CORREGIDOR WAS NOT ALL THAT GOOD

Station CAST in its final prewar location in the Philippines was located at Fort Mills, Corregidor Island. The site decision was based on perfectly good reasoning and past experience. Several attempts had been made to establish CAST. At first the desired security was only furnished by remote spots that were all but self defeating. Lack of communication and life support resulted in these stations being referred to as the worst duty in the outfit.

Los Banos, Olongapo, Mariveles, and Cavite had little to offer. It had been reported the Cavite site offered the best receiving location through the use of the Naval Communication Station rhombic antenna system. However, industrial noise from the Cavite Navy Yard was always a problem. I have been told there were  101 electrical devices including cooling fans that added to that uproar. Not one of the early sites could be considered defensible.

Efforts would be made to locate within the so called ultimate defense zone. Luzon Island had no such area in spite of military installations which early on must have been recognized as indefensible. Accordingly, a survey was conducted of the fortified islands across the entrance to Manila Bay.

There are four such islands, each has a native name but were best known as Fort Mills, Hughes, Drum and Frank, from north to south in that order. Across the main or North Manila bay entrance is situated Bataan, and Mariveles Bay. Above the bay rises Mount Mariveles and a small fresh-water river flows to the bay.

A cute little native legend is told concerning the four islands and Mt. Mariveles.

A young man from a northern province fell in love with a nun named Mariveles. Of course the edicts of their church would prevent marriage and a life together, so they decided on flight. Captured on Bataan they were placed in custody, judged and sentenced. Corregidor was the judge. Fort Hughes the animal which had pulled their cart, Fort Frank the vehicle and Fort Drum was the unhappy youth. Poor Mariveles was sentenced to the Bataan peninsula and to this day the contour of Mount Mariveles is that of a reclining female figure.

Corregidor has the most land area and the largest installation of Coast Artillery armament. Shaped like a giant tadpole composed of volcanic rock the seaward end rises several hundred feet. An abrupt descent with a tail extending three and one half miles eastward into Manila Bay has a greatest width of one mile.

The elevated end of the tadpole is roughly divided into three tiers. Topside, Middleside, stockade level and the Bottomside. In the lower level may be found an old native barrio, docks, refrigeration plant, power house and the entrance to Malinta Tunnel complex. An electric street car line had its start in the tunnel and served the other areas. Most of the big gun batteries and mortars were located Topside and down toward Middleside; a total of 56 guns and mortars located in 23 batteries. All were mounted in open gun pits which afforded little protection. Fort Mills had no permanently emplaced anti-aircraft guns. Five batteries of general purpose three-inch 50 caliber guns, with the old star trail, were mounted in hastily dug pits. A few machine guns quickly proved their ineffectiveness against high flying aircraft.

If an enemy played by the rules and attacked from the sea without aircraft, Fort Mills could have done pretty well in a World War I sort of way.

Half way out the tadpole tail was a small protuberance known as Monkey Point. Above the point to the north a slight rise provided the dig for Tunnel AFIRM. It was not a large area and several two story duplexes and a small antenna farm took up all the space provided. The tunnel was a great improvement over Malinta and its laterals, but eight years of tunnel boring should have taught them something.

If you remember your history of the knights of old, their castles were constructed with an inner defense area known as the Keep. Corregidor was to be our Keep in Asia. This then comprised the sought after ultimate defense area.

The Army maintained complete sovereignty over the rock and it must have taken much political maneuvering to locate within their sacred environs. How it was accomplished we shall never know, just possibly a last resort for NPO SIXTEENTH Naval District Communications may have had something to do with it.

In spite of the most remote location on the rock, our security was breached by the title U.S. Navy Intercept Tunnel appearing on all of the geographical maps.

The Monkey Point installation had been prepared for peace time occupancy. Housing for a limited station force with or without families was probably ample based on past requirements. Domestic help was always available and very necessary. The Army screened and provided this help according to their professional ability; cook, head-houseboy, etc. At least one well informed houseboy (fast operator) was essential.

Our location was just long of easy walking distance to make use of any of the Army facilities, exchange or commissary. Of recreational services the less said the better, except for a decrepit movie house in the Bottomside, we had none. In spite of our shore side location there were no beaches -- Corregidor was largely too steep.

The city of Manila afforded everything, but was a 26 mile boat ride each way. A day trip over and back was feasible but left only enough time to cover an emergency, pay office, Navy Yard, etc. Corregidor island had all of the disadvantages of a ship at anchor in a remote roadstead. So near, yet so far; consequently 48 to 72 hours would be required for good liberty.

The Monkey Point station was fortunate in a way, since preparations for war had already commenced. It was pretty rough on the Cavite side. Station CAST personnel had their families sent home somewhat coincidental with the move to the rock. Many of these people had just about completed their duty tour at Cavite and were due for rotation to the states. The needs of expansion had to be met and as always, not enough trained personnel available.

The station had the largest onboard count in the history of our organization. A count of names appearing on the Assistant Officer-in-Charge Defense and Battle Station's Plan revealed 87 officers and enlisted men, all OP-20 trained. Many had been hastily trained and sent to the field. About this time the first of the V3 Reserve Force put in its appearance, mobilized the year before in the President's Federal muster. For a prewar setup this was big and....the quarters just about accommodated.

No general mess was established. Each group occupying quarters by rank and rate sort of set up their own mess facilities.

 The CPO (Chief Petty Officer) group occupied and filled to overflowing one of the duplexes. Their mess was presided over by a mess treasurer, house boy, cook and several cleaner-uppers.

The menu was dependent on whatever was available. The Army was never to be considered great in feeding of its troops.

Since Corregidor provided nothing in its own right, there was even a great lack of water. A few brackish wells were pumped and the water stored in tanks augmented by a water barge which brought water to add into the system daily. A condition described as Montezuma's Revenge frequently was experienced as the barge picked up its water from a jungle river. Food supplies generally were contracted through the Quartermaster Detachment in Manila and ferried out to the rock. When supplies arrived a smart number one boy could do pretty well. Except for dry stores all else was drawn from the cold stores in the Bottomside. Anything in the fresh vegetable line had to be drawn quickly since it equally vanished quickly. Some of the dry stores and canned stuff looked like leftovers from World War I. Butter, for example, had to be lashed down before it crawled off the table, milk was not all that sweet.

We were fortunate to have a part Chinese cook. He could make the best of anything, that is, when he could get a balky distillate stove to light off.

The mess treasurer had to withstand a good deal of gripes and some snide remarks about the menu provided. Palatable or not the closer you could stay  to the native diet was the guide line.

During my time as mess treasurer I would send the head boy to Manila on a shopping trip at least once a week. He knew all the right answers and from the Washington Grocery brought back all delights anyone could ask for. This practice would raise the mess bill from perhaps $35 a month to $50 and there were howls of anguish about that. Consider however that the amount covered all but the beer mess. The appreciation of some members sort of eased the pain and Blub Blanchard was all smiles when we produced his beloved prawns. Of course I knew that the head boy was feathering his own nest but "cum-shaw" is a way of life over the 180th.

Then came PEARL and nothing would ever be the same again.

Indeed it was the end of the line and so like a Nova in a far distant sky, Corregidor flared up in its brief moment of glory and collapsed into a black hole.