Clearings, trails, and fruit

One of the first things that we visited upon our return to Corregidor was the primary command post of Fort Mills. Its location gave it full visibility of any ships coming into Manila Bay. It is located on the south part of the head of the island, near Battery Wheeler. Quite some time ago Paul Whitman, founder and webmaster of www.correidor.org, suggested that it would be nice to be able to see what the lookouts could see, but jungle growth had obscured the view. While we were in the States a number of security personnel on their off-duty time cleared some of the scrub brush from the view line, as well as clearing the top of the command post itself. You can now see why the command post was located there, with a good view from Fort Drum (the “Concrete Battleship”) to the left across to the very tip of Bataan on the right. This is a location that we love to show to visitors, but because of its remote location it is only seen by a handful of guests a year.

In our continuing effort to size up Typhoon Basyang’s effects on the more remote trails, we took a walk from our house to Battery James and from there to Bottomside. The first part was clear, as we expected, since island personnel have to use that road to get to the pump house in James Ravine. However, once we reached Battery James it immediately became clear that rest of the walk, along what is called “the north access road,” would be slower going.

There are actually two reasons for this. The first is of course that there were trees downed along the way. We were pleasantly surprised that there were not more, bigger trees. We estimate that there were about eight places where trees were blocking the road, but in no case did they present us a problem greater than walking around or under them. The second reason for slower going is that rainy season has had its effect. Where before the trail was relatively clear of tall grass, now grass and new trees are springing up at an astounding rate. We had noticed that same thing when we visited Battery Wheeler. You may remember back in March when we told you that if you were going to visit now was the time because so many of the trails and battery entrances were cleared. Not any more. All we can do now is to wait for rainy season to end and hope that there is enough manpower and budget to once again clear those areas for peak tourist season.

We like to eat some kind of fruit each day. Besides bananas, that is, which we have almost every morning for breakfast when we can get them, which is most of the time. The challenge is that we are still learning when certain fruits are available, and what new-to-us fruits are available at any given time of the year. We are used to having mangoes from February through May, but other than that, it’s still a guessing game for us.

The other day we just asked the bancero to buy us some fruit. He brought back dalandans and lansones. The best way to imagine dalandans (pronounced with the a’s sounding like “aah” as in, “Open wide and say aah.”) would be green-skinned oranges, with a thinner skin like a tangerine. The fruit is very similar to an orange, but less flavorful, kind of like an orange that is a little too old. Lansones grow in clusters almost like big beige grapes. They have a thin, inedible skin, and the flesh inside tastes remarkably like grapefruit, although not quite as sour. The texture of the fruit is very similar to grapes, but it is sectioned almost like citrus fruits. The smaller ones contain minute seeds which you can eat, but the bigger ones contain large seeds that are as bitter as anything if you bite into them.

Our first time to see lansones was just last week while riding the bus after a grocery trip to Balanga. At one of the bus stops, a roadside vendor had a small table set up. From the bus, his produce looked a lot like small tan-yellow potatoes. The woman seated behind Steve waved the vendor to the bus window, and purchased a small sack-full from him. Marcia asked our helper, Roy, what it was – fruit or vegetable – and its name. The woman offered some to us, so we both tried them and liked them.

Another new-to-us food that we are enjoying is embutido. We first tasted some in June when we were having dinner at Ronilo’s, a gift from Nilo, who is currently living with Ronilo and Jhun the plumber. Embutido, according to our dictionary, is pork-loaf sausage. Nilo’s sister, who lives in Bataan, sells it in her store. It comes 10 sausages to a kilo, individually wrapped in aluminum foil.

Unless you’ve been living somewhere on a remote island with no TV or radio (sound like anyone you know?), you probably know about the horrible situation which occurred in Manila, in which tourists from Hong Kong were taken hostage in a bus by a former police office who had lost his job. In the end, eight tourists were dead, and there has been much talk of how things were – and should have been – handled. Some of our former Valor Tours’ guests were concerned that maybe Tommie, Emil, and OG were with that tour bus. We contacted Tommie and he assured us that no one from Rajah Tours was part of this situation, which involved Hong Thai Travel. The incident, by the way, took place in front of the Quirino grandstand in Rizal Park, just a few hundred yards from the Manila Hotel.

