MY DAY WITH THE RATTLESNAKES
 

(F Company descends Grubbs Ravine)

A recollection by Bill Calhoun

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MY DAY WITH THE RATTLESNAKES
 

(F Company descends Grubbs Ravine)

Corregidor, looking West

It is said about historians that everything they print is absolutely accurate, except those items about which you have a close personal knowledge and which they got completely wrong.

Well, sometimes I feel that way about the "F" Company History,  because, as Bill McDonald once told me, "If you're thrown in a den of rattlesnakes, you won't forget one moment of it." 

The �F� Company Chronological History was written by T-5 Raymond Ostrander, company clerk, under the supervision of 1st Sgt Albert Baldwin, in Mindoro,  after we returned from Corregidor.  We were on Negros from the 6th to the 29th April, for example,  before an order was given to send the Company clerks and first sergeants back to the Regimental HQ for the day to bring the Morning Reports up to date. The delay in their writing inevitably allowed errors to creep in.  Memories had begun to fade even then. 

One entry in the "F" Company History for 22 February 1945 which gives me cause for serious doubt is as follows:  

First platoon moved down Sheeny Ravine in the attack & met heavy enemy resistance consisting of rifle and machine gun fire. During this attack Pfc. Narrow, Yocum, & Sgt (Pvt) George Mikel was killed. Pfc. Stanley Stanley Maciborski was lightly wounded in action. Company strength is 3 officers and 100 EM.."

To start with, it was not down Sheeny (or even Cheney) but Grubbs Ravine that we went.  Secondly, having half of one�s face blown off by a shotgun at close range does not, in my assessment, constitute being �lightly wounded�.  Thirdly, I seriously doubt the Company strength count. Only two officers were present for duty - Dan Lee had scalp wounds received in the attack in the Ordnance Machine Shop on the 19th.  The 1st platoon was down to 17 EM's, and all platoons had suffered casualties. I don't believe the second platoon had hardly any more for duty than the 1st platoon. The 3rd platoon had numerous casualties as did the 4th platoon. There were 11 jump casualties alone - I don't feel there were over 80-85 present for duty at this time. When we returned to Mindoro, the company was half strength. Some was due to illness.  

But rather than tell you about what it was not, let me tell you what it was.   
 

The head of the "Tadpole" is  split by several Ravines - James, Grubs, Cheney, Crockett and Ramsey. 

On 21 February,  our D+5 day,  we  (the 1st platoon of F Company) had travelled Grubbs Trail, running along the south slope of Sunset Ridge, in returning from Cape Corregidor to Battery Smith.   There we had seen a  long line of vehicles parked  bumper to bumper on the asphalt -  cars, trucks and motorcycles.  Surely a most curious place for a traffic jam. We knew that Grubbs Trail,  intersected the asphalt-surfaced North Shore Road near the sea.  Passing up the trail, we had not noticed the air vent which would have given us a clue that there lay a huge tunnel somewhere beneath it, and the vegetation was still heavy enough to screen us from the depths of the ravine and what would face us down there.

Early in the morning of 22 February, the entire company moved down to the rim between Batteries Smith and Grubbs. We knew there were Japs in Grubbs Ravine, and today we were there to clean them out

We could see on the map that North Shore Road turned sharply from the sea eastward up the depths of the ravine and then sharply reversed forming a "V". Our patrols along Rock Point Trail, a foot trail,  had been fired upon from the depths of the ravine, and Homer Patterson had been fatally wounded along this trail. Orders came to clean the Japs out of the ravine. 

The plan was to sweep down the ravine with a line of skirmishers. Obviously, the flanks of this force would be exposed to enemy fire from the heights of both ridges unless friendly forces occupied these heights.

Bailey's plan was that my platoon (the 1st) would advance as a line of skirmishers down the valley after the 2nd platoon was in position on the eastern sector of Grubbs Road. Furthermore, and after the third platoon had occupied Rock Point Trail to the point where it turned sharply north, the mortar platoon would follow my men advancing on the left side (the shorter side) of the dry stream bed in the bottom of the ravine. The 3rd machine gun platoon, 2 Bn HHQ Co. (under 2Lt Clifford MacKenzie) would follow the right side. T-5 William Ashton, company medic,  would be with the right element. Pfc Roy Jensurd, platoon medic,  would be with the left side.

I waited with my platoon and the fire support platoons, a demolition section, and a flame thrower team. Bailey and company headquarters were on the rim where they would remain to coordinate the attack. Before long, both platoons radioed in that they were in position. I was doubtful and so was Bailey. He questioned both platoon sergeants who assured him they were in position. 

