Corregidor

At the end of the day I could not bear to hear any more about thousands of young men dying far from their homes. The start of the day was so beautiful.

We arrived at the ferry just about dawn

A large group of senior missionaries - and Jonah and Sister Maryanne waiting at the pier

The day was beautiful but the aroma was disgusting. I'm not sure if sewage was being dumped into the bay or something so big was rotting that it smelled like sewage.

All aboard

The boat was filled only with passengers going to the island. On the way we were shown a film that told all about the island and what we would see there.

Garbage disposal is a huge problem in the Philippines

On one side of the island, garbage drifting in the ocean piled up and on the other people could go swimming.

As soon as I remember where I put his name, I will update this caption

We had a superb guide who was very knowledgeable about the history of the entire island and would show us the sites with a great explanation. Any questions could be readily answered. I did wonder what kind of speech he would give if we weren't Americans.
The Americans built many, many buildings from Japanese concrete and Bethlehem steel from the States. I'm sure they felt they would last hundreds of years. Who knew in the early 1900's that in 25 years every building would be bombed - twice - and be completely inhabitable. Many of the buildings were finished in 1915 or early 1920's but in 1941 and again in 1945 they were all destroyed. First by the Japanese pilots and then by the American pilots.

Middleside Barracks

This once housed hundreds of soldiers. Now it is rubble. After the island was bombed there were no trees left. A plane threw out seed bombs of native trees to re-plant the island. Grass and nature took over the rest. A few trees and shrubbery were planted for design.

I mostly took pictures of people.

 If you want to know the history, here is the link:http://www.corregidorisland.com/history.html    
and information: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/corregidor-island

The whole group at the Barracks

The Whiteheads examining a tunnel entrance

Looking down the barrel of a cannon - perfect frame - The Stinchfield's

David Bowman

The Japanese shouted "Banzai" when they captured the cannons, but then I heard they shout Banzai when the leap from a cliff committing suicide rather than be captured by Americans. It means something like 1000 years or long live the Emperor

The light house was not terribly high but I still clutched the rails

Tuckers at the top of the lighthouse looking toward Bataan

Eckerts and Lee's at the bottom

The tour included a very lovely lunch near a lighthouse and museum. There was a war memorial garden too. At one time a lot of time, effort and money had gone into making this a beautiful thoughtful place.

Thinking and pondering war

Artefacts found on the island

Memorial of a Filipino solider with an American solider

I have to wonder who paid for it - American's because the Filipino is injured?

Eternal Flame

In the centre of the memorial

We saw a few caves that the Japanese had holed up in - most were over-grown and inaccessible.

Completely uninvitinged

We also took a step into the vast net work of tunnels built over ten years all over the island. We just walk down one corridor to another side of the island. They don't let tourists wander all over inside the famous tunnels.

Discussions

About the second to the last stop I was done hearing about the atrocities men could do to men.

Elder Lee checking to see how deep the shrapnel could go

Elder and Sister Elliot from the MRC

At the last stop there was a statue honouring the strong Filipino women - so of course I had to take a picture of the beautiful strong woman who means so much to me. Jonah Magno