THE LAST STAND
went with Other Half yesterday to the much-coveted island in the Philippines during WWII: Corregidor. had been intrigued with the island and its history for a long time now and this vacation leave of mine is the perfect time to go there.
we boarded the Sun Cruises ferry at 10.30 am at the CCP complex, just beside the Harbor.
surprisingly, the ferry was comfortable and clean...i was expecting something worse since we only paid about P1,700 each for the tour with buffet lunch.
after waiting for the latecomers, we left the dock a few minutes past 11 am and arrived on the island by 12.30. the water around the island is not really free from manila bay debris but an improvement over what you normally see and smell along roxas boulervard.
one of the major stops was the japanese cemetery which is the site of the mass grave for japanese soldiers. it was only discovered in the 1980s by accident. our guide told us (when Other Half and i were having a chat with him while the others were busy taking photos of -- themselves) that the site once had a wooden fence surrounding it but people didn't know what that was so no one bothered to see what was within the area.
near the japanese cemetery/memorial
one veteran, in his drunken ramblings, told somebody where they buried about 4,500 bodies of the japanese soldiers who died after corregidor was recaptured by the filipino and americans. the guide did not say where this american GI told his story but it was during the 80s. authorities verified his story by going there and -- voila! that place was indeed the Japanese mass grave.
that's the japanese goddess of sorrow?
so the philippine government informed the japanese government of the find and permitted them to erect a memorial for their fallen soldiers. you know how it is with the japanese and their soldiers...
while we were there, three japanese tourists were paying respects to the goddess' shrine and the old japanese lady on the wheel chair lowered her head and covered her face. it seemed like she was crying or something. Other Half andi concluded that she might have lost a loved one -- probably her husband or brother -- in corregidor.
when we "experienced" the lights and sound show in the malinta tunnel, the heavy feeling inside me only deepened. probably because the tunnel was eerie and musty. or something. basta, it was depressing to be there.
and the feeling grew heavier when i saw the lateral tunnels that caved in during the countless bombings. take note of the earlier photo which showed what it looked like and served as before one of the tunnels was destroyed.
you could only imagine just how many bombs, mortars, what-have-you hit the island. buildings that were supposed to be strong enough to withstand a war are just ghosts of their former glory. and to think the US government spent about $150 million by the end of the spanish-american war to fortify and improve the camp...
one of the many huge barracks
the mile long barracks
cine corregidor or the island's lone movie theater
have to cut this entry because blog.com may not accept long posts.
