He told us that you just have to make up your mind to take it like you own it; present yourself in the best manner you can, clean yourself up the best you can, and go into the place and take what you want. I decided to try it.

I made my plans well. I cleaned myself up as best I could, and went into a hospital tunnel where a refrigerator was. There was no one at the door, so I entered. There was a long table with perhaps forty or fifty people sitting around it. There was a man standing at the end of the table, making a speech. He was speaking into a microphone. With all these people there, it was kind of close quarters. I went past these people and went to the refrigerator. I don't even remember what I got, I think bread and cheese. When I came out, I went by those people again. When I came out, there was a guard by the door. He asked me what I was doing in there, and I told him that I had to go in there to get something. He said that I could not go in there because President Quezon is making his inaugural address. You see, Quezon’s term had run out while he was on Corregidor, and since they could not have an election because the Japanese were in control of the country, Quezon was simply inaugurated for another term. I was stealing a cheese sandwich in the same corridor where he was making his speech. I had seen Quezon before, but I had been so nervous, excited, and sweaty-palmed that I did not recognize the man talking!

FALL OF BATAAN, APRIL 1942

Then on about the 1st of April, the enemy started up the Bataan Peninsula, determined not to be stopped. And they were not. After months of day in, day out service on the front line, and days of hard fighting without air protection, “Wainwright’s Skinny Warriors” (as they dubbed themselves) gave up the fight. On the day 9 April, the Japanese occupied the whole of the Peninsula. The morning of the 10th, I saw them come on Corregidor, the battered, dirty, wet, tired, sick remnants of the Usaffe Forces. They had fled the mainland by any means at their command, rafts, logs, small boats, and some even swimming the several mile neck of water separating Corregidor from the Mainland.

We survived on the island of Corregidor, but news from Bataan was bad. Finally one day, the whole thing collapsed. People were coming across on logs and little boats. I imagine some drowned. It was about a quarter mile from Bataan to Corregidor by water. I think some would have rather drown than get captured. Some crawled out of the water, retching and covered with oil.

That was an ominous morning on Corregidor; those men had a look on their faces of having seen too much, and I think everyone knew then that it was only a matter of when we would surrender, and not if. The fall of Bataan brought the enemy cannon up to point blank range on our little island. From that day on, we were under constant observation from a captive balloon on Bataan. So well were we observed, that even were an individual to expose himself too often, he would draw some shell-fire directed for him personally.

After that, the Japanese were very close. They began shelling us with two hundred forty-millimeter mortars, and they were devastating. They tore up everything. They tore up the roads, beach defenses -- everything we had. They even shot over Corregidor.

There were three other islands fortified with large disappearing guns, twelve-inch mortars that would come out of the concrete, fire, and go back in again. The Japanese kept pecking away at them with the 240-millimeter shells until they disabled all of them. They disabled the remaining aircraft defenses so that the Japanese were able to come over without any interference and they could bomb hundreds of times without losing a plane. They would re-load their bombs and return to Corregidor and they could do this on a continual basis so that we were almost constantly under attack. Not only from 240-millimeter guns, small guns, but also from bomb attacks. There was one period, perhaps after Bataan had fallen that the Japs waited until they were ready to really attack Corregidor, that it was fairly quiet . They left us alone for week, maybe even a month. It was so quiet that living in the tunnels became intolerable.

The ring was tightening on Corregidor. Daily conditions were becoming worse. The troops could not be fed regularly, as field kitchens were blown up almost as soon as they were set up. Part of the time -- most of it -- the men had to be fed cold emergency rations. All of our artillery, except very few pieces, were out of commission and they were unable to fire because of the torrent of fire they drew from the enemy. Daily we heard from our own radio (The Voice of Freedom) and from KGEI how high the morale was and how glorious the fight was, but it was not. The defeats, the constant harassing, the rottenness of command, the inequality in food distribution, and the growing suspicion that there was “something rotten in Denmark” about the whole thing, had driven morale to an extreme low.

Coming out of the tunnels, when we saw all the good sunshine and fresh air, some of us decided to move outside. I was one of those, and, with my friend, we managed to get some tents and bunks and live outside of the tunnel relatively comfortably for the time being. Even at this time, we knew the Japs had some 75-millimeter cannons on Bataan, right opposite of Corregidor, the town's name I forget. But occasionally they would shoot at people smoking cigarettes at night, so we knew they were there.

