1. Military

Corregidor Island Philippines Tour

https://smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/philippines-corregidor-island-tour/

more. http://asian.goodnewseverybody.com/filipino.military.html

Corregidor Island Philippines Tour Part 2
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.637499102931632.1073741840.443035202378024&type=3

Corregidor Island Philippines Tour Part 1
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.550020631679480.144673.443035202378024&type=3

https://goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/neutral-perspective-spanish-others-colonialism-in-the-philippines-was-good-and-bad/
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Battle of the Coral Sea and Corregidor: When America’s worst defeat gave way to victory<br />
Walter R. Borneman<br />
<br />
By Walter R. Borneman Published May 04, 2017 <br /> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/04/battle-coral-sea-and-corregidor-when-america-s-worst-defeatgave-way-to-victory.html">http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/04/battle-coral-sea-and-corregidor-when-america-s-worst-defeatgave-way-to-victory.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
On May 6, 1942, in the early months of World War II, the American flag was hauled down on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines. The surrender marked the end to five months of bitter fighting during which invading Japanese forces trapped American and Filipino troops on Bataan. The horrors of the Bataan Death March still resonate three-quarters of a century later, but literally hours after Corregidor’s surrender, Americans fought another battle that gave hope that the war could be won.<br />
<br />
America’s military presence in the Philippines was always controversial. Having acquired the islands during the Spanish-American War, the United States haltingly steered the country toward independence during the 1930s even as it considered its military bases around Manila essential to blunting Japanese expansionism in Southeast Asia. General Douglas MacArthur, commander of American forces in the Far East, formed a Filipino volunteer army to defend the entire archipelago and counted on B-17 bombers to form the backbone of his offshore defenses.<br />
<br />
Things began to go awry early on the morning of December 8—Manila time—when MacArthur awoke to news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A cascading chain of events resulted in half of MacArthur’s air force being destroyed on the ground. Multiple Japanese landings throughout the islands subsequently overwhelmed Filipino defense forces.<br />
<br />
As the Japanese tightened their grip on Bataan, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave Corregidor and proceed to Australia, ostensibly to take command of a relief expedition. His return to the Philippines would take years, but MacArthur’s dramatic escape by PT-boat propelled him into legend as the hero the American public desperately needed during the uncertain early months of the war.<br />
<br />
Back in the Philippines, there was no hero worship. Faced with starvation, forces on Bataan surrendered early in April. Corregidor hung on until May 6. Where did this disastrous defeat leave America and its allies? As MacArthur hunkered down in Australia and mourned the fall of Corregidor, two aircraft carriers of the US Navy sailed into the Coral Sea to counter an invasion aimed at Port Moresby on New Guinea that threatened Australia itself.<br />
<br />
Confusion reined on both sides. Japanese aircraft mistook an oiler and accompanying destroyer for a carrier and a cruiser and pummeled them. American pilots searching for Japanese carriers stumbled onto the invasion force instead. The opposing carriers finally engaged each other directly with their aircraft—the first major battle fought without surface ships seeing one another.<br />
<br />
When the smoke cleared from the Coral Sea, the American carrier Lexington was on the bottom, but naval aviators had sunk one Japanese carrier and damaged another in return. The Americans and their Australian allies sustained heavier losses, but strategically dealt the first setback to Japan’s advances and blunted its drive to cut Australia’s lifeline to the West Coast.<br />
<br />
At the time it was premature to characterize the results of the Battle of the Coral Sea as a victory. Little appeared in the headlines to counter the negative news of Corregidor. But the Battle of the Coral Sea, coming within forty-eight hours of the fall of Corregidor, in retrospect demonstrated that while the war was far from won, it could be won. The battle marked a turning point in the Pacific war.<br />
<br />
Seventy-five years later, no one should ever count America out. Fortunes can change in an instant. The margin of victory was slight, but against the tragedies of Bataan and Corregidor, the resolve shown at Coral Sea is proof that America’s will to win is a powerful thing.<br />
<br />
Historian Walter R. Borneman is the author of "MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific" just published by Little, Brown.
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Battle of the Coral Sea and Corregidor: When America’s worst defeat gave way to victory
Walter R. Borneman

