"3.    OUR OPERATIONS:

a. Infantry: Situation at end of of period 231800I- mopping up pro4A ' in WHEELER POINT, SEARCHLIGHT POINT area has nearly cleared western sector of ROCK od enemy. Our forces are in position to begin assault on eastern sector 240730I. Combined Air, Naval, Artillery and Ground action will be utilized. Softening up of area by air, naval and Artillery continues today."

"c. Aviation: Our planes bombed and strafed the area east of MALINTA HILL to Airstrip. Thirty One P-47's used in the morning strike, expending 4000 gal�lons Napon, 35 hundred pounds bombs, 31,000 rounds .50 cal. Area adjacent to Eng. Point was bombed and P-47's continued to strafe.

d. Naval: The Navy continued to blast caves and areas on WHEELER POINT prior to Infantry clearing the area; also continued shelling of MALINTA HILL to Air‑

strip sectors'"

"f. Signal: The Naval and Air Liaison Parties (JASCO and SAP) continued to provide the essential communications for coordinated. Air, Naval, and Ground activities."

"4.    CASUALTIES:

a.   Our Casualties: This report- 17 KIA, 31 WIA, 10 MIA
To Date- 118 KIA, 314 WIA, 25 IIA, 197 JIIA, 10 MIA.

b.   Enemy Known Casualties:

This Report- 157 KIA, 2 Pws.

To Date-      2486 KIA, 6 Pws.

The 118 KIA above is wrong. Templeman's "Return to Corregidor" list 169 KIA for the entire operation. This seems to be correct. The 50th Airborne Anniversary book lists 163 KIA, but this book is wrong here and in numerous other accounts. There were about 54 men killed in the great explosion at Monkey Point 26 February.  54 and 118 do not, obviously, add up to 169. At least 5 more men were killed in the 2d Battalion after this date and probably additional men were killed in other battalions.

 PR No. 8  further illustrates the danger of using Periodic Reports, of themselves, as the basis upon which to write historical accounts. 

#101 0800

Plans being made for the assaulting of the eastern part of the island. Col. Jones, Maj Clarke, Sgt Peterson reconnoitering the area throughout the day and aboard the destroyer to coordinate naval and air strikes. Area subjected to strafing & bombing - also naval shelling most of the day. 1st Bn moved down to beach in preparation for attack 24 Feb 45.

#102 1800

2nd Bn reports the patrolling and clearing of area between Searchlight Point & Wheeler Point. Strong resistance along the coast line and killed 106 daps. Also strong concentration on Wheeler Point and planned Navy assaulting at 240800I. "E" Co met all resistance.

#102 1800

3rd Bn- I Co patrolled area south from San Jose to Breakwater Point. no contacts - H Co patrolled battery point area - searching caves. G Co patrolled Refrig area and cleaned out two snipers hindering road line to beach.

#103 1900

Maj Clark returned and plans are set for assaulting of area east of Malinta tunnels beginning at 0830 hour. 3rd Bn 34th Inf to move in after air & naval barrage and secure area of Malinta tunnels and set up guarding entrances to all tunnels. 1st

#104 2400

Nite very quiet. No reported activity. Visits by Corp CO and other high ranking officers. See S-1 Journal.

#105 - #109

short messages sent and received which are of no interest.

"The company took over the job of cleaning out the area between Searchlight and Wheeler Points. Although we could not clean out all resistance because of an ammunition shortage, we killed approximately 120 Japs. 2nd Lt. Ball; Pfc's Robinson and Jandro KIA. Pfc Brown, W.A., was wounded and later died of those wounds." 

Don Abbott, as Executive Officer of  E Co., was called upon to write the E Company History upon returning to Mindoro.  This was only a few weeks after the Corregidor operation, and the document was intended to be a historical document.

What truly occurred on 23 February 1945 has been prepared in consultation with the troopers actually present  along the South Shore Road on that fateful day. It is an example of how the books got it wrong.

"E" Company Attack on  Battery Monja, 
 23 February 1945

No Entry

After a good night's rest we set out for Grubbs Ravine early the next morning. The company CP was again set up on Way Hill and each platoon given a sector to patrol. My area was Battery Smith and Battery Sunset. I sent one squad to investigate the railroad tunnel which entered Battery Smith Magazine on the east. This was a large concrete tunnel with rails running into the magazine. There were steel rings set in the walls. (Forty-two years later I found out that these rings were there to hold steel cot frames for the crew to sleep when they were on alert.) There were openings to the outside about every 50 yards. I believe this was our 1st squad who searched the tunnel. I sent another squad to search the big magazine coming in from the west entrance. I believe the second squad was set up as security on top of the magazine.

