A few weeks ago we were contacted by Clark Judy (originally
Tschudi, of German origin, spelled phonetically at Ellis Island) of Colorado,
USA.
He told us that he and some of his
family were coming to Corregidor and that his father had been killed here in
1945.
The group arrived last Wednesday and
took the standard Sun Cruises tour, then checked into the Corregidor Inn and
gave us a call.
We arranged to meet them
for sunset viewing at Battery Grubbs.
With
Clark were his wife, Karen, their daughter Heather, and her friend Steve.
While watching a colorful sunset over the
Philippine Sea, we made plans for the following day.
Steve, Clark, Karen, Heather, "other Steve," and Marcia at sunset, Battery Grubbs
Clark’s father, after whom he was named, was serving in the
Army as a 2
nd Lieutenant when he was killed during the liberation of
Corregidor.
Clark Jr. was still some months
from being born at that time.
Lt. Clark
was a platoon leader who had been on the island only ten days when he was one
of about 50 men of the 503
rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team who died
due to a Japanese suicide operation.
It
is believed that about 200 Japanese were hiding in the Navy Intercept Tunnel on
Tailside, near Kindley Field.
When they
became aware that a number of American soldiers were in the area above the
tunnel complex, the Japanese soldiers blew up the tunnel and themselves.
Steve drove the group to the area of the tunnel, which is
marked but not often visited. There were
three main entrances to the tunnel, two of which are still obvious, and a third
down the hill below the road. We have
been told that the lower entrance was so collapsed by the explosion that it can
no longer be found. The road surface actually
dips over that part of the tunnel due to continued gradual settling from the
collapse. The other entrances are easily
spotted by huge chunks of concrete that were displaced by the explosion. Clark also wanted to see the location of a
“Panama mount” close to the entrance nearest Kindley Field. It is truly something to stand somewhere near
where you know your father was killed.
Clark at Navy Intercept Tunnel
Afterwards we went to topside.
Clark said that during the previous day’s
tour they had not had time to spe
rd
PRCT on Topside.
He and his daughter
Heather were glad to see that Clark Sr.’s name was in the listing of the
dead.
After spending some time there, we
all went into the Pacific War Memorial Museum to look around.
The museum has many photos of Corregidor’s
retaking in 1945, since the Army sent photographers and videographers to
document the mission. From 1942, when the Japanese took Corregidor, there is minimal
photographic record.
Heather pointing out her grandfather's name, 503rd Marker, Topside
Clark pointing to his father's name
Clark Judy's name on Topside plaque
Clark at 503rd stone, Topside
At lunchtime, Clark said that they had already been to the
American Cemetery in Manila and visited his father’s grave, Plot C, Row 14,
Grave number 57. He never asked his
mother why she chose to have her husband buried in the cemetery here rather
than in their hometown of Peshtigo, Wisconsin.
As we have said before, more than half of the families chose to have the
remains of their dead brought back to the States. Although this is the first time that the
family has visited Clark’s grave, others have visited on their behalf and
shared photos, including Heather’s friend, Steve, and 503rd member
Tony Lopez, whom we met and wrote about a few years ago.
After lunch the two of us took Clark, Heather, and Steve
back up to Topside for a bit of jungle exploring.
The goal was to locate the hole that once formed
the base for the telephone pole where the first American flag was raised over
Corregidor in 1945 by Clyde I. Bates and Frank Guy Arrigo.
There has been intermittent talk of raising funds
for some type of permanent marker there, but so far nothing has come of
it.
We still are hopeful that something will
be done so that this spot is never lost or forgotten.
Heather, "other Steve," Marcia and Clark at the telephone pole location
Bates and Arrigo raising American Flag on telephone pole, Feb. 16, 1945
Afterwards we did a little exploring in the area, including
looking at the ruins of the radio room and tower, and some NCO quarters.
While working toward the road from that area,
we came across a bunker that we had not seen before.
It basically looks like a concrete-fortified
hole in the ground, and we are not sure of its purpose.
Since we were in the area, we took the group
to Battery Wheeler.
The area between
Batteries Wheeler and Cheney (pronounced SHAY-nee by the veterans we know) was
one of heavy fighting, and it’s certainly possible that Lt. Judy was involved
there before the time of his death.
Our
last stop was inside one of the senior officer’s quarters, where writing on the
wall shows that it served as headquarters of F Company of the 503
rd.
Newly discovered bunker
Clark at Battery Crockett
Clark and Heather at F Company HQ, Topside
Later we bid our farewells at MacArthur Café, cooling off
with Red Horse beer and Coca Cola.
Clark
has a son that he hopes can come here someday.
Steve comes to the Philippines around five times a year and promised to
come back to Corregidor for further exploration, so impressed was he by this
first visit.
Regarding Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda:
Latest word is that over 4,000 are confirmed
dead in the Tacloban area of Leyte.
It’s
now believed that one million homes were damaged or destroyed in the central
Philippines.