By Walter R. Borneman Published May 04, 2017
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/04/battle-coral-sea-and-corregidor-when-america-s-worst-defeatgave-way-to-victory.html



On May 6, 1942, in the early months of World War II, the American flag was hauled down on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines. The surrender marked the end to five months of bitter fighting during which invading Japanese forces trapped American and Filipino troops on Bataan. The horrors of the Bataan Death March still resonate three-quarters of a century later, but literally hours after Corregidor’s surrender, Americans fought another battle that gave hope that the war could be won.

America’s military presence in the Philippines was always controversial. Having acquired the islands during the Spanish-American War, the United States haltingly steered the country toward independence during the 1930s even as it considered its military bases around Manila essential to blunting Japanese expansionism in Southeast Asia. General Douglas MacArthur, commander of American forces in the Far East, formed a Filipino volunteer army to defend the entire archipelago and counted on B-17 bombers to form the backbone of his offshore defenses.

Things began to go awry early on the morning of December 8—Manila time—when MacArthur awoke to news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A cascading chain of events resulted in half of MacArthur’s air force being destroyed on the ground. Multiple Japanese landings throughout the islands subsequently overwhelmed Filipino defense forces.

As the Japanese tightened their grip on Bataan, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave Corregidor and proceed to Australia, ostensibly to take command of a relief expedition. His return to the Philippines would take years, but MacArthur’s dramatic escape by PT-boat propelled him into legend as the hero the American public desperately needed during the uncertain early months of the war.

Back in the Philippines, there was no hero worship. Faced with starvation, forces on Bataan surrendered early in April. Corregidor hung on until May 6. Where did this disastrous defeat leave America and its allies? As MacArthur hunkered down in Australia and mourned the fall of Corregidor, two aircraft carriers of the US Navy sailed into the Coral Sea to counter an invasion aimed at Port Moresby on New Guinea that threatened Australia itself.

Confusion reined on both sides. Japanese aircraft mistook an oiler and accompanying destroyer for a carrier and a cruiser and pummeled them. American pilots searching for Japanese carriers stumbled onto the invasion force instead. The opposing carriers finally engaged each other directly with their aircraft—the first major battle fought without surface ships seeing one another.

When the smoke cleared from the Coral Sea, the American carrier Lexington was on the bottom, but naval aviators had sunk one Japanese carrier and damaged another in return. The Americans and their Australian allies sustained heavier losses, but strategically dealt the first setback to Japan’s advances and blunted its drive to cut Australia’s lifeline to the West Coast.

At the time it was premature to characterize the results of the Battle of the Coral Sea as a victory. Little appeared in the headlines to counter the negative news of Corregidor. But the Battle of the Coral Sea, coming within forty-eight hours of the fall of Corregidor, in retrospect demonstrated that while the war was far from won, it could be won. The battle marked a turning point in the Pacific war.

Seventy-five years later, no one should ever count America out. Fortunes can change in an instant. The margin of victory was slight, but against the tragedies of Bataan and Corregidor, the resolve shown at Coral Sea is proof that America’s will to win is a powerful thing.

Historian Walter R. Borneman is the author of "MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific" just published by Little, Brown.

