Afterword

 

My platoon spent the remaining days of patrol in the Grubbs Ravine area. Major General Marguat began showing up in the area of my 1st squad (on the north side of the light house). I was uncomfortable, but a lieutenant. Sgt. Todd told me he was bringing in fresh baked bread.  In that case, he was welcome. Word had gotten around that a squad had found liquor in a hiding place in Smith.  We expected there was to be a trade arranged, voluntary or otherwise.  I didn't know what to do and neither did Bailey so we ignored it.

 

(MG Marquat didn't leave empty handed, and we got a bread ration.) 

 

 

 After cleaning out Grubbs Ravine, I usually sent each squad to patrol an area. One day, one of my squads (I think it was the 3rd) searched Btty Smith magazine. The entry room behind the big gun was empty except for Japs belongings. I was with this squad and saw it all. Knapsacks of personal belongings were arranged on the concrete floor where troops in formation had dropped them. Some of the things I picked up are now in the Admiral Nimitz Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg, TX.  Several men found large bound books resembling College year books. There were pictures of groups of males beginning with those about 6 years old and then through their developing ages. The younger had wooden rifles. Older ones had the real ones. I have long asked about these. John Bartlett remembers them, but has no idea who got them. Possibly if this got on the web, some member of "F" Company's first platoon, or their family might have one of them.

When I was younger, I used to wonder about differing recollections until I came across the wisdom of an ancient Greek warrior that bears repeating or paraphrasing even today - "A man sees in combat only that which happens nearby, and that imperfectly." 

 

 

©2000 William Calhoun & 503d PRCT Association of WWII Inc

H Version 02.24.07

 

 
Footnotes  

 

 

 

 

 

 I knew George Mikel well, perhaps better than others, save for Phillip Todd. George  was a 501st Parachute Battalion member who refused rotation or 30 day's leave to the U.S.  He'd been in Co. B, 501st Parachute Battalion when it became 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. George was the platoon sergeant of our mortar platoon until shortly before we jumped on Corregidor. After we landed on Mindoro 13 December, 1944, "F" Co occupied a position on the regimental perimeter facing the sea five miles west. My platoon's position was across the road and railroad coming from the beach to San Jose. The mortar platoon was attached to us. As a consequence, their platoon headquarters was with mine. We underwent 343 Jap air raids during the first 19 days. George, Phillip, and I talked a lot. George  loved the company. He was quiet and reserved, but he talked freely with us. We learned of his wife in Australia. He was very concerned because he had not gotten permission to marry, so the Army did not recognize the marriage. The thing which concerned Phillip and I the most was that George predicted that he would be killed.

 

A short time before the Corregidor jump, George came to me to have a private conversation. After telling me how much he trusted me, he said he had requested to be reduced to the grade of private and assigned to my platoon. The company commander, Bill Bailey refused his request. He asked me if he screwed-up would I keep him from getting kicked out of the outfit and take him into my platoon. I assured him I would never let him get booted and would certainly see that he was assigned to my platoon, but I told him of his great value to our company as our mortar platoon sergeant and asked him to stay put. Within a day or two George went AWOL for four days (as I remember). I assigned him, now a private, as an extra runner in my platoon headquarters. I wanted him handy in the event we lost a squad leader.

 

We never lost a man which did not cause me grief, but George was among the close ones --thoughts of him still bring tears. My memories of him are crystal clear.<BACK>

Stanley Maciborski had half his face blown off by a shot gun at close range.<BACK>

Doc Bradford speaks of Dan in his manuscript Combat Over Corregidor, now published in its original form by the Corregidor Historic Society. Dan is "the Hollywood stunt man." <BACK>

It would not be until the 1980’s, when John Lindgren and Don Abbott visited the site, that I would discover that what appeared to me to be two caves twenty yards or so apart were in fact the openings of a  huge U-shaped tunnel.] <BACK>

I have often wondered if any were with "E" Company the next day at Batry Monja. Roscoe did not see any. I don't know if you know Don. Roscoe could have certainly used one. <BACK>

I had offered the position of squad leader to Bradley, but he had declined it.  He succumbed to hepatitis, as many did on Corregidor. When we returned to Mindoro, he was hospitalized for it, but there’s no keeping a good soldier down, and he managed to have himself discharged from hospital in May, probably too early for his own good.  We were in the mountains in Negros, and half way up the mountain, he had a serious relapse and had to be re-evacuated. <BACK>

Lampman had advanced firing from his hip and killed seven Japs holding a crater in the Btty Boston area. These enemy had held up his squad until he, single-handedly, removed them. I wrote a citation for a Silver Star Medal. We never heard from this recommendation, and it was one of several that fell through the cracks.  <BACK>

The quoted ending is a sentence copied from: “XI Corps, General Order Number 11, 10 March 1945, SECTION I…..SILVER STAR MEDAL posthumous awards."<BACK>

 

 

     KIA                  WIA

     
Pfc Paul A.Narrow   Pfc. Maciborski
Pfc Theodore C.Yokum   T-5 William Ashby
Sgt (Pvt) George J. Mikel    
2d Lt. Clifford MacKenzie    
     

 

"The Night on Bailey's Hill"

 

©2000 William Calhoun & 503d PRCT Association of WWII Inc

H Version 02.24.07