The spot
chosen for the new camp had been in peacetime a rifle range operated by
the United States Marines. It was located halfway between the towns of
Subic and Olongapo on the shores of beautiful Subic Bay. The sloping
green hills only a short distance inshore gave the camp area a sort of
primeval beauty. The Boat Battalion was camped a short distance away from
the rest of the regiment in a coconut grove which was their pride and joy.
Major Mann had done his work well, and after several days of arguing with
the company commanders he even succeeded in getting the mess halls in one
straight line. The regiment occupied this camp from February through
April, and, since Manila Bay was not yet open, much lighterage work was
done at that base. Here the men also got their first real taste of
Filipino social life, customs, and, of course, liquor. Visits to the
surrounding towns were an almost nightly occurrence. A sure sign that the
Amphibs were out of New Guinea at last came when several of the men
ventured opinions in favor of marrying and settling down in the
Philippines. The stay at Subic Bay was one of the richest periods in the
history of the 592d Regiment. It was from this camp that some of the best
known missions were run. Only years in the Army can develop the humor
with which the boatmen and shore engineers left Subic on the backward
trail to La Paz to bring up the supplies and ammunition that they had so
recently unloaded at that location. The trials and tribulations of the
Boat Battalion with their water taxi service to the ships in the bay,
Captain Charles C. Ferrall's nightmarish beachtower in the form of a
Chinese pagoda, the "No Labanderas in the Area" sign, and the "on pass"
trucks to Manila through Zig-Zag Pass all bring fond memories of old
Rifle-ran Beach.
The
battle for the opening of Manila Bay was now in full swing and on 15
February 1945 the 592d started to contribute its share when the first Task
Group "A", which was composed of Companies A and F with attached
personnel, moved down to Mariveles at the foot of the famous Bataan
peninsula. This group was under the command of Major Henry M. Seipt. The
landing at Mariveles was delayed for a few hours because the Jap shore
batteries managed to drive off the Navy minesweepers. They were soon
silenced by Naval gunfire and the assault continued. Of the six LCMs in
the convoy, five were loaded with 592d equipment and personnel. On
entering the harbor the sixth LSM struck a mine and the resulting
explosion killed over forty men and destroyed much valuable equipment. We
were fortunate once again in that no Amphibs were on that particular LSM.
First Lieutenant Albert Cappelli and his boat wave returning from the
beach rescued many of the survivors. T/4 Joseph R. Crummie, Company B, in
LCM 713, which was one of the boats in Lt Cappelli's wave, pulled
alongside the burning ship and did outstanding rescue work.
When the
boats finally moved into the beach, the approach proved to be so shallow
that the LCMs grounded fifty yards from shore while the LSTs and LSMs were
"beached" at the one hundred yard mark. That gave the shore party a real
unloading job. The 592d message center personnel did fine work in this
operation. The weapons carrier on which their SCR 193 was loaded dropped
into an underwater bomb crater just before it reached the beach soaking
the radio in salt water. Immediately the radio men stripped the radio,
rinsed the parts in fresh water, dried them out, and soon had the station
operating. In spite of this ducking and the fact that the tactical
situation necessitated moving the location of the radio station three
times in the first two days, the station was closed for a minimum length
of time.
On the
morning after the Mariveles landing, Task Group "A" sent twenty-five LCMs
to participate in the assault on Corregidor. Leaving Mariveles early in
the morning they landed parts of the 34th RCT "on the Rock" at 0830. The
value of right living was well shown on this job because the opposition
and obstacles were never tougher. All waves encountered heavy machine gun
fire from the caves along the beach and many hits were scored on our LCMS.
One barge turned up with forty-eight bullet holes in her hull, but only
one below the waterline. T/4 Joseph Kaplan of Richmond Hill, New York, was
shot in the stomach and died the next day. Five other boatmen were wounded
but fortunately all survived.
The Navy
did not know whether or not LSMs could land on Black Beach on Corregidor,
so Colonel Keyes offered to take in the crash boat "Cotuit" (now the
"Sweeney") and find out. 1st Lt Paul C. K. Smith of New York City was at
the helm during the reconnaissance. Criss-cross machine gun and small
arms fire from the beach raked their course, but T/4 Thomas Benedict of
Bay City, Texas, flanked by Colonel Keyes and Lt Colonel Tucker, stood on
the bow casting the leadline and they got in and out again with the
desired information. T/4 Robert Collins of East Hampton, New York, and T/5
Howard B. Calkins of Bangor, Maine, were at their twin fifties during the
run.
