June 22

Recap:  Yesterday was a powerful day.  Much of it was a travel day but stepping so near where Irvin stood and battled and was injured and walked and prayed (We are sure he did!) was indeed very emotional.

There is a memorial called the Japanese and Olongapo City Peace Memorial in the form of a dove on the top of a column.  It is located right in the center of the Zig Zag Pass, the Japanese main line of defense, which is also the center of this community. The sign says ”World Peace Memorial of Olongapo City; this memorial is a tribute to the persons who perished during WWII, and is dedicated by the people of Olongapo City to World Peace, Friendship and Cooperation.” 

This battle was fought between Feb 1st-14th 1945 and it was considered a very hard battle. The 38th Infantry Division is known as the “Avengers of Bataan.”

We drove toward Manila but did stop for a short driving tour of Clark Air Force Base.  This base and Subic were both closed in 1991-ish when the nearby volcano erupted and left both covered in ash (Clark defining more so!); both were to be turned over to the Philippines during this time frame anyway.  They are “duty-free” zones now, with Clark upgrading their airstrips and buildings to provide a new international airport for the area.  It will help decongest the Mana airport.  There are also plans to build a fast train to connect it to the city.    

Our tour guide offered to take us past the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial even though it was not on our original itinerary.  This is a beautiful resting place.  As it is an American cemetery the USA does all the meticulous upkeep.  While we were looking at the mosaic maps that are part of the memorial we mentioned to Carlos that they depicted Irvin’s battles.   We then recognized a few names from the few of Grandpa’s pictures we have.  Grandpa rarely if ever talked about his war years.  Several have the names of places on New Guinea, but that isn’t on our agenda this trip;  one did have Clark written across the top.  I hadn’t read it as Clark due to the “font” but sure enough it did and it makes sense.  Grandpa was a tail gunner with the Army Air Corp so would have been stationed/based/trained/? at an Air Force base:  Clark.  So we were also close to where he spent time as well.  We knew he was here, as the pictures we do have reference places in New Guinea and the Philippines, and research that we’ve been able to find regarding the army air corps from Indiana would have put him with the 38th.

Our driver is the most amazing driver in the universe.  He knows exactly where to go, and, more importantly, how to navigate this craziness called traffic, and he got us to our hotel safely, swerving, beeping, nudging!!  It is the Manila Hotel, which is where MacArthur actually lived when he was here. It is a very nice hotel—fancy!  The Beatles stayed here in 1966 when they played in Manila but that is a story for another day.  Our room is on the 17th floor overlooking the shipyard in the bay.  It is fun to watch the workings of a shipyard.

We ate at the restaurant featuring an “International” buffet and enjoyed many different foods. There aren’t a lot of restaurants within walking distance but this is a historically significant hotel so the agency put us here.  It was also severely damaged during WW II but has been restored to its former grandeur.    

I got caught up on the blog entries from the last few days, and now today is a new day.  

We don’t have Carlos today as we are doing a tour of Corregidor Island.  In a casual conversation on our first day Carlos wondered why we hadn’t signed up for this tour, as he had us down for the historic Manila City tour. I was confused as we HAD signed up for it and our itinerary showed it! So he got on the phone and fixed it!  The island itself has its own tour guides so he picked us up later upon our return.       

So this morning’s excursion took us to Corregidor, a tadpole-shaped island that lies at the South of Manila Bay 26 miles west of the city; we took a closed catamaran for nearly 2 hours.  It is from here that Filipino and American soldiers gallantly fought off the Japanese forces in 1942. 

We hopped onto an open-sided, much like a San Fransisco, street car!  There were 5 cars total touring us around; we had to listen for 5 bells  when we stopped so we knew when we’d be taking off again.  Our guide was exceptionally knowledgeable about the history of this island, from its origins with the Spanish in the 1500s through WW II. It was actually “fortified” between 1922-1932.  General MacArthur was ordered to go to Australia but refused to leave until the president threatened to take away his ranks and all benefits.  He then left General Wainwright in charge but the Japanese hit hard.  The Japanese were supposed to “finish” this battle in 50 days but the Americans and Filipinos held on for 5 months before finally having to surrender.   As the guide said, it was built “state of the art” at that time but times changed quickly and they were really behind when the Japanese attacked.  The fact they could hold their own as long as they did was amazing!