It has resulted in Hong Kong pulling out all of their tourist business, causing great financial damage to the industry here in the Philippines. We pray for the families of the victims, and hope that relationships between the nations can be restored. This is viewed as a stand-alone incident, and the American Embassy has seen no need to raise alert levels for travelers coming here. With the exception of certain areas in the south, the Philippine islands remain a tourist-friendly site for Americans.

Back on Corregidor!

We are safely back on Corregidor after a long but otherwise uneventful journey back. We expected to find evidence of Typhoon Basyang, which, as we told you previously, hit the island in mid July. It turns out to have been one of the most destructive in recent Corregidor memory, maybe the worst in 16 years. It required a month to get things looking halfway decent. Amazingly no tours were missed, although we are told that during the first day tour some areas could not yet be visited due to downed trees across the roads.

We were very glad to find out that our house survived intact. We did find evidence of a small roof leak, but fortunately it was over an area of bare floor, so the water did not affect any possessions. The solar power system was fully charged and waiting for us to turn on the refrigerator. All over the yard there are piles of wood which were gathered and stacked by our helper Roy, who has spent all of his working hours for us the past six weeks just trying to get the yard looking good again. The top of a eucalyptus tree near our sidewalk was snapped off, as was a very large mango tree in the front yard. All-in-all it could have been a lot worse for us. We can only wonder what might have happened had we not had the large tree in the front yard chopped down almost two years ago to allow the sun to hit our solar panels in the afternoon. At the time, many of its large branches hung over the house and they had to be removed very carefully to prevent them from hitting the house. Any one of them would have smashed the roof-tiles, or maybe much more, had it fallen during a typhoon.

We are a bit apprehensive as to what we will see once we return to the out-of-the-way trails which we so dearly love to hike. The only one we’ve tried so far is the “aviary shortcut” near our house. It doesn’t seem like the same trail we used barely two months ago. There are now several trees across the path. At one point a large stand of bamboo has fallen, blocking the trail completely. Only time will tell what we will encounter elsewhere.

Despite it being “rainy season” it has rained almost entirely during the night so far since our return. During our first night on the island it rained hard, but then the sun came out off-and-on starting around 10:00 A.M., and this seems to be the pattern. The island is very green following all the rain which came after seven months of essentially drought. Before we left we could see well into the jungle areas from the road, but not any more. We tend to stick to the main roads until it starts to dry out in October or November, since it is pretty muddy and slippery on the jungle paths. We may head out earlier this year since we are curious as to the storm damage we will encounter.

One other note about Typhoon Basyang; we were told that about two dozen fishermen from the Mariveles area died during the storm. They go out each night into Manila Bay to fish, and being poor, tend to go out of necessity even when warned not to by the Coast Guard. The storm’s greatest fury was between one and three in the morning, making the fishermen very vulnerable and almost impossible to rescue. Our hearts go out to their families. (For those of you who don’t know, the port of Mariveles, the starting point of the Bataan Death March, is only a few miles from the western end of Corregidor.)

When we returned our jeep was in the process of being repaired – again – this time because of electrical problems – again. However, when the technician got done fixing that problem, the diesel engine would only start by being primed with gasoline. Eventually Michael the mechanic found a malfunctioning engine shutoff valve. When he removed it the engine started just fine. However, then it would not shut off without purposely leaving the jeep in gear and slowly letting out the clutch until it clunked dead. A trip to Balanga for a new valve fixed that problem, but now the headlights aren’t working. On an island that is dark 10 to 12 hours every day of the year, headlights can come in handy. Until we figure out the problem we either drive during sunlight hours only or shine our big flashlights through the windshield.

