Buying basketball uniforms

Excitement is growing as everyone on the island anticipates the upcoming basketball tournament. To say that some of the players “can’t wait” would be an understatement. Soon after the announcement was made, 56 players had registered, and the 5 captains held a draft. The teams will be named after the five most-visited gun batteries on the island, namely Batteries Way, Hearn, Grubbs, Crockett, and Geary.

On Tuesday, our helper Roy and I took the 10-kilometer banca ride to Cabcaben, the first leg of our journey to Orion to order team uniforms. Off to the northwest, the Bataan Mountains were bright and beautiful in the morning sun as we departed, and the sea was calm and blue. We hadn’t traveled very far before we could see the aftereffects of a landslide that occurred recently along the old, now unmaintained north access road. Just the other day Marcia and I had walked that route with fellow Corregidor-lover Julia, and we were shocked to see the huge gaping void that now leads down to the shoreline. The landslide covered such a large area that it was impossible to get a decent photograph. Fortunately the road is still partially in place, but it may not take very much more rain – maybe the next major typhoon – for 100 feet or so of the road to disappear completely.

In Cabcaben we picked up Jerry and Rowena, who have a home there but reside most of the time on Corregidor. Because Orion is on the old highway (where the Death March took place) we had to travel partway by bus and then switch to a jeepney. I made the mistake of getting in the front seat which was made for Filipino legs. I had to sit sideways, and my left knee kept bumping into the metal dashboard, or more specifically, into a thin piece of metal running horizontally along the dash. I could not see out the front, the top third of the windshield being covered with a “Lord Guide Us” banner. Needless to say, the driver, about 18-inches shorter than I, had no trouble seeing the road. It was interesting from one standpoint: in the past we have observed how a man collects money on the local bus trips, somehow keeping track of all of the passengers and knowing exactly how many pesos to charge each one. In this case the driver not only has to maneuver his jeepney through often wild traffic, he has to collect fares and make change all at the same time! I handed him a 100 peso note for our foursome, and he returned a twenty peso note and four one peso coins, so I guess the Jeepney fare from Lamao to Orion is 19 pesos, or about 45 cents, each. Not bad.

Orion is a small town with a typically crowded main street, one MSE (medium-small enterprise) after another. My fellow travelers knew where to get off, and we proceeded to the uniform-making shop. It is a small store with knock-off team jerseys hanging on the wall. One man was cutting out jerseys, and several others were sewing them together on very old machines, one a Singer, another a Juki, and some on which I couldn’t see names. They were all treadle machines with electric conversions. One, which I have included in a picture, was like something I’d never seen before. The photo may make it appear quite large, but in fact it is probably only 8 by 10 inches surface-area and six inches in height. Just looking at the photo, Marcia thinks it may be some sort of serger.

We spent a couple of hours there, working with the proprietress and making sure that she understood exactly how each team’s uniforms were to appear, since they offer many options. I am not into NBA teams like folks are here, but I guess that they could say, “I want this uniform to look like the Chicago Bulls uniform,” and they would make it. For Jerry and Roy – captains for two of the teams – it was almost like watching them dreaming about what Santa was going to bring them for Christmas.

I think that the uniforms are a big part of the excitement of the upcoming tournament. Only one team is going to win the trophy, and only one player will be named tournament MVP. But every participant is going to get his very own jersey with his name on the back and the player number of his choice. Once this tournament is over, these young men will sport their uniforms until they wear them out, getting many years of use out of them. They are a source of pride that we are happy to be able to furnish them, with generous help from a number of our readers.

Once we were done, we headed to Balanga for lunch. I gave them their choice of where to eat, and they decided on a restaurant called Inasal, which is Ilongo for “barbecue.” Inasal has meals for around p90 ($2.00) which include limitless white rice. There’s nothing liked unlimited white rice to get you excited. Me not so much, although I must say that the food – I had a barbecued chicken leg quarter – was very good. Unlike Filipinos I can’t get excited about plain white rice, but the meal included a small bowl of sinigang, a soup with a sour broth, and that made the rice quite tasty. I had one extra half scoop of rice, the others each had two more full scoops. I was glad that they enjoyed their meals, too.

We took a tricycle to the restaurant and another after lunch to the bus terminal. Since there were four of us, we decided that the other three would share the sidecar while I would ride on the back of the motorcycle. The sidecar makes it impossible to sit astride the bike, so I sat sideways behind the driver. Some of the pedestrians must have been able to spot me a ways off. A number of them looked curiously in our direction, no doubt spotting my long, gangly, whiter-than-a-Filipino’s legs appearing from behind the driver’s rear end, with my head hidden behind the driver’s under the canopy. They smiled and laughed with me when they realized what they were actually seeing. Although I do not have a picture of myself in this position, I have included one of Keith, a guest on this year’s April tour.