While living outside the tunnel, at Monkey Point End, we met MacArthur, every day we met the kid, Douglas MacArthur, Junior, and Mrs. MacArthur, and they were very nice people, and quite brave. They did not live in the tunnel, but in a dwelling place quite a distance from the tunnel. I think MacArthur was doing that to show the people that had to live outside on the beaches that he could be out there if they had to be out there. However, when the serious shelling and constant bombing began, MacArthur moved into the tunnel, and not too long after that we learned that he was leaving on a submarine with some other officers and some nurses. Of course, he was criticized for that by the people who had to stay. I did not see him leave, but some did. He left secretly, into Manila Bay, sneaked up to the pier, and they quietly loaded him up with his officers and the nurses, and they took off. They took off for Mindanao, or some place. I understand that he was put aboard a different type of boat and went to Australia.

There are numerous stories told me by men who were present, and also things I’ve seen myself, that can hardly be explained as mere “accident”. The enemy had artillery lined up hub to hub within murderous range of our 12 inch mortars, and the gun captain had all possible data as to range, deflection, etc. He begged his colonel for permission to blow them off the map, but permission was refused on the ground that we needed to conserve ammunition and ammunition dumps were being hit daily. When the final show came, there were no guns to fire on the Japanese landing forces. And then there was the fellow who was on a radio-plane-locator (268) who claims positively that Eba Field had warned Clark Field at least 40 minutes in advance of the air attack on Clark of the coming attack -- and still most of our planes there were destroyed on the ground. Also that six new subs that were sent to attack the enemy convoy and somehow the orders were changed (or disobeyed) -- instead two antiquated submarines were sent. On the 3rd of May, the officers of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines informed the commanding officer (Col. Beecher) that the men could stay in their foxholes no longer. The Colonel told the men to hold out 48 hours longer, and the whole situation would be changed. And changed it was.

We had a theory about where the shells were going to land. If they made a clapping sound, like clapping hands together, or rather like cupping the hands together, then we thought they were coming at us. If they made a high cracking sound, they were headed somewhere else. Perhaps our theories were not so bad, because one day after several weeks out there, we were sitting in the sunshine, under the tent, and we heard three plop, plop, plop, sounds, like cupped hands. We all recognized the sound that we thought meant they were headed for us, so we took off as fast as we could go for the tunnel, and we stayed there overnight. In the morning, we went out and saw that all we could find of our tents and bunks were bits and pieces of cotton up in the trees, and metal here and there. They seemed to have been sighting our spot. They tore it up very effectively.

SURRENDER ANNOUNCED TO THE MEN

On 6th May at 10 am I heard General Beebe ask the commander of the Japanese forces to cease firing and offered to Surrender the fortified islands (Drum, Hughes, Frank and Corregidor) with Personnel and Equipment as existed at 12 noon on that day. The firing did not cease, but the surrender was accepted. The Japanese landing force had been ashore about 12 hours and had been in combat with our beach defense for that length of time. Early in the morning of the next day, a heavy barrage was thrown at some isolated areas and then the firing finally ceased.

On the 6th when we knew the surrender to be fact, we broke open a storeroom and ate canned fruit and milk, the first in months, although we were starving for the lack of it. Major Hart called us together and told us how to act when we were prisoners and he shook hands all around and said he was proud to have served with us and we also with him. It was pretty dramatic, but somehow it seemed a little false and overdone. At 4 o’clock the first Japs came into the station.

About the first of May 1942, the Japanese invaded Corregidor with assault boats and troops. They attempted to land on the beaches where the beach defenses were dug in. Guns and riflemen were dug in, but the wire was damaged, and some men were killed and wounded with the shelling. The Japanese were able to get ashore, and as a matter of fact, they were able to get a tank ashore. The battle for the island went on for several days. Eventually, the Japanese were able to win it. Then they were moving closer and closer to Malinta Tunnel. I could hear the battle going on while I was in the temporary radio station office set up in the entrance copying messages and sending messages. I could hear the guns going off. I could tell the difference from the American guns and the Japanese guns. The Japanese guns had a "zip-zip" sound and the American guns had a "thung-thung" sound. It was right outside my door. I was quite safe because I was behind a pile of sandbags almost up to the ceiling, maybe ten feet thick at the bottom and six or eight feet thick at the top. No bullets could go through the radio station. I was copying a radio message from the Hawaiian Islands, Radio Station NPO. It was to General Wainwright, and it was from President Roosevelt.