Despite the fact that our yard is a mess, we are very happy to be back on the Rock. After two months in America it is nice to return to the peacefulness of this remote jungle island. To fall asleep in the deep dark and near-total silence, to awaken to the tropical birds, chirping crickets, and croaking bullfrogs. We love our families and very much enjoyed our time at “home,” and were especially grateful that we could spend so much time with our grandchildren. But we also have a new “family” here with whom we enjoy spending time. Our first night eating chicken adobo prepared over an open fire, accompanied by Red Horse made us feel so much at home again.

It is the opposite of tourist season now, so we don’t expect to be very busy leading tours or meeting many new people here. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you are coming to the island, as we always love to spend time with fellow Corregidor lovers. Also remember that if you want Steve to be your official Sun Cruises tour guide you must make arrangements with Sun Cruises, Inc. at least a week in advance of your visit.

We are beginning our third year of writing about Corregidor. Our goal the last couple of years was to try to put out one newsletter every week. We were amazed that we were able to come up with something new pretty much every week last year, but suspect that eventually we risk becoming repetitious. So our goal this year is to put out newsletters as events warrant. We usually aim for about 1,000 words, feeling that any more than that and most people won’t bother to read it. So starting now we will be story-driven instead of time-driven. We’ll just have to see how that works out.

Dick Adams, Ypsilanti Air Show

In March we passed along stories of two of the paratroopers who landed on Corregidor on February 16, 1945. Tony Lopez, bringing several of his family members, came to Corregidor for the first time in 65 years. Tony was so impressed by his trip that he has talked about returning for the anniversary in 2011. We look forward to seeing him again.

Later that month we were also visited by a daughter of Richard “Dick” Adams. A little over a week ago we had the privilege of joining Dick and his wife Nancy for lunch. Dick is now 88 years old, but he seems much younger than that. He drove his compact convertible from their home in one of Detroit’s suburbs to meet us in Williamston near Lansing. Dick still wears the medal that he lost soon after his landing on Corregidor, and miraculously found several days later while still in the midst of liberation operations. We wish to thank Dick and Nancy for treating us to a wonderful lunch at the Brookshire Golf Course in Williamston, and for sharing photos, a book, and great conversation with us.

Dick, Nancy, and their daughter plan to spend a few days on Corregidor in January, 2011. We look forward to spending more time with them, and especially to visiting the sites that Dick so vividly remembers. You can read what we wrote earlier about Dick, including the story of his finding that medal, at
http://steveandmarciaontherock.blogspot.com/2010/03/bats-flies-and-parachutes.html

After ten days in the Lansing area visiting some of our friends and our son Alex we are in the midst of spending a few days with our son Nick, his wife Carrie, and our grandchildren. Most of it has been spent relaxing and playing games with the kids, taking walks in their rural neighborhood, and getting our two laptops updated thanks to Nick’s wizard-skills.

On Saturday Steve took Nick and the boys to the Ypsilanti Air Show. We first found out about the show over dinner in Eaton Rapids with friends Rob and Linda. Rob has participated in reenactment jumps in the past, including Normandy Beach in France, and hopes to make a jump on Corregidor one day. Linda has also been involved in the logistics of the reenactment jump trips, as well as making a few jumps herself. They own a 1944 army jeep and Rob gave us a ride around Eaton County in it after treating us to dinner.

The air show featured eight flying B-17’s, nicknamed “Flying Fortress,” three P-51 Mustangs, an F-16, and an F-18 doing their aerial acrobatics. There were many more interesting planes on the runway, many of which were open for us to walk through. The grandsons enjoyed themselves at their first air show. Before we left, Nick, William, and Brian were treated to a ride around the grounds in Rob and Linda’s jeep. Steve was able to shake the hands of several WWII veterans, but unluckily none from the Pacific theatre. He was also a little disappointed that there were no B-29’s present. The “Super Fortress” was the plane that was used to bomb Japan into submission, ultimately delivering the atomic bombs that ended the war. There was, however, a B-52 “Stratofortress” for all to see.