We took the bus back to Cabcaben. Unlike conditions in the morning, the water was now grey and choppy. In fact, we didn’t head straight for the north dock, but started out heading more west toward Mariveles on the southern tip of Bataan before turning toward the north dock. The bancero knew what he was doing, because once we changed direction the going got rough. Some of the swells may have approached five feet, and we got a good splash each time the outrigger dug into a wave. It wasn’t dangerous, what with experienced boatmen and their sturdy boat. It was actually kind of fun being out on the open sea and at the mercy of Mother Nature. As we approached, Corregidor acted as a breakwater, but then it began to rain. Luckily I had my rain-jacket…safely tucked away inside my backpack, so it stayed dry, but most of the rest of me arrived back on the Rock soaked to the skin.

I never get tired of taking this trip, knowing it is the same one that Gen. Jonathan Wainwright took many times in early 1942 to visit Gen. Douglas MacArthur on Corregidor – Mac only went in the other direction once to visit the troops, and that was in early January before the fighting in Bataan had gotten underway. I can only imagine, and not very well, I’m sure, what it must have been like to cross the North Channel, as Wainwright did more than once, with bombs falling and artillery shells flying overhead smashing into the Rock with such force that they are said to have reshaped the silhouette of the island. Can you imagine approaching Corregidor, seeing it under heavy siege, and then knowing you’d be spending the next few hours there? Kind of gives one a chill to even think about it.

Corregidor basketball league

It’s still rainy season, and Steve has not conducted any tours since we returned, so there’s not much news to report. The book is in the editing process, with files going back and forth between us and the editorial staff.

We had a bit of excitement a few nights ago. Bear in mind that we have never heard of any spiders on Corregidor that are especially dangerous to humans, but this is the tropics and you can expect to run across the occasional spider. We were lying in bed, Marcia reading and Steve watching a video on his laptop, when Marcia spotted a rather large spider on the other side of the bedroom just below the ceiling. Marcia reached across to her bedside table for the flyswatter, which was, quite frankly, narrower than the spider’s leg-span. This guy could have straddled a deck of playing cards.

Being that the spider was high up on the wall, Marcia told Steve the kill was his job – ah, the benefits of height. Steve was standing at an angle off to one side when he took a mighty swing. Wham! This guy was too large to get smashed into the wall, so guess what happened? That’s right, it behaved according to Newton’s “equal and opposite reaction.” The spider came flying back off the wall and landed right at Steve’s feet! We both jumped toward the bedroom doorway to make sure that the spider would not hop up looking for revenge. When we saw that it was balled up and not moving much, Steve went over and smacked it a couple times for good measure.

We wonder how a spider that size could have gotten into our house. Marcia also wondered if “spider guts” is part of the recipe for Rugby Contact Cement, because the clean-up the next morning took some real “elbow grease.” We’ve included a photo of the same type of spider, one that we saw outdoors – where they belong, in our way of thinking. It was not as large as the one in the bedroom, but still plenty big.

As we wrote in late 2008, shortly after we moved here, the annual Corregidor basketball tournament was held. We used the tournament as an opportunity to get to know a number of the players, mostly men employed on the island. It was a good competition with an exciting final round and an underdog winner.

It has been our aim ever since to get the tournament started again, and to be honest, the men on the island have been hoping that we would sponsor another tournament. Since the last tournament a number of the players have had to be laid off due to a poor economy. Last Christmas we decided that we’ve waited long enough and took the leap of faith that the money would be there when we needed it.

Knowing that some of you are willing to support us, we have begun to organize the new league. Steve has been named Commissioner. Previously the teams were divided by work groups; hotel staff, security staff, etc. This time we will appoint four captains who will pick their players by draft, in hopes of creating four roughly even-strength teams. Instead of the teams being named for their work groups they will be named for four of the points of interest on the island, such as Battery Way, Topside Barracks, Corregidor Inn, or Malinta Tunnel.

Each player will receive a uniform consisting of matching shirt and shorts. We have found a business that can supply them for a mere p650/$15.25 per set, quite reasonable considering that the shirts will have names and numbers. Each player will be expected to contribute p200/$4.70. Be aware that this is about two-thirds of a day’s pay here, not an insignificant amount to these men. We expect that there will be about 24 games in total, and each one will require two referees paid p200/$4.70 per game. Adding in incidentals such as a basketball or two, nets, etc, it’s easy to see how it will take about 50,000 pesos (around $1200 American) for the tournament to take place, of which the players’ contributions will cover about 20 percent.