  • Battle of the Coral Sea and Corregidor: When America’s worst defeat gave way to victory<br />
Walter R. Borneman<br />
<br />
By Walter R. Borneman Published May 04, 2017 <br /> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/04/battle-coral-sea-and-corregidor-when-america-s-worst-defeatgave-way-to-victory.html">http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/04/battle-coral-sea-and-corregidor-when-america-s-worst-defeatgave-way-to-victory.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
On May 6, 1942, in the early months of World War II, the American flag was hauled down on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines. The surrender marked the end to five months of bitter fighting during which invading Japanese forces trapped American and Filipino troops on Bataan. The horrors of the Bataan Death March still resonate three-quarters of a century later, but literally hours after Corregidor’s surrender, Americans fought another battle that gave hope that the war could be won.<br />
<br />
America’s military presence in the Philippines was always controversial. Having acquired the islands during the Spanish-American War, the United States haltingly steered the country toward independence during the 1930s even as it considered its military bases around Manila essential to blunting Japanese expansionism in Southeast Asia. General Douglas MacArthur, commander of American forces in the Far East, formed a Filipino volunteer army to defend the entire archipelago and counted on B-17 bombers to form the backbone of his offshore defenses.<br />
<br />
Things began to go awry early on the morning of December 8—Manila time—when MacArthur awoke to news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A cascading chain of events resulted in half of MacArthur’s air force being destroyed on the ground. Multiple Japanese landings throughout the islands subsequently overwhelmed Filipino defense forces.<br />
<br />
As the Japanese tightened their grip on Bataan, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave Corregidor and proceed to Australia, ostensibly to take command of a relief expedition. His return to the Philippines would take years, but MacArthur’s dramatic escape by PT-boat propelled him into legend as the hero the American public desperately needed during the uncertain early months of the war.<br />
<br />
Back in the Philippines, there was no hero worship. Faced with starvation, forces on Bataan surrendered early in April. Corregidor hung on until May 6. Where did this disastrous defeat leave America and its allies? As MacArthur hunkered down in Australia and mourned the fall of Corregidor, two aircraft carriers of the US Navy sailed into the Coral Sea to counter an invasion aimed at Port Moresby on New Guinea that threatened Australia itself.<br />
<br />
Confusion reined on both sides. Japanese aircraft mistook an oiler and accompanying destroyer for a carrier and a cruiser and pummeled them. American pilots searching for Japanese carriers stumbled onto the invasion force instead. The opposing carriers finally engaged each other directly with their aircraft—the first major battle fought without surface ships seeing one another.<br />
<br />
When the smoke cleared from the Coral Sea, the American carrier Lexington was on the bottom, but naval aviators had sunk one Japanese carrier and damaged another in return. The Americans and their Australian allies sustained heavier losses, but strategically dealt the first setback to Japan’s advances and blunted its drive to cut Australia’s lifeline to the West Coast.<br />
<br />
At the time it was premature to characterize the results of the Battle of the Coral Sea as a victory. Little appeared in the headlines to counter the negative news of Corregidor. But the Battle of the Coral Sea, coming within forty-eight hours of the fall of Corregidor, in retrospect demonstrated that while the war was far from won, it could be won. The battle marked a turning point in the Pacific war.<br />
<br />
Seventy-five years later, no one should ever count America out. Fortunes can change in an instant. The margin of victory was slight, but against the tragedies of Bataan and Corregidor, the resolve shown at Coral Sea is proof that America’s will to win is a powerful thing.<br />
<br />
Historian Walter R. Borneman is the author of "MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific" just published by Little, Brown.
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  • Naoetsu reunion One.mov <br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/KeaFjk4NaSo">http://youtu.be/KeaFjk4NaSo</a><br />
<br />
Books:<br />
<br />
Hell's Heroes<br />
by Roger Maynard <br /> <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780730445944/hells-heroes">http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780730445944/hells-heroes</a><br />
