years the building was removed somehow. I have no idea where the Mess Hall would have been but am now wondering if the removal of this building left the concrete footing or foundation you are referring to. If this happened in the early 20s then perhaps a Mess Hall was later built over a ready made foundation. A 1940s soldier might have no idea what a 1920s structure originally was. This is speculation only. The foundation is approximately 200 feet from the rear of the battery so does qualify as being close. When speaking to the other veteran, could you also ask where the shelter (or old Mess Hall) was in relation to the Plotting Room? We know exactly where that is today. Thanks for your help. 1921 map 1932 map
|
|
|
Post by wwalker on Jun 29, 2011 3:00:44 GMT 8
Thanks for the map snippets fots2. This will give me some insight of things around Geary whenever I speak with the gentleman on this again. I feel like he will be able to give us an approximate, if not an exact location. Will get more information, I think we can solve this puzzle. I appreciate the help.
Will
|
|
|
Post by The Phantom on Jun 29, 2011 4:08:13 GMT 8
Building #103 area does have a lot of concrete junks all around as stated by Karl. (Is it under the present day road?) I had always assumed they were from the explosion of Battery Geary's Magazine, so I never explored past the road there.
Building #103, located on the side of the trolley tracks back then, could have been used by construction crews building Battery Geary and Crockett, to store supplies, or been a Mess Hall to feed those doing the initial building of the Batteries around 1904/1910.
Hundreds of workers would have been there at the time, most of which would have been prison labor. You would feed them on the spot right? "Back to work YOU!"
Maybe the building was removed to another area for a different use when the work was finished on Geary and Crockett leaving the temporary, though concrete base.
There is a ravine just past the location of #103, also with small and huge chunks of concrete.
I don't get it Ironman?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2011 4:37:16 GMT 8
Or quite possibly I don't. I read your post to say that the air raid shelter in question might have been constructed while the Japanese shelling was coming from Cavite and thus the shelter was well placed. But following the fall of Bataan and the Japanese beginning their shelling from Bataan it was not as well placed and subsquently destroyed by Japanese fire. But wwalker's post stated that the shelter was destroyed January 6th, 1942 while Bataan did not fall until April 8th & 9th, 1942 some three months later. If I'm not reading your post correctly Phantom I do apologize.
|
|
|
Post by The Phantom on Jun 30, 2011 3:51:38 GMT 8
Thanks for the clarification Ironman.
I stand corrected on my hypothesis.
I missed the Jan. date of the explosion? Or was not paying proper attention.............
Off on anther tangent, was I.
So to continue the discussion, was the Air Raid Shelter destroyed by shelling from Cavite, (were the Japanese even shelling from Cavite that early?)
Or by bombs from above?
|
|