We cannot tell you how excited many of the men are to have another basketball tournament, and we are pleased to be able to help them make this happen. We have already received one generous donation that will cover about one-fourth of the costs, and another to cover the cost of one basketball. Some of you expressed an interest to help when we broached the subject before, and we are hoping that you will come through. It will take place in any case, but we are looking for anyone interested in furthering the tournament to step up and offer to help. We would be happy to name a team for your favorite Corregidor landmark for a significant contribution. However, no contribution is too small. If you are able to help with a non-tax-deductable gift please let us know soon and we will tell you how. We will make a full accounting to any contributor who asks, and should we exceed expenses we will bank the money for a future tournament.

We’ve included a few photos of the 2008 basketball tournament for your inspiration and amusement.

We relax in "rainy season"

Our flight from Detroit to Manila, via Chicago and Beijing, went well. We had been concerned about our scheduled two-hour layover in Beijing, since it had taken us two-and-a-half hours to get from one terminal to another on our initial trip, this without even having to transfer our luggage by hand. We were excited to hear the American Airlines pilot announce that he would get us to Beijing a half-hour early from Chicago, which might give us just enough time. The first thing after landing was an entry point consisting of approximately ten lines – at 11:30 P.M. When we finally reached the front of our line, we were directed to another line, which, had we only known – no signs indicated why we needed this different line, our guess was because we were only passing through – was very short. Passports and itinerary were thoroughly scrutinized, and then we were told to proceed.

This time we had to collect our four checked bags and board a shuttle-bus for a terminal transfer. Late at night they only run every half hour, and – wouldn’t you know it – we’d just missed the midnight bus. At 12:30 we were on our way in a typically overcrowded bus. Steve was seated next to a very friendly Chinese man who encouraged us to visit China one day. By the time we reached the terminal it was already boarding time for our Philippine Airlines flight. The lady at the check-in counter printed our boarding passes, but told us that it was too late to leave our bags with her, so we were directed to roll them to the oversized baggage crew who also function as the “late-night-baggage team.” Then we speed-walked to the gate – not the farthest one, but close enough – where we made it aboard with a good two minutes to spare. First priority once we stashed our carry-on bags was to beg permission to use the restrooms before take-off, since we did not dare ‘waste’ precious time during the airport processes! Then we settled into our seats. The crew served us an excellent dinner, not the breakfast that we expected considering the time was two in the morning. Upon arrival in Manila at 6 A.M. Saturday, we phoned for a ride from the driver of our wonderful friends, Ray and Esther, who had graciously offered us a place to stay until our Sunday morning return to Corregidor.

The transition between late June and late August on Corregidor is always a bit of a shock to us. We leave the Rock at the end of dry season and return in the heart of rainy season. When we left, there had been enough rain to begin to turn the dry grassy patches slightly green, but after two months of near-daily rain – they told us it was almost continuous rain during July – the island is now lush and almost glowing green everywhere when the sun is out, which hasn’t been too often. It has been so humid that the sides of the old concrete buildings are more black than gray. We got home on Sunday morning, and it was sunny until 1:30 P.M. Since then the sun has not been trying very hard to shine here, with one to six inches of rain every day.

Despite it being rainy, we are happy to be back. Our U.S. vacation was wonderful, and we are so very thankful to all of our family and friends who hosted, fed, and entertained us, but it always feels good to get home. While in the States, we enjoyed feasting on the American foods we do not get here, and now that we’ve returned, we are catching up on our favorite Filipino foods we missed while on vacation.

Because of the weather, this is the most relaxing time of the year for us. There are far fewer visitors, so Steve is seldom called upon to guide, and we tend to stay out of the jungle unless someone wants us to take them to a specific place. The trails are overgrown and slippery, so we stick to the main roads for our walks. We have been trying to walk every day, and the edges of the roads are covered in moss. There is also black “slime” that can be very slippery when it is wet, and it does not have the most pleasant odor. There are a number of trees that are blooming now, with most pleasant fragrances. So, as we walk along, the smells in the air often switch between the two.

This time of year you don’t want to go anywhere, even a short walk, without an umbrella. Rain can suddenly pop up, and then stop just as quickly. As Steve was initially writing this he was sitting outside in our dirty kitchen area, but had to move inside when a wave of heavy rain began blowing under the metal roof extension. It was the perfect time for our helper, Roy, to do his annual sidewalk-scrubbing to clear the slippery black slime. When the rain and wind calmed down, Steve took the laptop back outside – but was forced right back inside by the next wave of rain. This pattern is very typical when you are in the outer bands of a typhoon; five-to-ten minutes of strong wind and rain, fifteen-or-so minutes of respite, and then repeat the cycle indefinitely. When we lived in Michigan, we very occasionally were in the outer bands of a hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico, which gave us a tiny foretaste of this sort of weather pattern.