While the guys were at the air show, Marcia had a girls’ day with our daughter-in-law Carrie and the four granddaughters; Kaitlyn, Claire, Emma, and Lilly, who is only nine months old and whom we saw for the first time on this visit. Some of the day was spent reclaiming the house from Kaitlyn’s birthday sleep-over the night before, and the rest dressing and redressing felt dolls and ‘magnetic’ dolls, making chocolate chip cookies, and lots of time playing with Lilly – who has become quite mobile - to keep her entertained while the big girls played with things that aren’t baby-safe.

We will be taking Amtrak back to the Twin Cities next Tuesday. After a few more days with family, and a wedding on Saturday, we will be heading back to the Philippines and hope to be back on the Rock by about August 20.

Until then…

Steve and Marcia (soon heading back to) the Rock

P.S. If you want to know everything there is to know about the Rock Force that retook Corregidor in 1945, plus a whole lot more about the Rock, visit http://corregidor.org

We see the sights in Rochester, NY

For the second Friday in a row, we had the pleasure of spending a part of the day with a World War II veteran. While we were in Rochester, New York for the wedding of Marcia’s nephew, John Clarke, retired Social Studies teacher, picked us up at our hotel and gave us a great mini-tour of Rochester.

We first met John a little over three years ago when he joined Valor Tours the first time Steve hosted for them. John’s brother, Robert, volunteered for military service and was stationed at Clark Air Force Base when war broke out. A survivor of the Bataan Death March, he was one of 361 Americans who were killed by “friendly fire” while on board the infamous Enoura Maru. John was serving with US troops in England and learned about Robert’s death close to VJ Day. Robert was initially buried in one of the group graves in Taiwan. The remains were moved to Shanghai after the war, but his final resting place remains a mystery. John is convinced from documentation he has obtained that Robert and his compatriots were eventually buried at the “Punch Bowl” cemetery in Pearl Harbor, but he has never been successful in persuading the Washington bureaucrats to officially agree with that conclusion. Robert’s name is on the Wall of the Missing at the American Cemetery in Manila.

John took us to Lake Ontario Beach Park, which reminded us just a bit of the port of Duluth, Minnesota. Two piers lead out into the Great Lake, although these are much longer and further apart than the ones we saw last year. There is an out-of-commission railroad bridge about where the aerial lift bridge would be in Duluth. Close to a dozen small sailboats were frolicking in the harbor. Since one flipped over, John believed that they may have been taking part in a training class. It was interesting to watch the young sailor work to right the overturned boat.

Following a drive through downtown Rochester, famous for the Bausch and Lomb, Xerox, and Kodak offices, John took us to the George Eastman House, now a museum. Eastman, the inventor of roll film, started Eastman Kodak. Roll film soon led to motion picture film, so we have the likes of Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Eastman himself for that form of entertainment, as well as inexpensive photographic equipment.

Eastman was a lifelong bachelor whose mother came to live with him in the massive house. Besides running his company, he was a major benefactor of the University of Rochester and the city. Kodak is still a major employer in the area, although it has downsized and had to reinvent itself with the proliferation of digital photography and the great drop-off in the demand for both film and printer paper.

Features of the house included a ground floor organ with the pipes behind a wall at the top of the stairs on the floor above. An organist played several waltzes while we toured. The library contains thousands of old, obviously valuable books. There are large rooms for entertaining guests, and one contains the head of an elephant. Outside are two beautiful and well-kept flower gardens.

We are grateful to John Clarke for hosting us for the afternoon and always surprised when someone thanks us, as if we were something special. We assure you that it is the other way around. We are greatly honored to spend time with the vets such as Wally McKay and John, both of whom served in WW II.

The following is self-explanatory response to last week’s newsletter from a loyal reader.

