Filipinos with M1903s

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  • Rick the Librarian
    Super Moderator
    • Aug 2009
    • 6700

    #1

    Filipinos with M1903s



    A gentleman shared this picture with me on Facebook. He didn't have too many specifics but thought this was possibly a picture of Filipino Scout recruits sometime in the summer of 1941.
    "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
    --C.S. Lewis
  • dkmatthews
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2011
    • 100

    #2
    Thanks, Rick. That's a fascinating glimpse into history.
    Originally posted by P.J. O'Rourke; The Liberty Manifesto
    There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

    Comment

    • Brother_Love
      Junior Member
      • Apr 2012
      • 18

      #3
      Rick,
      Thank you for sharing this, I love WWII history. My Dad was captured on Corregidor shortly after the war started, he was still 17 yrs old. He was not a gun guy but from what he has told me years ago he was holding a 1903 in his hand when they had to surrender. He did not return home until late 45. He weighed 80 lbs when he came back to America.

      Regards, Malcolm
      Last edited by Brother_Love; 05-23-2013, 09:01.

      Comment

      • Rick the Librarian
        Super Moderator
        • Aug 2009
        • 6700

        #4
        Malcolm, do you know what unit he was with on Corregidor? If you hang around here long, you'll find out I am a real "nut" about the Philippines and especially Bataan and Corregidor.
        "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
        --C.S. Lewis

        Comment

        • Brother_Love
          Junior Member
          • Apr 2012
          • 18

          #5
          Rick, I do not know off hand but I will look it up again. I have that info somewhere. I also have all the postcards that the Japanese sent my grandmother telling her how well he was being treated. He was a marine.
          Malcolm

          Originally posted by Rick the Librarian
          Malcolm, do you know what unit he was with on Corregidor? If you hang around here long, you'll find out I am a real "nut" about the Philippines and especially Bataan and Corregidor.

          Comment

          • pmclaine
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2010
            • 2555

            #6
            4th Marines?

            Comment

            • Rick the Librarian
              Super Moderator
              • Aug 2009
              • 6700

              #7
              There were a lot of other units on Corregidor ... the 59th Coast Artillery (operated the seacoast guns), 60th Coast Artillery (anti-aircraft), 91st and 92nd C.A., both Philippine Scouts. The 4th Marines didn't arrive at Corregidor until the outbreak of war.
              "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
              --C.S. Lewis

              Comment

              • ncblksmth1
                Senior Member
                • Feb 2010
                • 322

                #8
                Nice finger groove stocks and polished bolts. I may be wrong but the wood on number one looks very good.

                Comment

                • Viking Guy
                  Senior Member
                  • Sep 2009
                  • 200

                  #9
                  My uncle too, was captured on Corregidor. He survived and like most others returned home a virtual scarecrow. He was a big man for the time, over 6' and weighed less than 100 pounds. I have a newspaper clipping somewhere of him in the VA hospital in Walla Walla, Wa with General Wainwright standing by his bed (Wainwright was from Walla Walla) taken in late '45 or early '46. My uncle passed several years ago but until the late 1960's early '70's he would retreat to the mountains or other remote areas around the 4th of July as the fireworks really got to him. Of course we know that today as PTSD but then it was "Battle Fatique" or "Sheel shock (more of a WWI term but used by my grandma to describe it)" and in many cases both the vet and society just thought one had to get over it. My uncle never talked about his time in captivity....I wish he could but I never asked as my dad would have tanned my hide for asking.

                  Comment

                  • Rick the Librarian
                    Super Moderator
                    • Aug 2009
                    • 6700

                    #10
                    Do you know what unit he belonged? If you have no records, keep in mind you can obtain them through the National Archives.
                    "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
                    --C.S. Lewis

                    Comment

                    • Viking Guy
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2009
                      • 200

                      #11
                      I'm going just from an old memory but I seem to think it was one of the Coastal Artillery units. Not sure which, however. The archives are a great suggestion and I intend to follow up. On another note: Seems I didn't spell "fatigue" quite correctly in my previous post. I'll plead fatique or fatigue or just being tired on that one.

                      Comment

                      • Rick the Librarian
                        Super Moderator
                        • Aug 2009
                        • 6700

                        #12
                        Unless he was Filipino, he would have been with the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment (Harbor Defense - seacoast guns) or the 60th C.A. Regiment (AAA - antiaircraft artillery).
                        "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
                        --C.S. Lewis

                        Comment

                        • Dracster
                          Junior Member
                          • Oct 2009
                          • 6

                          #13
                          A guy my dad served with was a Marine in the Philippines. After the Japs invaded and things went south, he was on a detachment tasked with demolition of supplies. He said it was disgusting the stuff they were leaving behind and blowing up. They would load their vehicles up with as much as they could carry and destroy the rest. They kept this up all the way down Bataan. At some point they were destroying naval stores. The fuel was just dumped in the harbor. A Jap destroyer pulls in, they light the fuel and are credited with sinking the destroyer.

                          With the fall of Bataan, they steal/borrow/take anything that floats and make their way to Corregidor. When the final assault began, they repulsed a first wave but ran out of ammo in the process. So, they went out on the beach, stacked arms and smoked what they knew was going to be the last cigarette for a long time. When the Jap troops landed, they indicated through hand gestures that they were out of ammo and surrendering. After stealing their watches, the Japs moved off the beach.

                          He was liberated from Cabanatuan in 1945. He stayed in the Marines and wintered at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. A few years later, his Silver Star citation from the destroyer incident was declassified. In 1998 he received his Purple Heart from Bataan.

                          Comment

                          • Rick the Librarian
                            Super Moderator
                            • Aug 2009
                            • 6700

                            #14
                            I assume he was one of those rescued in the "Great Raid" on Cabanatuan, performed by the Rangers and Filipino guerrillas?
                            "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
                            --C.S. Lewis

                            Comment

                            • Dracster
                              Junior Member
                              • Oct 2009
                              • 6

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Rick the Librarian
                              I assume he was one of those rescued in the "Great Raid" on Cabanatuan, performed by the Rangers and Filipino guerrillas?
                              Yes. The way he described it is he weasled his way into maintenance on the camp generator since the manual was in German and he knew enough to get by. His #1 goal was to not get shipped to Japan.

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