Entrances to some of the magazine rooms.




Shell hole through the roof.








Notice the rectangular hole in the floor against the wall.




A 700 lb. Deck Piercing shell sits on the bottom.

As you would expect, the section of magazine facing the explosion is the most damaged. The outside wall is half missing and interior walls are cracked, broken or crooked. 

The blast itself was obviously very strong but I think a contributing factor to the complete destruction of the centre magazine is the fact that no rebar was used in the walls during construction. There was nothing to hold broken pieces of concrete together. In the following photos, notice no rebar to be seen.

There is one exception that can be seen in a few places. The tops of the walls had some rebar but only where it attached to the ceiling.
 

The force of the blast was from left to right.
Part of the left wall has been blown inwards and lies in pieces against the right side wall.




The blast (from left to right) has pushed the right side wall further to the right. 




More broken wall is ahead. Look at the twisted piece of concrete on the left side wall.
Also, the right side wall has been pushed horizontally a few inches.




Close-up of the left side wall. It looks like it was swung on a pivot.
These walls are not a solid slab of concrete.




View of the right-side wall.




Does anybody know what a mortar battery “ZONE” is?




Note the Zone writing on this shell.




One of the storage rooms. What is that in the left-side wall?

 

The massive explosion on May 2nd, 1942 sealed men inside one of the rooms of Magazine #1. Early the next morning at “0545- Engineers during the previous night had drilled through a concrete wall of Battery Geary to get at entrapped personnel. Water and food was passed through the hole to four entombed men at 0100. At this time the hole was being enlarged”. (The Moore Report).

 

A closer look at the same wall.



See the two horizontal drill bit marks in the concrete at the side of the hole. The rest of the hole is roughly chipped away.




A view of the hole from the opposite side of the wall. There are two horizontal drill bit marks here too.
The hole is plenty big enough for a man to crawl through.








The storage room furthest from the blast is fully intact.




 

It would not be Corregidor without a bit of a mystery so here is one for you folks. Some walls have graffiti which in itself is not unusual but this particular one caught my eye. Scratched into the concrete is: I WAZ HIR / MAY 21 1942 / GALOS ROGER

Look at the date. It is two weeks AFTER Corregidor surrendered.
Was this person a POW brought here on a work detail? Was he military or civilian? Did he survive the war?

 

A view of the empty area between the two mortar pits. Absolutely nothing remains of Magazine #2.




The main road entrance into Batteries Geary and Crockett was formerly the trolley line.
To the left you can see the damaged Plotting Room.
Opposite the Plotting Room is the area of Building #103 that was discussed in Part 1 of this report.




Looking towards mortar Pit ‘B’ and Magazine #3.




A 12-inch deck piercing shell is on display in front of the battery. 

Today, no Pit ‘B’ mortar still sits on its original carriage however all four tubes remain nearby.




Pit ‘B’ with Magazine #3 in the background.



 

A M1908 mortar of Pit ‘B’. This is one of two mortars that are wedged under the roof of Magazine #3.




Side view.





The same mortar seen from under the roof that it helps to support.
 

For some reason, Magazine #3 sustained much more damage than #1. The outside wall and the interior ones were destroyed to the extent that a large section of roof collapsed. Today, the only thing keeping the roof off the ground are two Pit ‘B’ mortars which were blown under it. 

The part of Magazine #3 furthest from the explosion is relatively intact.




Note the extra rooms with windows at the end of the magazine toward the left.
Most batteries are symmetrical but similar rooms are not on the other end.
I do not know what they were used for.




Damage to Magazine #3.








The exterior wall that took the full force of the explosion was to the far right.
Since interior walls are nearly gone, the roof collapsed onto two mortars that ended up under here.
Large pieces of the walls are scattered all around. Again, no rebar was used to strengthen the walls.




The blast, from right to left, pushed this wall off its base.
Some rebar in the roof that was embedded in the top part of the wall was ripped out.




Here is a photo of a shell room showing steel rails being used to transport the heavy shells. 




In this photo the blast was from left to right.
The concrete wall was pushed toward the right jamming the rail between the wall and ceiling.
Apparently scrappers decided that piece of metal was not worth the effort to remove it.




Steel rail jammed between a wall and the ceiling.




A wider view of the same wall and plus numerous other chunks of walls scattered around.








The only metal door remaining at Battery Geary.




Here is the second Pit ‘B’ mortar holding up the roof.




Another view of this mortar.




More broken walls piled up in the corner.




Most people do not know this item is hiding inside the remains of Magazine #3.
It is a 12-inch 700 lb. High Explosive shell.




Another view of the shell.




Shell specs.


The rooms on the end of Magazine #3 all show evidence of intense fires.




This sign above a door is impossible to read anymore. Top right says “ROOM”.




















Back outside across from Magazine #3, you can see Battery Crockett down the road. Look in the ditch on the left.




Here is the third mortar from Pit ‘B’.




Another view of this mortar.



The final Pit ‘B’ mortar lies up on the western ridge between Batteries Geary and Crockett. 




View of the mortar up on the ridge. Scrappers have helped themselves to pieces of this one.









 

Al McGrew was a machine gunner in Battery Hartford. His position was located directly in front of Gun #1 of Battery Ramsay. The following text is his account of events when Battery Geary exploded.

“Catastrophe struck on May 2, 1942! Some heavy shells began to fall somewhere above us, probably Topside. I had decided to open a can of hash, and as I sat down on the sand bags at the edge of my pit preparing to eat, an incredible explosion shook the island. At first I thought it was another earthquake, but one of the men standing nearby yelled out, “look up there!” Up the hill above us to the west, a huge pall of smoke and dust rose high in the air. It was later that we learned Battery Geary had blown up!

One huge piece of the Geary parapet was blown down to our Battery area! I did not see it flying through the air, but I certainly felt the impact when it struck the ground! The great block hit just beside the road about thirty yards below my gun position”. (Chapter 9, of “Amid th’ encircling Gloom” by Al McGrew with Paul Whitman, Corregidor.Org Publishers)

From Battery Geary to the chunk of concrete that landed near Al McGrew is a distance of 640 metres (700 yds).

 

Here is the chunk of Battery Geary concrete mentioned above. It is as tall as I am.








Just past Magazine #3, this is the view as you approach Battery Crockett. Gun #2 is straight ahead.




From the same spot looking back to Battery Geary.

A few final views of Battery Geary.

 

 

By now the day tour crowd is back on the ferry and thinking they saw everything that Corregidor has to offer. That’s ok, I had a great time and never saw another soul all day. This island is truly unique.

 

John Moffitt

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