We crossed the line of departure and descended sharply toward the sea. I could catch glimpses of a metal roof down at the bottom. I walked in the stream bed which was the lowest point of the skirmish line. Visibility was good enough to see the complete line. As we moved on down the quietness became ominous. We knew the enemy was there. He would open fire at his best moment of opportunity. It was hot, but I believe we were sweating more than just from the heat. 

As we neared the corrugated metal building built on the left bank, I could see it well. It was on ground level, which was about three feet above the dry stream bed, and was approximately 12' x 12'. There were no windows that I could see. Maciborski was the next man on my left. Mikel the next on my right. Maciborski passed the building on the far side from me.  I could see the top of a large cement culvert (RC-6). Maciborski passed on by the building door which was located on the west side. He did not look in. I hopped up on the bank to take a look. Mikel hopped in the bed behind where I had just left. Maciborski looked toward us and all hell broke loose.    

The noise of gunfire was coming from seemingly everywhere. Maciborski fell. I looked down into the stream bed where George Mikel was laying on his back, not moving, with at least a thigh wound. He was wearing dark sunglasses and I could not see his eyes to see if he might still be conscious, although he was just mere feet away. I did not believe him dead at that point.  We were close to the culvert. Machine gun fire was coming from our flanks, the very spot where our supporting platoons were supposed to be. Heavy rifle fire was coming from our front, particularly from the South Shore Road as it curved and descended toward RC-6. At this point, neither could we see two openings towards my left, between us and the Grubbs Trail.  

I could see that the area was open around the road. Large trees still stood at the culvert but bombs had cleaned out the smaller trees and brush so that visibility was very good. The same was true looking up the slopes on both the right and left. I could see debris and dirt flying from machine gun bursts along our the line where my men lay. I reported the situation to Bailey and used the best language I could command to express my feelings to the platoon sergeants who did not have their platoons in position. 

Liquor and Japanese weren't the only thing founds in unexpected quantity on Corregidor. The Japanese loot included large amounts of  clothing, including blue pants and yellow shirts.  I really felt good in the yellow shirt and blue pants, and my men felt good to be getting out of their salt encrusted fatigues. I thought we could slip by the south side of the officers row (we called it Senior officers, (but Dion says that is inaccurate) and down to our patrol area. I was wrong and didn't do that again!! I didn't think my brightly dressed platoon wearing combat gear was so out of place. After all, we were not finding any more Japs. So, someone didn't "try wearing them on patrol-" at least one wore them---ONCE!  But "never more."

Though I did not think it at the time (and then only after a few decades of reflection)  in all fairness to the 3rd platoon, now under SSgt Phillips, they had proceeded as far as the bend on Rock Point Trail. The problem was that this point was so high that they were well above the L.M.G's. In a short time,  Phillips worked his men down and wiped out the M.G's. I told the 2nd platoon sergeant to hold his advance, that I was going to bring mortar fire on the area between the culvert and the junction of Grubbs Trail with South Shore Road. Our maps did not show such features as Battery Hannah.

Where were our mortars? Looking back I saw them coming down the rocky bed. Todd was on the other side of the bed, and we both yelled as loud as we could for them to stop, but they came on. I really did not want to leave my prone position by the side of the building, but I had to get to them and get them firing. I rolled over and looked down again at George Mikel. He had not moved since I�d last seen him. It seemed obvious that he had been shot by Japs in or around the culvert, so I told him, for I thought him barely conscious, that I was going to get his mortars into action, for him not to move, an I'd be back shortly.  I told Todd to hold everybody where they were. So I ran up the stream bed and though I figure I must have been the sole moving target of opportunity,  I was not scratched. In minutes the two conventional mortars were pouring 60mm rounds on to the South Shore Road area. 

I went back again, arriving just after Pfc James Wilson had cleaned out the culvert.  Wilson was first scout of the second squad, and being a scout he was carrying a Thompson sub-machine gun. He was on the other side of Maciborski and had crawled forward about twenty feet after hearing Jap voices in the culvert. He reached over the edge of the bank and slung a WP grenade into the culvert. As soon as it popped, he jumped down into the stream bed and opened fire  with his weapon. As we moved forward and Yocum was crossing the road,  suddenly Yocum went down  instantly, as if he had been struck with a heavy blow. His legs were drawn up as he lay in a foetal position on his right side. Then after several quivers his body relaxed. As I saw his death, I thought of his two young sons and the love he had expressed to them and his wife, his plans for his return, all the things I had read in his letters which I had been required to read in  the distasteful job of censoring mail. 

More sadness!  After I had left him, George Mikel had moved. Todd had called him to be still, but George had sat up and was immediately hit in the chest by multiple rifle fire from the eight Japs in the culvert. He had originally been hit in the thigh which was about as high as the Japs could direct their fire. 

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. Someone else will have to finish this story. 

The 2nd platoon killed the Jap machine guns on our left flank, and now the Japs had retreated into the �two caves�. As we carefully closed on these two openings, a constant rain of potato-masher grenades came flying out for what must have been a couple of minutes. We realized that there must have been a sizeable number of well equipped Japs inside,  due to the rain of grenades. 

But now we had the ball.

Or, as it turned out, the flame-throwers. The showers of potato mashers eventually had to end, and they did. We had these Japs contained and there was still firing up the other slope, so I left Todd in charge of the "caves" sector and went up the toward Rock Point Trail, where SSgt Charles McCurry's 1st squad had cleaned out the area. 

Our 2nd platoon under TSgt Burt Watson and the left flank of my 2nd squad had made contact and moved on above the "caves."  The HHQ Co. Demolition section and the flame thrower(s) were with the 2nd platoon. Usually one flame thrower team was sent with a company.   SSgt Chris Johnson, 3rd squad, had made contact with Sgt Phillips and his 3rd platoon. Phillips had knocked out the Nambu light machine gun which had caused us so much pain. (Some say there was more than one gun, but I don't.) 

When I got back to the "caves" area the flame thrower(s) had done their work. As I was not a witness to the action which neutralized the "caves," I later sought and collected some accounts of some of our people who did.

 Pfc James Bradley, 2nd squad,

 "I do not remember if there was more than our platoon when we started out or not, but we were about half way down the canyon when the Japs started picking of some of our group on the right flank. It must have been Grubbs Ravine when we had the 2nd platoon with us. Our squad was on the direct left flank and we were able to move without drawing fire. I remember Mike Natalie and I found the mouth of the cave the Japs were in. We dropped several grenades into the opening and were able to drop to the roadway and dropped more grenades into a culvert where the Japs had holed up. It was here that Theodore Yocum caught one that was intended for me. I do not know to this day who yelled �Look out Bradley!'  It may have been Yocum who called out. Anyway I ducked just in time,  but I am sure it was at this time that Yocum died. We tried satchel charges of TNT etc.  And still the Japs would not come out. Then we emptied all the fuel we had in about four or five flame throwers, then we ignited it with the last flame thrower. It was common practice to wet the target down before ignition.

  "It must have been pretty awful in there because they finally came running out of the cave. Half the poor buggers were on fire as they came running out. I remember Lampman standing behind a tree picking them off with his B.A.R.  I was out of ammo and unable to be of any assistance.  At that time, I guess, it was really the only time I felt any anger for the Japs."  

"We ran into a large cave complex before we knew it was there. We called for a demolition team and when they arrived they had such a large charge we almost lost one of the demo team. The bank gave way, and only quick action by the other members of the demo team saved him from falling down the mountain."

Bill Bailey, who was up in the rim with our battalion S-3, Laurence Browne,  later wrote,

 "It was down in this ravine where the Japs were holed up in a culvert under Bottomside road and proved so difficult to wrinkle out. Sgt. Mikel was killed here and I believe 3 more K.I.A.'s,   before our flame throwers convinced the Nips to come out, one after the other,  running full bore only to be met by converging fire from everyone." 

MacKenzie's posthumous Silver Star Medal citation says in part:

 "Fully aware of the risks involved, Lieutenant MacKenzie unhesitatingly plunged through the withering fire toward the wounded man and in so doing lost his life." 

I heard that one trooper recalls he never saw a Jap rifle all the time he was on Corregidor - plenty of grenades, mortars,  MG's, light and heavy, pistols,  shotguns,  but no rifles.  It must have depended on where you were, and who you were fighting.  I saw plenty of Japanese rifles.  We broke them on rocks and cement. There were, also, many Japs without rifles.  When the superbattleship Musashi went down during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea in late October with the loss of almost half her crew of 2,400 men a large number were sent to help garrison Corregidor. One of the weapons used by men without rifles were bayonets wired on the end of a wooden, or steel, pole. I never saw any of these after the first night when we killed some armed with these near 28-D.

The Endo bunch had rifles, machine guns, and mortars. They were a first rate unit, very professional. 

 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. Knap-sacks 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 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." 

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