The ghosts of Corregidor

THE GHOSTS OF CORREGIDOR: Victorino P Mapa A moat surrounded the castle. Once the drawbridge was raised the castle keep and its inhabitants with ample supplies could defend themselves indefinitely. On occasions the defenders would even sally forth, repulse and counter-attack. This concept of warfare has long gone into oblivion along with the times when knighthood was in flower and armies fought with swords and bows and arrows. The castles extant today are nothing but tourist attractions Incredibly this method of warfare was kept alive in the 20th century with the creation of Corregidor, The elements of a castle-like fortress were all there: the bay was the moat. The battlements were the gun emplacements. All save two, were permanently sited on concrete bunkers to imperil any attacks that came from the sea. What was worse is her guns were pieces taken off closing military bases in the United States, turn-of-the century ordnance that bore the year they were forged: 1906. There was, of course, Malinta tunnel which only reinforced the mole’s idea of defense. . This tadpole shaped, two and a half mile islet with an undulating terrain could only accommodate an airstrip small enough for a piper cub. Corregidor had no place in an era of fleet warships, armor-piercing cannons and attacks that would come from the sky. All the island fortress had going for it was the hype. The American press touted that the “Impregnable Rock” could repel any invaders that set foot in the Philippines; that her sixteen inch guns could obliterate any warship from twenty miles; that her shores were dotted with deadly short-range guns and machine guns; and most of all she had the US Marines and Philippine Scouts ready enough to do battle with anyone foolish enough to take her on. America was totally unprepared for war when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She had no air force, an outdated navy of which half were sunk in the sneak attack and barely 300,000 men in uniform. Corregidor, along with Singapore (ballyhooed as the “Gibraltar of the East”) had to be touted as deterrents to aggression against a battle-tested, vastly superior Japanese army. The Allies were playing bluff poker with no cards to play with. The Japanese didn’t fall for the trick with Singapore. They landed troops in Malaysia, overran the British Army and in February 1942, Yamashita’s 22,000 troops accepted the surrender of the British garrison – manned by over 100,000 men. But the bluff with Corregidor worked. The Japanese had so much respect for the island-fortress that even when they landed troops in North and South Luzon and overran its defenses, even when they pushed the Filipino-American army into the Bataan pocket ( “ a cat entering a sack”) and could invade Corregidor from the east, opposite of its guns’ fixed trajectory they did not. The Japanese so believed the American press that they staged their first air raid from a high, high altitude nearly a month after the Philippine invasion. Almost all of Corregidor’s water supply was destroyed on that first raid. From then on Corregidor was subjected to daily bombings. By February 1942, the Japanese had set up 75 millimeters on the hills of Ternate, Cavite and the bombings were joined by uninterrupted shelling. Battery Geary took a direct hit on its munitions room that her sixteen inch guns flew a quarter mile like matchsticks. Other batteries were similarly hammered enough as to make them inoperable. Corregidor’s guns couldn’t fire back at all. Their mountings were fixed. Hundreds died from shrapnel and direct hits. The wounded considered themselves lucky. Their wounds granted them a “pass” into Malinta tunnel. The non-stop bombardment, the realization that they were cut off, that escape was impossible, and no news was forthcoming from the outside world except for the exhortations to hold on ( grandiously broadcasted through General MacArthur) began to affect the defenders. Morale sunk: Men broke into tears, others walked around aimlessly, many picked fights and a malady acquired a name: Tunnel Syndrome. Malinta Tunnel with its series of laterals was the sole, sane refuge from the din of explosions. Many who went in for duty or to report refused to come out; the sick and the wounded who were brought in malingered. The “Tunnel Rates” were recognized by the wan pallor of their skin. But for the rest who had to man their posts Corregidor was a daily hell. These were the “gaunt, ghastly men, unafraid” remembered by MacArthur as he escaped from the Rock in late March. Bataan fell on April 9, and from its Mt Samat Japanese guns could now site Corregidor as well. With no fear of retaliation lest Corregidor’s guns (if operable, which wasn’t) would hit the 75,000 troops who surrendered. The “Rock” was bracketed from the south and north and subject to daily air raids. She was now ripe for invasion. A Japanese battalion landed in the early morning of May 3.Sick, hungry and debilitated as they were the shore defenders put up a fight wiping out the first wave. Defenders from the cliff hurled down grenades and mortar shells.Survivors were finished off by the bayonet. Marines and scouts stood and held and died when their ammo ran out. But the issue was never in doubt. By the third day Japanese tanks at the entrance to Malinta tunnel demanded unconditional surrender. During the first months of the war Japan faced no defeat. Corregidor was the last to fall. On that day, May 6, 1942 Japan was the master of all Asia. Philippine army soldiers today garrison the island to protect it from souvenir hunters and salvagers. When they patrol the grounds at night they allege that they catch glimpses of wraiths and hear strange moans and cries. Whether you believe them or not the soldiers swear there are ghosts in Corregidor. But there are other ghosts that are visible to the senses. In no other place in the world can one find gun emplacements, ammunition dumps piled high with defused shells, fox holes and machine gun nests by the shore and Malinta tunnel, all looking as if the conflict happened only yesterday. The Rock’s two major places of interest is Topside and Bottomside. Bottomside is where you catch sight of Malinta tunnel as your sightseeing boat docks. Linger long enough and in the sound of soft breezes that waft through the laterals you can feel the fears and anxieties of those “gaunt,ghastly soldiers” who sought refuge ; go Topside where you find the parade grounds and the “Mile-long barracks” now partly covered by creeping vines. As the wind whispers through the ruins you can hear the the footsteps of soldiers who once walked about its hallways with a free, swinging stride., men who were warriors once and young. Look up at the two flags in the old parade grounds as they flutter in the breeze and you can hear the melancholy tune of taps played at sunset. Walk around the monument to the fallen brave for those who fought and died, when Filipinos and Americans were comrades-in-arms, when they fought, bled and died together – in the remembrances that the sights and memories evoke it is hard to keep from weeping.