There are some impressive memorials here, including the Pacific War Memorial, the Mile-Long Barracks—said to be the longest in the world—and the Malinta Tunnel which housed General Douglas MacArthur and was also used as a hospital for the wounded during the invasion. At times 8000+ soldiers hid in this tunnel.  It was so hot and humid with only 100 of us in there; it had to be horrible for them. 

Our tour did include lunch so we dined in an outdoor “pavilion” and then we climbed a lighthouse that had been there since Spanish times.  It was damaged during WW II along with pretty well everything else on the island.  The lighthouse was rebuilt with cross “windows” to reflect the Christianity of the area. 

We did see ring-tailed monkeys —bunches of them— just watching us from the trees. They were re-introduced to the island after the war. 

I know we were not supposed to but I left our “gift bag” from the cruise line on the trolley when we hopped off and on at the varied sights.    Signs say to not leave anything behind but there really were only a few things in it, two fans (It was HOT!), 2 bottles of water, and our leftovers from breakfast, 2 oranges, and some butter and jam.  The hotel sent a boxed breakfast since we were up and gone before 6.  When we got back into our trolley after lunch my bag seemed lighter—can you believe it?  Someone stole our oranges!! Yes, I wondered too if I just sat in the wrong seat but the jam and butter were still in there! I guess they needed those oranges more than we did.  Disappointing.

Oh, the sadness of seeing so much trash in the open waters. :(  and everywhere actually.  

This cruise/tour service were amazing at keeping us on our time schedule.  We hopped back on the boat to meet up with Carlos. 

We then did an abbreviated tour of historic Manila, including the burial site, execution site, as well as the prison site of the Philippines’ national hero Dr. Rizal.  Apparently he was considered a “renaissance” man as he was brilliant, and a “gentle” demeanor, influencing many to question Spanish control and also encouraging all to think about everything!  He was arrested, accused, tried, and convicted as a “rebel” and sentenced to death by firing squad.  

We wandered around the ruins of Fort Santiago. A fascinating tidbit was they had dungeons built to house arms and gun powder in 1599 as it’s location on a river but close to the bay was ideal.  Occasionally these dungeons flooded so they built new ammunition storage on higher ground and these dungeons were “converted” to a prison facility.  When the United States liberated Manila from the Japanese imperial forces in 1945, they found 600 Filipino decomposing corpses in these dungeons. They were all buried together under one white cross, identities never known.  

We also visited two old churches, one of which we could not go in for some reason—even Carlos was surprised by that. This first one, the Cathedral of Manila, had to be rebuilt.  The 2nd one, the Church of San Agustin, was actually NOT damaged during the war! According to Carlos, Manila was the third most damaged city of WW II, following Warsaw, Poland and Dresden, Germany.  There was a Mass in progress but we silently stood in the back; the ceiling looks like carved stone but it is in fact painted, the details magnificent! 

It was time to head back and say our farewells.  Our guides and drivers during this trip were simply amazing. 

We changed into our swimming gear to try out the pool as we didn’t get to last night.  It was a truly lovely pool, with the area around it like a fairy garden!  Lights hung from the trees, water fell from stone flowers into the pool, and it was big enough to accommodate many of us.  We watched fireworks over the hotel although we have no idea why there were fireworks! 

We got cleaned up hoping to have a quick simple snack for dinner but the hotel was very busy and the attendants in the lobby didn’t wait on us, even after giving us menus!  :( We moves to the bar area and were waited on but the choices were even more limited. We did finally get a sandwich and headed back up to pack.

Side notes:  the Filipino people are very friendly and chill—except for traffic, no one is in a hurry! We were not approached by beggars until Manila and they were often children.  The towns and cities smell, a LOT, and it isn’t a pretty flowers everywhere smell even though they have pretty flowers everywhere!  There is so much trash everywhere! There was one town that was really clean and Carlos said it was because the mayor was strict and wanted it clean so made sure it was!  There is quite a bit of new construction and Carlos also said their new president wants things to get done so he is pushing a lot of good things through.   

Tomorrow, Tokyo!