Steve & Marcia on the Rock: Corregidor Journal: The son of a veteran returns; destruction in Palo

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 503^rd 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.