Next year is the 70th anniversary of the Fall of the Philippines in WWII. Because of that fact, we expect that some of you will join one of the two anniversary tours that we will lead for Valor Tours of San Francisco. Although the tours will have virtually identical itineraries, the one in early April will center on the April 9th Fall of Bataan, including the annual ceremony at Mt. Samat. The tour in early May will include a noontime ceremony on May 6 at the Pacific War Memorial on Topside, commemorating the Surrender of Corregidor and the rest of the Philippines. Although these tours originate in the States, Vicky Middagh of Valor Tours will gladly make arrangements for you should you wish to join one of the groups at Manila. If you have questions you can ask us, contact Vicky by email at valortours@yahoo.com, or visit her website at www.valortours.com.

Steve and Marcia in Michigan

One of our plans for this summer was to get together with the Adams, who live near Detroit in Michigan, and with the Reamers, who live near Cincinnati, Ohio. As of now, Everett Reamer is the most recent American Defender of Corregidor to return, having been there with us in January, 2006. Dick Adams is the last liberator to return, having been there with his wife and one of their daughters this past January. He is planning to return with his family next January. We thought it would be great to meet with both couples, but timing was against us. The Reamers were going to be in Michigan while we were in Minnesota and in Minnesota after we returned to Michigan. However, the two couples were still interested in meeting one another, and on July 17 the meeting took place without us, which was way better than not having happened at all. The following is their report.

I'm sorry it's taken so long to send these to you. We couldn't find our camera when we left to meet with Everett and Bernice Reamer on July 17th, so we only had our phone with us to take pictures. It's taken us three weeks to find the cable to connect the phone to the computer in order to upload the photos. They're not great pictures, especially the one with me in it (both subject matter and fuzziness)! Sorry about the quality. - Nancy Adams

The Adams and The Reamers
Brunch on July 17, 2011

Once again, Steve and Marcia brought together distant participants in Corregidor’s history: Everett Reamer (from Ohio), a Defender of Corregidor who fought the Japanese in 1941, and Richard Adams (from Michigan), a paratrooper who returned to The Rock with the 503rd PIR on 16 February 1945. Both had their baptismal fire on this island in Manila Harbor. Both were in Japan, Everett as a POW and Richard as a member of the occupation force.

While Steve and Marcia were visiting family in Minnesota, Everett and his wife, Bernice, drove up to Michigan to visit their daughter. Steve heard about this upcoming trip, and suggested that the Reamers and the Adams get together. They met for brunch on July 17th as total strangers, but after several hours of sharing war stories, quickly became friends.

Technology is a wonderful thing. Prior to meeting the Reamers, Richard and Nancy Googled “Everett Reamer”, and found lots of interesting information about his experiences on The Rock and as a POW. He’s quite a character, both then and now! Much to Richard’s surprise, he found lots of information about his own January return to Corregidor by Googling “Richard Adams, Corregidor”. Google has turned the concept of “private person” upside down! – Dick Adams

Our return trip from Minnesota was more eventful than we had hoped. In June, epic flooding made it impossible for Amtrak’s trains to pass through North Dakota, meaning that the “Empire Builder,” which normally runs from Chicago to Seattle, had to end its run at Minneapolis/St. Paul. This was no inconvenience to us at the time, since that was our destination. On the night before our return trip, Steve checked the Amtrak website. It said that the train would leave the station at 7:52 A.M. Unknown to us, but known well to Amtrak, the train, although it can now pass through North Dakota, was approximately SIX HOURS LATE every day, having to inch through the flood-damaged area. So we sat in the stations for an extra six hours before our departure to Chicago.

Of course, we also missed our connection in Chicago, so we were forced, along with dozens of other people (every night until this nightmare is over for Amtrak) to take a van/bus which would drop us off at the closed station in Jackson, Michigan, at 3 A.M. The alternative was to stay overnight in Chicago. We opted for the overnight stay to allow our son to sleep the night rather than trying to guess our arrival time to meet us. To make a long story short, we barely made it onto our train the next morning, and finally got into Jackson 19 hours later than “planned.” Even though the Amtrak website is misleading and should be corrected until the situation is rectified – we were not the only ones who showed up six hours early – all of the Amtrak employees were very nice and hospitable, even the ones in Chicago’s Union Station, who have had to manage hundreds of stranded travelers every night since this situation occurred in June.