The
Shore Party on Corregidor also did a wonderful piece of work. An example
of the beach conditions on Corregidor may be seen from the work of
Sergeant Ira E. Reed, Company F, of Kerns, Virginia. Under the flanking
fire from small arms and machine guns which were located in caves on
either side of the beach. Sergeant Reed was directing his men in their
task of unloading bulk stores and vehicles from the landing craft. They
did not seem to be making much progress, for the heavy water distillation
units and other trailers without prime movers were presenting a
particularly difficult problem.
"If we
only had a bulldozer," he said to himself, "we could get those things off
of there in jig time."
He
looked up and down the beach. All the other dozers seemed to be busy.
Then he spotted one that was apparently idle. He was in luck, but look
where it was - fully exposed to enemy fire and in the middle of a
Minefield where six other vehicles lay in wreckage sat the dozer. Maybe
he could get it out and maybe not. He felt it was worth the try. Picking
his way across the mine-strewn beach, he was subjected to a renewed burst
of enemy fire, but that did not faze him. Reaching the dozer, he climbed
aboard and as rapidly as possible he got it started and withdrew to the
beach. With the help of this equipment the unloading was speeded up and
the landing craft were able to retract a short while later.
As all
waves came into the beach they were riddled with enemy machine gun bullets
from the left flank. The beach itself seemed to be exploding as vehicles
unloading from the LCMs set off land mines buried in the sand. LCM 474 of
the first wave ran into trouble on the beach when the crew could not raise
the ramp. They were having difficulty trying to back out of range when
T/4 Clyde Hyatt, Company A, coxswain of LCM 685 in the second wave spotted
the distressed barge. In spite of the heavy enemy fire, Sergeant Hyatt
moved in and took the disabled boat in tow getting it safely out to the
maintenance barge.
The
trials and tribulations of being an Amphibian were again well illustrated
when the fifth wave hit Black Beach On the approach to the beach the boats
were running parallel to a high rocky cliff which extended out for about
seven hundred yards. LCM 734 was the left flank boat and was an ideal
target for the Jap machine gunners. By the time 734 hit the beach there
were several holes in her hull and some of the infantrymen in the well
deck had been wounded. There were land explosions on the beach as vehicles
coming off the boats hit land mines and blew up. The coxswain of 734
called repeatedly for the vehicles on his boat to unload but neither of
the two jeeps moved. Apparently the driver of the first jeep had been hit
because he could not be found. PFC Robert J. Meheran, Campany A, Hartford,
Connecticut, was still at his post behind the twin fifties, but realizing
that his boat was blocking the narrow beach and endangering lives, he
jumped into the first jeep and drove it off the ramp. Returning to the
ramp he was thrown to the ground and wounded by a terrific explosion
behind him. The driver of the second jeep had hit a land mine. Both
vehicles and the other driver were blown up in the explosion.
T/4 Gerard Cavan, Hq Co
Shore Battalion, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, had charge of the
Communications Section for the Shore Party which landed on Corregidor.
Though under intermittent rifle and automatic weapon fire from well
concealed enemy positions surrounding the small beachhead, the party
immediately opened up in the 610 radio net and stayed in twenty-four hour
contact with Mariveles for the duration of the operation. T/5 Frederick
H. O'Neil, also of Hq Co Shore Battalion, of Binghamton, New York, was
killed by enemy fire on the second day and for thirty-six hours, Sergeant
Cavan operated the radio until another relief operator could be sent over
from Mariveles.
It was
soon after the landings on Corregidor that Lt Colonel Tucker and his
Survey Unit had all their fun. Late in February the unit was proceeding to
Orani to survey the harbor there. About a mile from Corregidor they
picked up a Jap who was floating around on a log. The Jap, upon being
searched, struck T/3 Glenn Cornett, Hq Co Boat Battalion, of Anco,
Kentucky, several jui jitsu blows. Cornett quickly "subdued" the Jap and
the party proceeded.
About
noontime the survey party observed a long canoe-type boat which was trying
to avoid mortar fire from shore. It looked like an enemy barge, so Lt
Colonel Tucker, T/3 Robert E. Rhodes, Company B, of San Francisco,
California, and T/5 John F. Buggie, also of Company B and from St. Joseph,
Michigan, attacked the boat in their LCVP. Five Japs jumped into the sea
but the remaining occupants continued to fire at the oncoming LCVP. These
five were picked up and the battle suddenly ended when the other Japs
destroyed themselves with two hand grenades.
On the
way back to Mariveles this same party found three Japs on a raft off Pilor.
The Japs refused to surrender and, since ammunition was getting a bit low,
the problem was solved by ramming the raft with the LCVP. Only one Jap
rose to the surface - and he did not live long. They next sighted twenty
Japs swimming in the sea about a mile off Corregidor. These Japs were
"rescued" with comparative ease. Colonel Tucker and his party returned to
Mariveles with a total of twenty-six prisoners to show for their day's
work.