Steve & Marcia –

I'm so pleased to receive THIS letter, in which you speak of Co. "A", of the 194th Tank Battalion! My husband, Edward L. Burke, was Company Commander of that unit overseas-- (in fact, he served as Company Commander for ten months as a Second Lieutenant!) Col. Miller had always been the Co. Commander of the 34th Tank Co. from the inception of the National Guard in Brainerd, until they arrived in FT. Lewis, WA in February of 1941, when the whole thing was reorganized to become part of the 194th Tank Battalion, with Miller being promoted to Battalion Commander as a Lt. Col. and my husband being appointed Company Commander. Ed (my husband) was finally promoted to 1st Lt. and then to Captain after the Jap attack on Dec. 7th, '41. On the day Herb Strobel was killed, my husband was shot and left for dead in that same action. The Japs, coming by on mop-up operations 24 hours later, found my husband -- with four more bullet wounds --temporarily paralyzed but still alive, and so took him prisoner. He survived several different POW camps, including Cabanatuan and several in Japan, and was liberated (with rank of Major) on September 8, 1945. He lived 25 years after liberation, dying on November 9, 1970.

The McKays were near neighbors of the Burke family, but I was a bit younger and barely remember the McKay boys (I think one was a classmate of mine--Brainerd High School, class of 1934), and of course I met Hortense after the war, and treasured her friendship and her experiences. I also have a copy of her original book “Angels of Bataan.”

I really treasure your correspondence!

I've just come home from a stint in the hospital – had a valve replaced, plus one bypass...but I'm doing nicely, thank you!...........Perky Burke

Having graduated from high school in ’34, Perky must be about 94 years of age. This email is presented unedited, and is living proof that you are never to old to get into the computer/email generation. We can’t tell you how glad we were to hear from Perky after a seemingly long gap between letters.

Also as a follow-up to last week’s letter, it has come to our attention that the cleanup of fallen trees on Corregidor will take up to 30 days!

Our friend Leslie Murray writes:

You may want to see the Basyang photos and message that we have put up on the FAME website ... http://www.filipino-americanmemorials.org/

We encourage you to visit the site.

And speaking of visiting, we are now in mid-Michigan for the next two weeks. Email us if you want to try to get together.

194th Tank Battalion; Typhoon Basyang hits Corregidor

We have been enjoying our trip to America. The first few days were spent in the Minneapolis area, centered around two wedding-related events. One morning, Marcia’s Uncle John, who flew in the Army Air Corps during WWII and in the Air Force in Korea, took us for a short outing to South St. Paul’s Fleming Field. We saw restored military planes and vehicles and the small but very interesting museum, all run by the Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

Now we are nearing the end of our three-week stay with Steve’s mom in Virginia, Minnesota, where we once again celebrated the 4th of July at Ely Lake outside of Eveleth. Unlike last year, when the weather was unseasonably cold, we’ve mostly been running around in shorts every day. The hot weather has spawned lots of thunderstorms, some severe with hail and tornados, although only one was near to us so far.

Wallace McKay has been on our April tour twice in recent years. Wally’s sister, Hortense, was in the last group of nurses evacuated from Corregidor barely three days before the surrender on May 6, 1942. Hortense was never sure why she was among those picked to leave, and was the only one of those nurses to remain and serve in the Pacific war after the submarine arrived in Australia. She always had a sense of regret for having to desert her patients. Wally gave us a copy of her book, “Jungle Angel: Bataan Remembered,” which we recommend for a unique perspective.

On Thursday we drove the three hours from Steve’s mother’s house to spend a day with Wally, his wife Margaret, their daughter Patty, and her daughter. We had met Patty in April when she accompanied her dad on the Valor Tour. Wally and his wife spend the warmer months in their lake home, once owned by his sister Hortense, about a dozen miles north of Brainerd in Central Minnesota. Their warm hospitality made us feel like the best blend of family and guests.

On Friday morning, which would have been Hortense’s 100th birthday, we were honored to be joined for about an hour by Stewart Mills, co-owner of Mills Fleet Farm. In 2007 Stew had hired Steve to guide him and his daughter Marissa for a four-day trip to the WWII sites in Luzon. Stew’s interest stems from the fact that Brainerd was the home of the A Company of the 194th Tank Battalion, which served in Bataan in the early days of the war. He knew a number of the 65 Brainerd-area men who entered the war. Barely half of them came back, victims of the brutality of the Japanese in the Bataan Death March and the prisoner-of-war camps that we have discussed so often.