 The west entrance led into a large room. On the floor of this room were a large number of knapsacks laid out side by side in rows as if the wearers had stood there in ranks, removed their knapsacks and laid them at their feet. These knapsacks continued on down the tunnel into complete darkness, stacked on tall cans of black powder, or as Richard Lampman said "large bins like we used to store oats and wheat on the farm." We had no flashlights and were not about to take fire in there. Battery Wheeler was still fresh on our minds. We soon found that these knapsacks belonged to Special Naval Land Forces (SNLF -- marines, or commonly called Imperial Marines). The knapsacks contained clothing, prayer saches with stiching which appeared to be a tiger, hence the name "Tiger Marines" which were supposedly Japan's best fighting troops-- at least they were the most fanatical. Also, in the knapsacks were post cards, snapshots, personal battle flags, prayers in small fabric envelope with a string to tie them around the neck, naval insignia, invasion pesos, a few invasion "dollars", opium pellets, small opium pipes (bamboo shaft with metal bowl); group pictures made at different ages beginning with young boys in blue uniforms and holding wooden rifles, next teenagers, finally grown men in uniform and holding rifles; eye glasses, pictures of Japanese actresses (pin-up girls fully clothed), diaries, and other personal belongings.

 It is very probable that some of the Japs who attacked us the third night had left their knapsacks in the magazine; however, the big question will always be, did these Japs come up here after dark, or were these Japs hiding in the Magazine when we attacked Battery Smith? The magazine and railroad tunnel could easily have held a very large number of Japs, 500 or more. There were ample bomb proof shelters in the Grubbs Ravine area. According to Bill McDonald there were a large amount of rations stored in the tunnel. He further says that these were stored near the outside openings and in the areas near these openings were many old camp fire ashes. One other comment he made about the tunnel was the signs painted which said "Keep Hands Off Walls". In video tapes made inside the rail tunnel you can still see the signs, "Keep Hands Off Walls."

 In the big cave which ran about 300 feet back into the hillside at RC-6 and Battery Smith, 1500 or more Japs could have found safety from our bombardments; moreover, there was that vital element for survival -- WATER. There was also shelter for smaller number at Battery Monja and there were springs in Cheney Ravine. They talk about the large number of Japs holed up in the tunnels of Malinta Hill, but their stay was limited by the absence of any water. The Japs we hear from today who were there tell of the terrible thirst they suffered,  just as our defenders who were holed up in Malinta Hill tell of terrible thirst at the end.

The Japs had gathered up a large number of vehicles, as previously described, for transportation. In addition we were to find large stores of medical supplies in this area, too. So the Japs had water, food, shelter, and medical supplies.

After we found the knapsacks I notified our CP by my SCR-536 radio. They passed the word on to battalion. I expected to see S-2 men pouring off Topside - both battalion and regimental. This find seemed like an intelligence bonanza. The afternoon passed on until late afternoon arrived, and we left for the lighthouse. No one had ever shown up. We continued to patrol the area for several days and looked in on the knapsacks from time to time. They remained undisturbed. This made it hard to con�vince the men to carry out orders to search every Jap body for papers and written matter.

 The only activity I saw during this time in the Battery Smith area was about the time we made our last patrol down into Grubbs ravine. When we passed the west entrance to the Battery Smith magazine a demolition section was placing charge around the opening. This was a heavy concrete lined tunnel with massive concrete facings.

I asked them what they intended to do, and they answered that they were going to seal the entrance. I asked why? There had not been a live Jap in this area in days. They replied that they were sealing all the caves on the island. In present day photos there is a big pile of dirt in the entrance about half way up to the top - a far cry from sealing the "cave", but I'll bet it went down in the records as a sealed cave. This cave sealing got to be a contest. The count looked impressive in the S-3 books. In actuality so many of the entrances were only partly sealed.

 Some of our men were sick and just hanging on until the operation was over. One such man was Pfc James Bradley who had "infectious hepatitis," but hung on until we got back to Mindoro. Jim recalls, " I remember that we secured the area one time and were pulled back to Topside and then returned to the area the second time. If I remember correctly it was during the first action that the Japs pulled the banzai attack.  It was certainly a night to remember. I was on the litter detail when we carried McCarter out. Just below Topside on a roadway near one of the batteries, the Japs had us pinned down. One of the Nips threw a potato masher which landed in front of our litter. One of our guys picked it up and threw it back at them. Just then part of E Company appeared on the top of the cliffs, just in time to get the Japs off our case."

 After a full day of patrolling with no contacts the company assembled at Way Hill, moved up to Topside, and on to our Post Headquarters-lighthouse home for the night. We slept well.

Even though we did not know it at the time, our fighting was over on Corregidor.