Corregidor - Part One

Corregidor is an island at the mouth of Manila Bay; when the Philippines was a Spanish colony, any ships passing to Manila had to stop here for paperwork – hence the name, “Corrector.” There’s a lighthouse on the island; as ships approached, a signal could be sent from there that could be seen in Manila, 26 miles away. A tadpole-shaped island of about ten square miles, I went to visit for the day on Saturday. I’m glad I didn’t let the frequent typhoon updates deter me – it rained for part of the day, but the boat ride was more-or-less smooth, and we were on a covered tour bus or under umbrellas and that was fine.

I learned in Thailand that on December 7, 1941 (December 8 on this side of the date line), the Japanese attacked not only Pearl Harbor but also several other strategic locations in the Pacific. As I headed for the dock, I thought about the fact that at the time, Hawaii and the Philippines were both under American administration. Did the “day which will live in infamy” speech talk about both and we just think about Pearl Harbor because Hawaii became a state and the Philippines another country?

I asked this of Caitlyn, the volunteer who came with me – and she happened to have the speech on her ipod! She had bought a CD of America’s greatest speeches (that is, the greatest speeches since the days of recording). So we listened to that (answer – it was specifically Pearl Harbor that prompted FDR to declare war – but he did mention all of the other attacks) – and then to other speeches (JFK inauguration, JFK Berlin Wall, MLK I have a dream, RFK at the convention in 1964, Reagan Evil Empire, MacArthur Fading Away and more. My conclusion is that of all of these, the “I have a dream” speech is the best. The boat ride over also included a video with some footage from the war (including the FDR speech, again).

After the Americans took over at the beginning of the 20th century, they set to building a military post on the island. It was thought of as a paradise post, complete with golf course and other recreation. We first went by a baseball field – Babe Ruth had played there in the ‘30s – that is now a campground. Then we went past some barracks – when built, they were thought to be bombproof, but that turned out not to be the case. Twenty-four batteries were built to defend the harbor – but this was before the age of airplanes, so they were without anti-aircraft capability. We went by three of them, with the guns still in place as well as the evidence of direct hits.

Our tour guide mentioned that 280,000 “Philippine scouts” fought with the Americans, and were promised full benefits after the war. That didn’t happen – until the February 2009 stimulus package, which paid out those benefits to the 18,000 veterans who are still alive (thanks to Daniel Inouye – who, I learned in the USAID meeting, also secured $5 million for housing after Typhoon Reming in 2006 – he is a friend of the Philippines).

We went to the high point of the island, past the parade ground. When the Japanese invaded in 1942, they invaded the tail of the tadpole, and when the Americans were closing in in 1945, the Japanese were expecting them to arrive in the same location. Instead, paratroopers landed in the parade ground at the head.