#159

0800

1st Bn with 3rd Bn in support prepared to clean out monkey point. Tanks   being used- Navy art. & 462  F.A, also.

#169

1110

Explosion  in vicinity of first   Bn.  First reports   indicate high casualties. All trucks available and medics near area being rushed to aid injured.

#161

1150

First casualties returning and very much beat up.       Reports that tank fired  into one of the cave pill   boxes and a big explosion followed by three or four smaller ones tore up high ground around monkey pt and occupied by our troops assaulting position. Blast apart Sherman tank and Bid rocks filled sky which in falling caused many deaths & injuries.  Med aid rushed from Mariveles by cub.The total casualties are 156

#159

1110

Report to XI  Corps of explosion   in 1st Bn area.

#160

1300

Order 3rd Bn to move thru 1st Bn and continue pushing to east of air strip.

#161

1335

Report to XI  Corps on explosion at monkey point and     possible casualties.

#162

1900

S-2 report by radio to XI Corps.

Aside from our Navy weapons firing it was a quiet night. There was no activity this morning. We were called on to put in recommendations for awards and we turned in fourteen so far- there's more we have to get. A Jap prisoner was brought into Reg't CP - while being questioned he attacked the interpreter with the following results, he got 2 butt strokes with a tommy gun and a ? in the head no more Jap. Around noon or a little earlier, we heard of an explosion down at Monkey Pt. that wiped out a great deal of the 1st Bn. This afternoon we see (now) trucks rolling in with the wounded and dead. Already over a hundred have been counted and many remain yet.           "A" & "C" Cos. were just about done for. The story we've heard is that a tank, on the hill near Monkey Pt., fired into a tunnel and set off the explosion that threw rocks for as far as two miles. The count of dead Japs on the island was over 3000 this morning."

[A & 1st Bn HHC were the two companies which suffered so many casualties].

"Co. sent out two patrols to cover high ground on south-eastern end of island. No enemy were contacted." [Note: should be south-western].

"Three patrols today. The second platoon returned to Unnamed Point to pick up the body of PFC Robinson. The third platoon patrolled the area in and around Morrison Point and captured one Nip. Pfc Brown died of wounds received in action on 23rd."

"We sent small patrols into Hearn-Grubbs-Rock Point-Cape Corregidor area. Many of the men were resting and taking it easy. A few were on top of one of the water tanks taking turns looking through the big binoculars.

They were watching the 1st Battalion advancing near Kindley Field and saw a huge explosion erupt on the south side. This was the big explosion. I was not there, but when I returned I received a complete, excited account. They saw an M-4, Sherman tank hurled into the air tumbling end over end. They said a destroyer between Monkey Point and Caballo Island was surrounded by huge geysers of water caused by large rocks and boulders falling into the sea.  Needless to say the ship left immediately at flank speed. I went over to Topside Barracks and saw a duece and a half loaded with mangled bodies. One unforgettable sight was a man's scrotum with testicles intact hanging out between the sideboards. It was a sad, tragic day.

Once again our thoughts returned to earlier stories that the Japs had mined the entire island, so they could blow it up whenever they desired. It was time to become stoic again, what will be will be. Before this explosion we had began to think that it was about over. I'm sure many of the 1st Battalion died thinking this."

"Courage is will-power," Lord Moran

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