The forgotten story of the worst POW camp in Japan 'I think I was very near death that night.' HELL'S HEROES is the story of the prisoner-of-war camp that never was - so dubbed by one old soldier because the atrocities that occurred there went largely unreported at the time. But while the Burma-Thailand railway, the Bataan death march and events at Changi became synonymous with Japanese brutality, the experiences of those imprisoned in camps like the infamous 4-B provided a measure of horror to match some of the world's most notorious war crimes. In his gripping history of the men of Camp 4-B, Roger Maynard draws on the diaries and memories of those who survived. Their recollections demonstrate a strength and inner determination that seem impossible to comprehend today. How could these blokes endure such physical deprivation and discomfort for so long? What happens to men when death is all around them? How do they keep hope alive? <br />
<br />
<br />
Children<br />
<br />
Compassion, shining through the cruelty of war<br />
Japanese boy saved the life of his grandfather, a WW II vet<br />
Caitlin Gibson / The Washington Post /<br />
Published Apr 9, 2011 at 05:00AM<br /> <a href="http://www.bendbulletin.com/csp/mediapool/sites/BendBulletin/News/story.csp?cid=1405477&sid=497&fid=151">http://www.bendbulletin.com/csp/mediapool/sites/BendBulletin/News/story.csp?cid=1405477&sid=497&fid=151</a><br />
"...A few months ago, the grandson of one of the survivors traveled to Japan with an old photograph in his hand: a torn, grainy picture of a Japanese boy. For Tim Ruse, now 28, and for the Japanese people who greeted him, the photo offered a way to pluck from a dark chapter of history one act of compassion. It was a photo of the child who helped save his grandfather’s life. Now they just had to find him.<br />
<br />
The image was one of two photographs that Carl Ruse clutched in his hands when he boarded the USS Rescue in September 1945. He stripped the filthy clothes from his emaciated frame and threw his makeshift crutches into the sea. He left everything behind except those two pictures: the first of himself when he arrived at the prison camp — his cheeks hollow, his gaze hard and haunted — and the second of the boy...."<br />
...Ruse wanted to believe he had found the boy, though he knew it was impossible to be certain. Still, there was finally a name: Fumio Nishiwaki...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Mutsuhiro Watanabe a.k.a. the Bird<br /> <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/unbroken/mutsuhiro-watanabe-the-bird.html">http://www.shmoop.com/unbroken/mutsuhiro-watanabe-the-bird.html</a><br />
 "He did enjoy hurting POWs. […] He was satisfying his sexual desire by hurting them" (4.23.29), and "He was absolutely the most sadistic man I ever met" (4.23.31)<br />
<br />
When CBS news uncovers Watanabe's story, he agrees to be interviewed. He seems apologetic in one interview, saying that "war is a crime against humanity" (Epilogue.50), but he doesn't believe he is guilty of any wrongdoing, and in fact says that "beating and kicking were unavoidable" (Epilogue.70) in certain situations. Yikes.<br />
<br />
To atone for whatever wrong he thinks he did, he offers to let any of the men he hurt come to Japan and hit him. Hmm, maybe his sexual tastes have changed in old age. No one takes him up on the offer, though, and when Louie tries to meet the Bird, the Bird refuses to meet him. He's flown the coop for good, and no one sees him again.<br />
<br />
Memorial<br />
<br />
Australian War Memorial - AJRP<br /> <a href="http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/ajrp2.nsf/trans/379CD64FF4E67F3ACA256D57000625C0?openDocument">http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/ajrp2.nsf/trans/379CD64FF4E67F3ACA256D57000625C0?openDocument</a><br />
<br />
Good News Peace<br /> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/639527079395556/?ref=br_tf">https://www.facebook.com/groups/639527079395556/?ref=br_tf</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe Interview 渡辺 睦裕(ワタナベ・ムツヒロ) <br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/c3-S3_j9j-8">http://youtu.be/c3-S3_j9j-8</a><br />
<br />
Prisoners of War of the Japanese 1939-1945<br /> <a href="http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/prisoners-of-war-of-the-japanese-1939-1945">http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/prisoners-of-war-of-the-japanese-1939-1945</a><br />
During the World War 2, the Japanese Armed Forces captured nearly 140,000 Allied military personnel (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States) in the Southeast Asia and Pacific areas. They were forced to engage in the hard labour of constructing railways, roads, airfields, etc. to be used by the Japanese Armed Forces in the occupied areas. About 36,000 were transported to the Japanese Mainland to supplement the shortage of the work force, and compelled to work at the coal mines, mines, shipyards, munitions factories, etc. By the time the war was over, a total of more than 30,000 POWs had died from starvation, diseases, and mistreatment within and outside of the Japanese Mainland. <br />
<br />
Good News Japan<br /> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/468929606499068/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/468929606499068/</a>
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