We spent a few days in our former home-town of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, with our friend Sandi. We visited with numerous friends, lunched with Marcia’s coworkers, met Anushka and Anish who are twins born to friends Chinmay and Harsha, and we completed our shopping. On Sunday Steve introduced a Polish/American polka band from Muskegon at the Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing. Then he had the privilege of presenting a Michigan Heritage Award to Annie Klancnik, honoring her deceased husband, polka accordionist and band leader Gaylord Klancnik. Gaylord’s son Eddie and new band member Brian O’Boyle entertained the audience with a couple of polkas and waltzes. Other award recipients were Deborah Caryl, a life-long sheep shearer, and Calvin Cooke, a steel-guitarist in a Pentecostal church.

For the last few days we stayed with our son Nick, his wife Carrie, and our six grandchildren. We played lots of card games with the children, having plenty of fun. Another highlight was seeing flocks of Sandhill Cranes, very large birds indeed, which come to spend the night in a small pond near their house in south-central Michigan. The mosquitoes are unbelievable this summer – huge numbers and very aggressive. They make it no fun at all to be outdoors, so we were not able to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

Our plans are to fly back on Thursday via Detroit, Chicago, and Beijing. We are hopeful that our two hour layover is sufficient to make our final connection to Manila. We will either return to Corregidor on Sunday or Thursday, since Sun Cruises does not usually run ferry service to the island on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday during July and August.

As you know, Corregidor is only a few miles from the Bataan Peninsula, where the Bataan Death March began. A number of our readers have sent us links to assure that we are aware that the oldest U.S. march survivor recently passed away. Here is one of the links:

http://www.history.com/news/2011/08/16/albert-brown-oldest-u-s-survivor-of-bataan-march-dies-at-105/?cmpid=Social_Facebook_HistoryInTheHeadlines_08162011_3

Our Minnesota vacation

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we are now in the U.S. Although we’re writing mostly about our stay with Steve’s mother Mary Anne, those of you interested only in Corregidor and WWII in the Philippines can skip down toward the bottom for some items we hope you’ll find interesting.

The most economical way to fly this time was through Beijing. The airport was absolutely huge and modern, perhaps in part due to the recent Olympics. The area appeared to be ensconced in fog, although some of our fellow travelers told us it was pollution. Leaving Beijing, Marcia had a window seat, and we were disappointed that we couldn’t see the Great Wall. Soon afterward we saw the mountains, many of which were covered in giant windmills, no doubt generating electrical energy.

We flew pretty much over the North Pole, and were surprised to fly right over Lake Vermillion and Duluth in Northern Minnesota—in the area where Steve spent his growing-up years. Who would think that those places would be on a direct route from Beijing to Chicago? We flew on to Detroit where our son Nick met us. We were so happy to be able to spend some time with Nick and Carrie and our six fun and well-behaved grandchildren. Claire, who is six, wanted to play card games with us at every opportunity. She is almost unbeatable at “Go Fish.”

From there we traveled by Amtrak to Minnesota and spent a couple of days in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul with Steve’s sister Paula and her husband Terry. Then we drove to Virginia, Minnesota, to spend a month with Steve’s mother Mary Anne, who lives in her childhood home. One of the main reasons for arriving when we did was to attend the Krebs Family Reunion. It was a great get-together, the first in 11 years, and well attended. We were especially happy that Nick and his family could also attend.

Everyone enjoyed 4th of July festivities. As usual we attended the Gilbert parade on the night before the 4th. Since our grandkids were here, we went to Virginia’s Olcott Park for races and other kids’ activities. The park is 100 years old this year, and is certainly one of the city’s highlights. Later we had our traditional “day at the lake,” another family gathering at Ely Lake, where Mary Anne’s late-twin-brother Stanley lived. The weather was perfect—not too hot, as much of this summer has been for the locals. (Not for us!) Later we watched the grandkids enjoy sparklers in Mary Anne’s backyard, joined by her good friend Greta.

We did some hiking around the city, once taking a 14-mile round-trip walk to and from Gilbert. We often went to the local cemetery, located next to Olcott Park, to water flowers and trim the grass around family markers.

Marcia returned to the Twin Cities to attend a ‘sisters, cousins, nieces and aunts’ brunch at her cousin Michelle’s home. She spent a couple days with two of her sisters before being joined by Steve and Mary Anne. Steve’s sister Della took the three of us to a Minnesota Twins baseball game to celebrate Mary Anne’s birthday…the Twins kept it a close game until near the end, but were unable to win. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, but we had shaded seats, took frozen water bottles with us, and Mary Anne brought a couple fans to create a breeze when needed.

