A day trip to Corregidor Island was organised by the Rotary
Club of Balintawag in Quezon City. Two Rotarians, Club President Tony and new
member Richard accompanied us. Corregidor Island is located in the Bay of
Manila, 26 miles from Manila and has strategic locality. In the Second World
War the island changed hands several times between the Americans and Japanese
and some significant fighting took place for control. We were shown many of the
sites on the island which included bombed out barracks, gun and battery
locations, war cemetery sites and tunnels. President Quezon and his family were
evacuated here along with the Gold reserve of The Philippines in WW2. The team
laid a wreath to all of the war dead at the main Pacific War Memorial which is
located here. Many lives were lost by each side during the Second World War
defending and attacking this tiny island because of its strategic importance
and we were told that because Japanese troops were held up by 5 months instead
of 5 weeks as predicted by the Japanese in taking this island, that the
invasion of Australia was halted because of this. I found the day trip to this
little island very enjoyable and the fast boat to the island a nice experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment