MARINE SERGEANT* TEACHING FILIPINOS the operation of a machine gun.

 

Until the evacuation of Manila at the end of December, local defense of the island had been provided by a small number of artillerymen, who performed this task in addition to their other duties. Such an arrangement had not permitted an effective defense or left time for the construction of strongly fortified positions. This deficiency had been recognized but it was not until Admiral Hart made the 4th Marine Regiment available on 24 December that steps were taken to correct the weaknesses of Corregidor's defenses.

By chance, Col. Samuel L. Howard, commander of the 4th Marines, was in Manila when Hart turned the regiment over to the Army "for tactical employment." He reported immediately to General MacArthur and then to General Sutherland who gave him his orders. They were brief and to the point: "Proceed to Corregidor and take over the beach defenses of that island." Howard thereupon returned to his regiment at Olongapo to prepare for the move. Within a week the entire regiment had reached Corregidor and on 29 December Colonel Howard was designated commanding officer of the beach defenses.

The 4th Marine Regiment, which had arrived from Shanghai only a month earlier, had been considerably reinforced since the start of the war. The 766 marines who had escaped from China had been organized into a two-battalion regiment in which each battalion consisted of only one machine gun company and two rifle companies. The companies, moreover, had only two of their platoons. When war came, the regiment had absorbed the Marine detachment of the Olongapo naval station and had organized a third platoon in the rifle companies as well as two additional companies from other Marine detachments in the Islands. On reaching Corregidor the regiment gained enough men to form a 3d Battalion by absorbing the marines who had formerly been stationed at Cavite. The strength of the regiment (less detachments) now totaled 66 officers and 1,365 enlisted men, substantially the same strength it had at the end of the campaign. It carried with it when it moved to Corregidor a 6-month supply of rations for 2,000 men, more than ten units of fire for all weapons, a two-year supply of clothing, and sufficient medicine and equipment for a 100-bed hospital.

The arrival of the marines filled a serious gap in Corregidor's defenses. There had never been enough men on the island to man the large seacoast guns, the antiaircraft defenses, and the beaches as well. Before the war barbed wire had stretched along those beaches which offered possible landing sites, and pillboxes had been erected deep in the ravines leading to Topside and Middleside. But, as Colonel Howard observed in his initial reconnaissance, much remained to be done to guard against an enemy landing.

When Howard assumed command of Corregidor's beach defense the island was already organized into three sectors, and he deployed his regiment accordingly. In the East Sector, which stretched from the tip of the tail to the narrow neck and included Malinta Tunnel, he placed his 1st Battalion. The 3d Battalion took over responsibility for the area to the west, the Middle Sector, which included most of the barracks and installations on Topside and Middleside. The western end of the island was designated the West Sector and its defense assigned to the 2d Battalion. In reserve Howard kept the headquarters and service company.

As soon as the marines reached their assigned positions at the end of December they began to improve existing defenses and to prepare new ones. Some work had already been done in the West and Middle Sectors, but, except for a final defense line on the east side of Malinta Hill, there were no defenses east of Malinta Tunnel. The marines turned to with vigor and in the next three months laid miles of barbed wire- twenty-one miles of wire were laid in the East Sector alone-planted land mines, dug tank traps, trenches, and tunnels, cleared fields of fire, built gun emplacements, set up interior and switch positions, and established final defense lines in each sector.

 

 

 

 �2005 Corregidor Historic Society - all rights reserved

 

 

PRODUCT PLACEMENT DURING WWII

 

Received from Tom Begala, 6 September 2021:

The instructor in the photo is June Bela Begala; most called him JB, I think. he is featured in the second image, which is one of two photos of him taken by a photographer for Camel cigarettes - they were photos sent out with the last material off of Corregidor - when his mother saw them in an Ohio store window ad, she realized that he was still alive (at that point in time). After a trip to Cabanatuan, and being chained to the belly of a Jap transport, he later was working in a Mitsubishi copper mine when the 1st bomb went off in Hiroshima. He retired after 22 yrs in USMC as CWO-3. There is more to the story (before this & after), but thought I�d pass on this info, anyway.

 He had tried swimming (with a couple others using a palm tree) from Bataan to Corregidor (didn�t want to surrender with the rest) but was caught by a PT boat in the middle of the channel & almost shot as they though he was a Jap infiltrator - they picked him up & completed their mission in Manila harbor before taking him to Corregidor. Interestingly, he re-met the PT boar capt in NH VA med center when he was there for an appointment several years before he passed (at 97).  On Bataan, he was rear guard, blowing up bridges & also ran a message to Manila & came back with response - he also did many jungle patrols (with a Philippine (igarodi ?) & a full-blooded Apache).

 best regards,
-Tom Begala

(PS: his grandson (Joe Bela Begala) is an Annapolis Marine Major (reserves now, presently in Germany) & an excellent engineer. :)

(PPS: He smoked Camels until one day he decided to quit completely & almost always drank Hills-Brothers Coffee (another Bataan thing).)