One day we drove to Island Lake for an overnight visit with Steve’s cousin Dave, his wife Deb and their granddaughter Hannah. Another day we took a trip to Duluth to visit retired dentist Bill Dols. He was part of the U.S. occupation forces in Japan, and wrote a letter to the newspaper editor which garnered our attention. His late wife was from Brainerd, MN, so Bill knows quite a bit about the 194th Tank Battalion and had known several Death March and POW survivors.

Speaking of Brainerd, we spent of couple days with our friend Wally McKay and his wife Margaret, their daughter Patty and son-in-law Tim. We were visited by Jim Knudsen, whose uncle, a part of the 194th, disappeared soon after the Bataan Death March. Since his name is not listed at Camps O’Donnell and Cabanatuan, it is thought that he may have died on one of the infamous work details which were even more deadly than the wretched prison camps. Thomas Clark and his friend Violet Halverson, both WWII veterans, joined us along with Tom’s daughter Ellen Nelson. The three of them, along with Ellen’s husband Bob, had been with us on our October, 2009 trip to Leyte, since Tom had landed there with the main wave of troops on MacArthur’s famous return to the Philippines.

Shortly before leaving Virginia, we walked to the “Mineview in the Sky,” which overlooks the city and also the retired Rouchleau Mine, one of the area’s deepest and richest iron ore mines. There are a few pieces of mining equipment displayed, and looking at the truck by which Steve is standing will give you some idea of the size. While there, we noticed a map of the world in which visitors could put a pin to mark home locations. Someone had already placed a pin for Manila, so Marcia added one for Corregidor.

Virginia boasts the Range War Memorial, a beautiful tribute to regional service men and women of World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and first Gulf Wars. To raise money, bricks were sold, and there are three that are of particular interest to us. Charles Snyder was with the 4th Marines, was captured on Corregidor, and later operated a local funeral home. Edward Pearsall was captured on Wake Island, and as you can see from the picture, was a POW for close to four years. We’ve been told that Charlie never talked about the war, while Ed seemed to make it his life’s mission to make sure people remembered. Steve’s dad Walter, a third POW of the Japanese who lived in Virginia for 20 years before he passed away, was somewhere in between, not wanting to talk about being a POW but not shying away from it either, especially after his life-changing experience of returning to Corregidor in 1980.

Finally, there is a row of international flags a couple of blocks from the War Memorial. We were excited to see the Philippine flag included at the very end of the row, making it stand out.

We will now head back to the Twin Cities for a few days, taking Amtrak back to mid-Michigan at the end of the week. We will spend a couple of weeks there before heading back to the Philippines on August 18. We hope to have a chance see some of you while we’re in Michigan. Send us an email if you would like to get together and we’ll see what we can do.

Congressmen and vines

Steve guided several interesting groups the past week. One day he had a bus full of graduate students in the writing program of the University of Iowa. They were accompanied by their professor and our friend, English professor and writer Robin Hemley, who brought them with his wife and family for a three week tour of the Philippines. The following day he received requests to guide for both a man high up in U.S. Special Forces (whom we choose not identify) and a group of children’s writers from the United States.

The following day Steve guided for five members of the United States House of Representatives who were on a working tour of the Philippines. They were Russ (and wife Debra) Carnahan of Missouri’s 3rd District, Jim Costa of California’s 20th District, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina’s 3rd District, Louie Gohmert (and wife Kathy) of Texas’s 1st District, and Judge Ted Poe of Texas’s 2nd District. It was a pleasure and a privilege for the two of us to spend time with these distinguished gentlemen. Debra Carnahan said that she had no idea what to expect and that the tour “far exceeded any expectations” that she had, and the she was “very glad that she came.” All we knew ahead of time was that California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was supposed to be coming, so we read up on him. As it turned out he was scheduled for other meetings so he was the only congressman in the group who did not come.

Those of us who are frequently on Corregidor are aware that several vine species abound in certain areas. One such vine, suspected by some to be the infamous Kudzu, is actually Cadena de Amor (Chain of Love), also known as Coral Vine, or Mexican Creeper. As you can see from the accompanying photos, it is quite beautiful with its small pink flowers and heart-shaped leaves. It grows along the South Access Road and up the southwest face of Malinta Hill, up the northwest side of Malinta Hill, along the road near the old stockade area, and on the tail past Kindley Field. Small patches are evident in other parts of the island. It is commonly used as an ornamental plant for landscaping.