As Stew was leaving, we were joined by six men who had their own interests in the 194th. Two were nephews of Sgt. Herbert Strobel, the first man of the company to die in the war. The McKay family is also related to the Strobels. Others knew men who had come home to tell their tales of the war, and relatives of those who died. Two of the six men currently serve in today’s 194th. Seven of the veterans are still alive, with two living locally and another in suburban St. Paul. Later we went to the Armory in Brainerd to see their Bataan Memorial which is dedicated to Colonel Ernest Miller, company commander. Every spring the city of Brainerd hosts a run to remember the Bataan Death March. In fact, out front of the armory, which is currently home to the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 194th Armor (1-194 CAB), is a replica of the old-fashioned Death March markers. Several of the men expressed an interest in fashioning another marker to replicate the new style used along the Death March route in the Philippines.

We had heard that Typhoon Basyang hit Central Luzon late last week, and were told that power could be out in areas of Metro Manila for up to four days. The latest death toll in the Philippines is up to 68. In addition, we received several aftermath pictures from Corregidor and we are passing a few along to you. As you can see, there was great damage all over the island, from the MacArthur Café area at Bottomside to the area around Middleside Barracks where we live, and at Topside. We believe one picture shows one of the few trees that survived WWII, near the old Spanish flagpole. We have not been informed of anyone on the island being injured, and we hope that no such news means good news. But it looks like it will require considerable effort to restore the island to its normal safe tourist haven.

On Wednesday we will be heading to New York for a wedding, followed by two weeks in central Michigan before heading back to Minnesota for one final wedding. For our Michigan friends: we should be there from about July 27 to August 11 should you want to try to get together with us. Best to contact us via email.

We're back in the States, and We're Number One!

We left Corregidor on Sunday afternoon and spent two days in Manila with our new friend Rebecca. We had a great time visiting with her and were able to do last minute business and shopping. A special thanks to Rebecca for taking us in and making us feel at home, Minnesota style.

While in Manila we were saddened to hear that Brian Murray, the husband of our dear friend Leslie, passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Brian was a true British gentleman, an engineer who continued working until it was absolutely impossible. We loved to listen to him talk about trains and the rail systems in the Philippines.

We arrived safely in Minneapolis after 18 hours of travel: four hours from Manila to Tokyo, a three hour lay-over, then almost half a day flying over the North Pacific and Canada. It is nice to be back “home.” We are hoping to have normal, warm to hot weather these next two months, although when we arrived it was cloudy and 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 Celsius) at one o’clock in the afternoon. Brrrrr!!! Last summer it was mostly unseasonably cool during our stay, feeling more like fall to us than summer. We rarely wore shorts, needing blue-jeans and long sleeves to be warm enough.

We do not expect to write our weekly newsletters until we return to the Rock in August. Should anything really exciting happen we may write one or two, but to be honest, we could use a break. It’s real work producing a quality newsletter each and every week.

Speaking of which, the results are in. Our readers have voted “Steve and Marcia on the Rock” the Number One Newsletter/Blog in the Universe. Here are some of your comments:

Yep, you're #`1 in our book. Thanks for your hard work, and look forward to someday getting to the island. Rob and Lynda

You are the ONLY newsletter I read! Lou

Since yours is the only one I read religiously, I must vote for yours. Salud, Bob

My vote counts and I am voting for you. Please continue the great work. Scott

Why do you even bother to ask about the best blog/newsletter? The Kwiecinski letter is the best. Period. None other close. PP

Yours is number 1. Gerald

Re your survey: Yours is the only one I read, so that makes #1 with me. I do appreciate your newsletters very much, thank you. Karl

Of course it is the best. But it is my only newsletter. I enjoy reading and associating with the friendship both have you shown to me.. Visiting the Island is hopefully not my last as I have enjoyed every visit. Steve C.