The Valor Tours offerings for
2014 included trips to Leyte to celebrate the 70
th anniversary of
MacArthur’s return.
The Leyte portions
of those trips are on hold, and current information indicates that Leyte will
probably still be in recovery mode.
The beautiful
seaside Oriental Hotel, where we stayed in 2012 and again this past April, a
few miles south of Tacloban at Palo, was heavily damaged.
It is right on the beach of Leyte Gulf, where
Yolanda hit with sustained winds of 315 kph (196 mph) gusts of up to 385 kph
(239 mph).
Beach in front of Oriental Hotel, 2012; note closeness to waterfront
The following is excerpted from an on-the-scene report by Al Jazeera correspondent
Jamela Alindogan:
Well, we were sent
there the day before. I came in with our—my cameraman from the Philippines, and
we stayed at a hotel, which is in Palo, Leyte, by the coastline. We landed at
about Thursday 8:00 p.m. local time. And we were with other journalists who
were already suggesting that they think it’s best that we vacate that area
because it’s not really the best—the safest area to be in. But we’ve had—I’ve
had the—we booked a driver and a car, but, you know, because of the danger,
this driver in fact canceled on us, so it took me until 3:00 a.m. to find a
vehicle for us to take us around. By that time, I said, "Let’s just stick
around here."
At 5:00—at 4:45 a.m.,
in fact, we felt that—that was when officially the typhoon in fact made
landfall. I managed to get a few phone interviews with Al Jazeera English, Al
Jazeera America, and we were setting up for a live at around 6:30 a.m. local
time. About a minute into our live, all of a sudden the typhoon struck, and
there’s just this incredible wind, basically. These trees, they were blowing
like they were weightless, they were paper. And roofs were being blown away,
just like that. The visibility was in fact only a meter. We were close to the
coastline, but I couldn’t see the waves coming. And all of a sudden, in just a
matter of 30 minutes, the water surged up as high all the way up to the second
floor. And we were stuck.
And all of a sudden,
all the other guests started going up to the area where we were; they were also
looking for—for a safer area. This hotel is only up to the second level. And
so, we—one of the guys, another journalist, a local journalist, started kicking
the door behind us, which is a stock room, and we—he kicked the door open, and
we managed to get in, but it turned out to be a place full of shelves with
towels and water supplies and all these things, and there was a roof over
there. And so we climbed up to the ceiling and held onto the beams of the
ceiling, and we held onto it for about an hour.
And all of a sudden we
felt that, you know, the wind was actually starting to—the roofs and the
ceiling was actually starting to give way. And in just a matter of 20 minutes,
it started caving in, and this really, really scary sound. And all of a sudden
the entire roof is gone, and we were exposed to this beast, this incredible
power that is really unimaginable. The sound is absolutely terrifying. It is
horrific. I mean, it’s beyond what anybody else could imagine. I have covered
armed conflict, but there is nothing like this, nothing as incredible and as
scary as covering a natural disaster like Typhoon Haiyan.
When we were exposed
to that, we managed to hide in one of the shelves. We took shelter there.
Debris were flying over on top of us, above us. We knew that the eye of the
storm was just above us. And we were ready to climb, in fact, and we were
holding onto empty gallons of this water, plastic bottles, these massive
gallons of water containers, hoping that this could actually keep us afloat in
the event that we have to jump. And we waited for two hours, and, thankfully,
the water didn’t rise up to the level where we were planning to jump on, basically.
And we waited another two hours. It was really, really, really dragging, really
long, really difficult to not know exactly how—you know, how things are going
to—how your life will turn out. And thankfully, we—the water went down. But the
winds were way too powerful, so we stayed a couple of hours more.
And a few hotel
attendants managed to rescue us one by one from that tiny room, and we were
moved to a safer place. From then on, we realized that everything, all of our
gear, everything that we had, is gone.
Although the hotel is not named, the Oriental is the only
one we know in Palo that fits her description.
What a chilling account!
About 100 yards north from the Oriental is the reflecting
pool monument commemorating General Douglas MacArthur’s return to the
Philippines. We include a photo we took
last year. In it you can see the solid line
of trees between the monument and the Oriental Hotel. In a photo sent to us this week, taken from
approximately the same angle, you can see that scarcely a leaf remains on any
of the trees that managed to remain standing throughout the storm. On the lower left of that photo you can see
one of the newest buildings in the hotel compound. One cannot imagine the strength of wind and
rain that could have caused such damage.
The bare trees reminded us of pictures taken in 1945 on Corregidor, after
the island had been subjected to over 3,000 tons of American bombs in
preparation for the Rock Force Assault.
We’ve included one old photograph taken above Battery Way.
MacArthur landing, Palo, Leyte, October 20, 1944
MacArthur Landing Palo Memorial, June 2012
MacArthur Landing Palo Memorial, November 2013 (Oriental Hotel lower left)
Way Hill (Corregido) in 1945