Another vine drapes the trees and hillside to your right-hand side as you go along the road from the PX toward the hospital. It has blue-to-purple, funnel-shaped, yellow throated flowers, again quite a beautiful plant. Its names include Thunbergia, Sky Flower, Bengal Clockvine, and Bengal Trumpet. Two of the photos show trees covered by Thunbergia. They almost look like monsters, appearing – with some imagination – to have heads, bodies and even arms.

We see drapes of vines we know as Morning Glories from our gardening years in the US, growing wild on the hillside between the CFI row houses and the contract employees’ barracks. It was a surprise for us, not a plant we expected to find here on Corregidor.

Another vine grows on the slope beside the road just downhill from the Youth for Peace sign, at the southward overlook clearing. It, too, has strikingly beautiful flowers, as well as unusual feathery-looking growth enclosing its buds and remaining at the base of the opened blossoms and its fruits. If you look closely at the photo showing two opened Morning Glories, you will also see this vine on the left side with closed flower buds. Since we did not know the name for the plant, we again asked our plant-loving friend Philip Thompson for help, receiving the following information.

The vine is some species of Passion Flower (Passiflora); there are hundreds of spp. and cultivated varieties, including one, Passiflora incarnata, native to the southeastern U.S. where I grew up -- where we call them Maypops. (That one you've found may be our native American species, perhaps, like so many other plants, established here in American colonial days as an ornamental plant -- and now long escaped from cultivation.) The various flower parts are believed to symbolize the crucifixion of Christ, hence the name (3 stigmas for the Trinity; 5 stamens for the wounds; 10 petals/sepals for the 10 faithful apostles, excluding Peter -- because of his denials -- and Judas Iscariot). Its fruit (passion fruit) is edible, and made into juice. Most spp. bear flowers in the blue to lavender to purple range, but I've seen a few tropical spp. in Central America with fire-engine-red flowers.

The Morning Glory Family (Convovulaceae) is really huge (1,000+ spp.?), and especially species-rich in the Tropics. Might be tough to identify the specific spp. native to here, which include the tasty and nutritious Swamp Cabbage or Water Spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) that Filipinos call Kangkong (which of course -- notwithstanding its English names -- is not related to either cabbage or spinach). In the U.S., the family includes some real beauties among flowers, plus of course the sweet potato (which is not related to true potatoes), as well as a few noxious, invasive weeds, including the white-flowered Field Bindweed. I used to grow three varieties of morning glories together in the same planting (Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gates, and a reddish-violet one named Scarlett O'Hara), and the mixture of flower colors looked so marvelous.

By the way, if you want to plant Morning Glory seeds, they have a hard, impenetrable black seed-coat that impedes germination; I suggest taking a fingernail file and filing a spot somewhere on the black seed-coat for a few seconds, just until a little white shows through; then they'll absorb water more easily and germinate almost instantly. Beware: if you over-fertilize Morning Glory with lots of rich nitrogen, they'll just grow like gangbusters without blooming.

Once again, many thanks to Philip.

This will be our last newsletter from the Philippines for a couple of months. We fly to Detroit on Saturday, spend a few days in Michigan, and then take Amtrak to Minnesota for five or six weeks. Some time will be spent in the Twin Cities, much of it on the Iron Range. We hope to fit in a visit with friends in Brainerd. Then back to Michigan in early August, where we will spend time with our children and grandchildren, and visit friends accumulated during the 25 years we lived there. One goal is a combined visit with Everett Reamer, the last American defender to visit Corregidor (2006), and Richard Adams, the last liberator to visit (January of this year). We depart Detroit on August 18.

Marcia's Heidi-Heidi-Ho, Jungle Girls Adventure

Steve usually writes the newsletters and then Marcia edits and reworks them, often spending at least as much time fixing them as it took Steve to write them. Marcia wrote today’s letter, which she calls “Heidi-Heidi-Ho, Jungle Girls Adventure.”

Each April we host a group from Valor Tours, timed to include the Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) ceremony on April 9th at Mt. Samat in Bataan. This year, as you read in April, we had one ex-POW, many family members of veterans, and a few “history buffs.” Our unusual tour guest was Heidi, neither a descendant of a veteran nor a history buff. She came with a unique story.

Several years ago, at a particularly rough point in her life, she began running. She participated in the “Bataan Death March Memorial Marathon” in White Sands, New Mexico. This is far more than a typical race, with numerous events and opportunities for the runners to meet surviving POW veterans, hear their stories, and learn about the Death March. Heidi was so moved by the veterans she met that she’s become a regular at the marathons, collecting the ex-POWs signatures on a special T-shirt, and she also began attending the annual American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (ADBC) conventions. She developed close friendships with many of these men and stays in communication with them. Heidi credits “My Guys” with giving her a new focus and passion for her life at a time when she very much needed it.