I vote for "1", yours is the best blog in the universe. - - - To be fair, it is also the only one that I am reading, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to let you know that I enjoy it and feel lucky I got on the distribution list (we met a while ago at a climb up Mount Pinatubo). Thanks for writing the blog. Stefan

This is a no brainer! # ONE OF COURSE! Aloha - Sascha

Steve and Marcia , you're the best! Who else could write the best newsletter/blog???? I want to make sure my vote counts. Keep up the good work guys and God bless you !!! AIDA

The best newsletter on the universe is Steve and Marcia on the Rock…. Yehey Galo

Your blog is the best and most interesting. Kathleen

You are the best and only newsletter/blog that I read. I say you win hands down!! I enjoy reading them. (in honor of the rain) Patty

I don't follow blogs on the web. I read yours via my Inbox. By default the, you get the prize! Maria

My vote goes to Steve and Marcia on the Rock. I love your pieces of history on the war, your news tidbits & commentary, as well as the photos! Keep up the good work on informing everyone of life on the Rock. Mary

#1 - Marcia and Steve on the Rock!! I look forward to each one! And save them! Interesting material - Well written! Good fun to know where and what you are writing about re: Corregidor. Makes them meaningful. Could make the newsletters/blogs into a book, Steve. – Sue (and Jack, too)

There’s no doubt that ‘Steve and Marcia on the Rock’ is a very informative, detailed and interesting newsletter but honestly, I would not know if it is one of the best or simply the best there is since it is the only blog that I read so far. Just the same, I whole-heartedly vote for it. My best to both of you, Eli
Yours is the best blog/newsletter of course! I read all your releases. Keep on! Best regards, Rolly

I am voting for: Steve and Marcia on the Rock……..hands down, the best of all newsletter/blogs in the Universe. Frankly, none other interests me. My best regards, Fidencio

NO QUESTION ABOUT IT!! #1 IS THE CORRECT RESPONSE: STEVE AND MARCIA ON THE ROCK. BERNICE AND EVERETT
(Everett is a Corregidor Veteran and POW)

We think you get the idea, and we thank each of you for your vote. Some of you admit that you don’t read other blogs. Why would you need to? The final tally wasn’t close. The vote was unanimous. What a compliment!

Seriously, we do try to do our best, mixing in a bit of humor – such as this vote – with the serious business of telling our story. We do this to promote the best interests of the World War II Shrine which is Corregidor, the best preserved battlefield in the Pacific.

Steve and Marcia on (actually, temporarily off) the Rock – The Number 1 Newsletter/Blog in the Universe as voted by our unbiased readers in a scientifically conducted internet poll,! – To Infinity! And Beyond!

P.S. We will have access to email during our trip, so you can stay in contact with us if you wish. Email us if you want a phone number to reach us while we’re in the States.

We have a peaceful weekend

We are getting ready to fly to the United States next Wednesday. We tentatively plan to spend about three weeks in Minnesota, mostly with Steve’s mother up on “the Range,” then off to Rochester, New York to attend a nephew’s (Marcia’s side) wedding, a couple of weeks in central Michigan, and finally back to Minneapolis/St. Paul for another nephew’s (Steve’s side) wedding before returning in mid-August. We hope see some of you while we are there, and will be regularly checking email to keep in touch.

Several people wrote to make their best assessment of the flower/tree that we featured on May 13. Philip Thompson of the American Embassy in Manila wrote the following:

I increasingly think that the little tree in question is Murraya paniculata, commonly called either "Mock Orange" (not to be confused with the more temperate-region plants of the same common name: Philadelphus coronarius and Pittosporum tobira [that's the problem with common names!]), or "Orange Jasmine" (although it is not related to the true jasmines -- genus Jasminium; family Oleaceae). It's native to India and East Asia, but was probably introduced to cultivation here in the Philippines as an ornamental garden plant for the landscape.

The pictures on Wikipedia confirm Philip’s conclusion, and we thank him. Another mystery solved! Right now it is in the second round of nighttime blooming, again almost overwhelming us with its fragrance while we lie in bed 30 feet away.