HDQRS U.S.A.F.F.E. - Ft. Mills; P.I.
Jan 15, 1942
Subject: Msg from Gen. MacArthur.
To: All Unit Commanders

The following message from Gen. MacArthur -- there will be read and explained to all troops. Every Company commander is charged with personal responsibility for the delivery of this message. Each Headquarters will follow up to insure reception by each company or similar unit.

“Help is on the way from the U.S. Thousands of troops and hundreds of planes are being dispatched. The exact time of arrival of reinforcements is unknown as they will have to fight their way through Japanese attempts against them. It is imperative that our troops hold until these reinforcements arrive.

“No further retreat is possible. We have more troops in Bataan than the Japanese have thrown against us. Our supplies are ample; a determined defense will defeat the enemy attack. It is a question now of courage and determination. Men who run will merely be destroyed, but men who fight will save themselves and their country.

“I call on every soldier in Bataan to fight in his assigned position resisting every attack. This is the only salvation. If we fight we will win; if we retreat we will be destroyed.”

MacArthur
By command of Gen. MacArthur
Earl H. Seals
Col. A.G.D.
Adj. Genl.

When I got this message, I thought, "I have got to get this message." I was very busy copying this message and I didn't copy it perfectly. The message was in effect to say that you have done all that could be expected of you. It was not exactly telling Wainwright to surrender, but in effect, if you read the whole message, you knew that was what the President was saying. "You have done everything you can do, so now you can throw in the towel." The message was long. When I completed the message, I retyped it because it was full of errors.

Then I took a copy of it to the Navy Radio station. On my way, I had to pass the Finance Office where we kept all the money. There were soldiers with paper cutters there, and they were cutting up all the money. They had money in slivers on the floor about a foot deep. They did not want it in the hand of the Japanese. I understand that there was quite a lot of gold on Corregidor and they loaded that on board the USS Kanopus before it was sunk. They sailed alongside the island and strewed the gold on the bottom of the bay to hide it. When I was passing the Finance Office, they offered me money, twenty-dollar bills, but I refused it. I didn't want money because it would be useless, I thought, if we were to become Japanese prisoners -- why have the money? That was a mistake! It was valuable because you could use it with the Filipinos. Now to get back to my story -- the message from Roosevelt to Wainwright. I was acting as a courier then, taking the message over to the Navy radio station. I found, to my chagrin, that the message was received by them a good half-hour before I got my message there. They were copying the same broadcast that I was.

“Motors In The West”

The old man with the whiskers was pointing straight at me; He said, “Your country needs you “, so I signed up for three.

The recruiting sergeant told me of a life which was the best, but not one word was said that day of Motors In The West.

He spoke to me in delicate tones as if I were a man of means; “Travel is what you need,” he said, “Why not try the Philippines.”

So now I am here; the war is on; I never would have guessed that this small phrase could mean so much -- Flash -- Motors In The West.

There was a time, here on the Rock when life was filled with cheer; our main concern was how to pay our monthly bill for beer.

Now the club is bombed, the beer is gone; we’re in a bomb-proof pressed;
Quiet, Silence, There is goes again -- Flash -- Motors In The West.

Somewhere the sun is shining; somewhere there is rest;
But there’s peace no more on Corregidor;
There’s Motors In The West.

But MacArthur’s boys shall carry on, and each will do his best
To throw a monkey wrench in those Motors In The West.

Anyway, the Japanese prevailed in their attack. They eventually took over the island, even though the Marines said that we had them all killed and there was no reason to surrender now. It always amazed me that the Japanese would spend as much materiel as they did and manpower as they did when we were theirs all the time. They did not have to invade us – they could have just kept us there. They could just shell us everyday and no one would have gotten killed on their side and eventually we would have given up. They must have known that, but perhaps it was a matter of pride. They did not want the Americans to hold out so long against the Imperial Forces.

We knew not how to surrender. First we were instructed to kneel, hands behind our backs, then on top of our heads, then to kneel hands elevated, but finally when the Jap officers arrived they motioned us to stand and act natural; the humiliating positions were our own officers’ ideas.  

(continue)