There is an obvious risk in building relationships with WW II veterans – they are old now, well into their last years or months or, in some cases, days. Sharing affection and love with them opens the heart to the pain of each last farewell when the time comes for another veteran to “fade away.” Heidi embraces this fact, writing each departed vet’s name on a particular part of her shirt when she learns that he has died. She is able to be thankful for the precious time they had as friends, while saddened by the loss.

One of Heidi’s guys, David, wrote to her before his death, telling about his last hours during the fighting before the Fall of Corregidor on May 6, 1942. He described the Tailside areas through which he moved as one of the defenders while Japanese troops were landing near the airstrip and fighting their way toward Malinta Hill.

Heidi wanted to find the area where David’s foxhole had been. His letter gave enough information, including maps showing roadways and the old civilian cemetery, that I was confident I could get her close to the correct location. And so our adventure began.

Our second day on Corregidor no full-group events were scheduled after lunch. Steve was taking some on a longer trail hike, two of the men were looking for a specific spot on Tailside with guidance from island manager Ron, two of the ladies made plans to spend more time at the 92nd Garage Area where the POWs from Corregidor and the other fortified islands were held after the surrender, and others made their own activity or relaxation choices. Heidi and I set out on foot for Tailside.

We walked the South Access Road around Malinta Hill, enjoying the views and talking about how we came to be where we are in our lives. Heidi mentioned that she might also want to spend some time alone at the 92nd Garage Area after our foxhole hunt, so I pointed out the route she could take when we returned from Tailside. Just then we heard a large monkey. He was about 100 feet up the road, growling and barking at us in an attempt to convince us to turn back. As soon as we took a few steps closer he ran for the nearest tree and scooted up the trunk. We could hear him and his companions leaping from treetop to treetop away from us. At that point, Heidi decided we were sticking together, not wanting to face a monkey by herself even if it was only bluffing.

It was a hot day, and Heidi soon noticed that she’d forgotten drinking water. We were near the east entrance to Malinta Tunnel, so we detoured there to use the CR (restroom) and get water from the gift shop. After a short visit with a group of Girl Scouts participating in the day-tour, we resumed our trek. As we passed the Philippine Heroes Memorial, we spotted a spent shell from a 21-gun salute fired during a ceremony held there earlier that morning. Heidi decided to add it to her little memento bag.

When we reached the airstrip, we walked to its southeastern corner. Heidi pulled out David’s photo, a reminder of our purpose, and then we followed the passably-cleared trail that heads toward the tip of the tail. The vegetation is mostly tall coarse grass – cogon grass – which is very dry this time of year. There are lantana bushes, vines, and ipil-ipil trees, also very dry right now because the previous rainy season was less rainy than usual. We could see evidence of bolo-clearing, probably Ron and the men who had set out earlier than we had, and it looked like their goal was in the same general direction as ours. They had not, however, cleared just one pathway. There were off-shoots to left and right, so we had to take our best guess as to which path was going to continue in our desired direction. Sometimes we chose well, sometimes we had to back-track, sometimes we had to crawl through vines or over downed branches. Once I got a little spooked by something skittering over one of my feet, and of course my “YIKES” made Heidi jump, too. I never saw what it was – just as well, in my thinking – and as soon as heart-rates normalized we were once more underway.

Eventually we came to a particularly difficult spot – no obvious trail, a fallen tree, and very uneven terrain. I knew we were approaching the cemetery, so we had to be close to David’s foxhole, too. It was time for a rest and a good drink. Then I tried going around to the left of the obstacles. No way! Back again, and try to the right…no better. Finally I decided to push straight ahead, through the vines and branches right in front of us, with Heidi close behind me so we could help each other. We got through with only a few scratches each, and right in front of us was an apparently man-made depression beneath a small trees – almost certainly a foxhole that has partially filled with leaf debris and washed-in soil over the years.

We rested again. Suddenly Heidi said, “After how hard we had to work to get here, this feels like the right spot!” I agreed that it seemed a little like we’d been led here, being unable to go around to either side of the trail obstructions. Heidi pulled out the photocopy of David’s picture and his letter. She buried her mementos in the bottom of the depression, deciding to include the spent shell, and laid two sticks over the spot to form a cross. After several quiet minutes, Heidi decided she was ready to head back to the inn. We were hot and sweaty, tired and a little scratched-up, but very pleased to say, “Mission accomplished!”

Marcia on the Rock