Saturday was June 12, the 112^th Anniversary of Philippine independence from Spain. Since rainy season is due to begin at any time, and it is a three-day holiday weekend, this was probably the last big weekend for visitors for several months. Pretty soon SCI will cut back to Thursday-through-Sunday service except for special bookings, subject to weather permitting travel in the bay. For the past nine months or so their ferries have run pretty much every day except when Typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng, and Santi came through last year.

Late on Friday, Steve received a call from Sun Cruises asking if he was available to guide on Saturday. Unless he is specifically requested in advance, Steve never knows what kind of group to expect. When the call is last minute, his guests can be a “surprise package.” Recently, you might recall, he wrote about having a bus full of Polish tourists combined with a group of young Filipinos, making for an interesting day. This time Steve was assigned one of two busloads of a group of professionals who belong to AMDA International, the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia. AMDA chose Corregidor as the site for their 9^th Annual ASMP memorial, focusing on the connection between soul and medicine.

It was pretty much a normal tour, although the Topside component included a wreath-laying ceremony at the Parachute Dome. The “floral offering for peace” was formalized by a number of Knights of Columbus, complete with their fancy hats, capes, and shiny swords. A few members spoke briefly. The theme of the event, which was on their flyer for the weekend, was, “This memorial is a commemoration for the lost lives during the war. It is also a celebration of, and a prayer for, peace. It is a call for forgiveness and a petition that there will be no more war.”

Steve was invited to eat lunch with the International Advisor, Dr. Primitivo Chua, a retired Filipino-Chinese physician, and the AMDA International President, Dr. Shigeru Suganami of Japan. It was an interesting lunch. Steve commented to Dr. Chua, 75 and able to remember the Japanese atrocities that took place in Metro Manila 65 years ago, that many Filipinos his age would have a hard time sharing a meal with anyone from Japan. Dr. Chua’s philosophy is that we must learn to forgive but never forget. Dr. Suganami had many questions for Steve, but because the doctor’s English is heavily accented, Steve often had to ask him to repeat his questions, sometimes more than once. Dr. Suganami proved to be a very kind, gentle man, who was in no way offended by any of the comments that Steve made concerning the Japanese actions and America’s response in World War II.

After the tour Steve was invited to bring Marcia and join in their evening activities. The first consisted of planting six trees near the South Beach. We were simply observers until they got to the last one, when we were asked to participate. This particular tree was planted on behalf of Lions International. Unknown to them until that moment, we had been active members in the Lions for a few years before moving to Corregidor, where participation is impossible. Nevertheless, it was nice to be a part of the group again, if even for just a few moments.

Mass followed, which was co-officiated by a newly-ordained Filipino priest and a mostly-retired Belgian-American who has lived in the Philippines for over 35 years. Then we proceeded to a memorial service which began with inter-faith prayers. A Japanese Buddhist monk led off, punctuating his prayers with a bell and a piece of wood which he struck at times. This was followed by Catholic, two “flavors” of Evangelical, and Greco-Russian Orthodox prayers. Several talks followed, including one by James So, President of the Chinese Federation for Global Peace, Philippines. Steve was slightly embarrassed, as Mr. So talked about how, at first, he was kind of shocked that their tour guide was not a Filipino. He then praised Steve for the excellent job that he’d done with the group, emphasizing the knowledge and emotion that Steve pours into his guiding. Dr. Suganami expressed similar sentiments, and then spoke of his deep desire to see nations look for ways to build friendships and seek to support one another in crisis situations. Afterwards we all headed to the South Beach, where, after a blessing by one of the priests and a prayer offered by an Imam, we had a wonderful fish dinner served by the Corregidor Inn staff. What had begun as a five-hour tour for Steve ended up being a whole day, with dinner lasting until 9:30.

On Sunday we saw the group off at the hotel, and they once again expressed their appreciation for our participation in their Saturday festivities. We look forward to meeting some of them again, applaud their extensive international efforts to foster peace and cooperation between the nations of Asia, and join their prayers for no more wars.