CORREGIDOR ISLAND an island that guards the bay of Manila that was highly fought on for over a 100 year period. The Spanish in 1898 and the Americans assisted the Filipino people push the Spanish out and then the Japanese over ran the country during the start of WWII pacific area. The red tile area picture is the highest point of Corregidor of approximately 1500 feet. (Which is higher than the highest point in Denmark and Holland, fyi). The bombed out structure is of what was known at the time as the "Mile Long Barracks". When the Corregidor Foundation started this was so over grown with Jungle and that they have had to reclaim it to preserve it by cutting back the jungle. Environmentlist didn't want them to cut back the jungle but the preservationist won so they could be reminded of their history.

This is the eternal flame that is part of the Pacific War memorial dedicated to the Americians and Filipinos who lost their lives during the retaking of the Philippines from the Japanese during WWII.

We are standing at the entrance to the War Memorial

Additional parts of the Mile Long barracks showing the severely bombed out portions

More of the Bombed Mile Long Barracks.

This is our tour guide Steve, the tall guy, and his wife Marsha, in yellow. Steve's father was a POW during the Japanese take over and
he is writing a book of his fathers military career. Steve is talking to
a teacher from Japan who came to the Philippines to take this tour with him so they could get a better perspective of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. This group of teachers felt they were not teaching the

real story of Corredior so came to here Steve do this tour. One of the Gun Battery's protecting the bay

This is the bunker that stored the powder and projectiles
used for the above gun. This cannon could send a projectile over 9 miles to hit a target.

See the "divet" in this guns barrel? It was hit by some shrapnel. It doesn't appear to have suffered much damage but the damage is on the inside.

The is looking down the inside of the above cannon and you can see the
damage inside was much more sever, making this cannon
of no use. The projectile could not leave the barrel and so would have explode inside of it.


An additional cannon, this particular is one that Steve's

father was the gunner on and
his father visited this site in the late 80's before he died and told Steve about this gun. Steve is with the group of Teachers from Japan in this shot. The building is another shot of the bombed out Mile Long Barracks.

Another cannon used to defend the Island and protect Manila Bay.

These are the tour bus' we used to tour the Island, and are replica's of the originals used during the WWII era.

This is the boat landing used to dock on when we

arrived and departed from Corredigor Island. This is where the Japanese landed when they took the island, in small boats.

This is the Tour Boat we took to and from the Island

We went to the Green Hills Mall in Manila to shop for,

what else - Pearls. This Mall is much lagrer than any We have seen in Idaho or Utah. Just one small, very small portion of it is devoted to the sale of Pearls. There are over 180 Pearl dealers, each having a booth such as this one shown. Needless to say we spent a lot of Paesos.

This is a shot of our Tour Group. (L to R) Elder and Sister Asher (Vancouver, WA), Elder and Sister Cummings (IF, ID), Elder and Sister Jorgensen (Dubois, ID) and Sister and Pres Byram (Rigby, ID) at the American Cemetery in Manila, Philippine Island.

There are over 17,000 servicemen from USA and the Philippines buried here. These are the ones whose bodies could not be shipped home during WWII because of the risks involved from the Japanese Navy.

Do a close up on this picture and see how they trim the yards around the grave sites here.

Inside each of these columns are the names of over 34,000 service men who were killed during the Pacific portion of WWII whose bodies were never recovered.




An inside look of the columns.

Some of the names engraved on the inside of these columns.

The first piller on each side reads as thus....... When you enter here and see all of these names and walk around the cemetery you know that you are walking on Hallowed ground. Over 54,000 service members are represented here for their vallor and willingness to give all to the preservation of freedom not just for the Filipino people but to stand as representing all people in search of fredom and democracy.

One of the major battles invovled in the retaking of the city of Manila and the Philippines was fought on this very hill and many of those buried here fought and died on this hill.

TO BE CONTINUED!