Anniversary of the fall of Corregidor - 6 May 1942: Herbert Markland's Story.

Corregidor has always been one of those places that has fascinated me. Since I was able to visit the island for the first time more than 15 years ago, it has held a special place in my heart and therefore in my collecting interests.

I'm fortunate to have a couple of groups related to the defence of Corregidor in my collection. One of these is to Herbert F. Markland, a Sergeant in the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment who was one of the defenders and spent three years as a prisoner of the Japanese.

The medals I have for him are pictured above (from left to right):

1. Bronze Star (engraved Herbert F. Markland)
2. Purple Heart
3. Meritorious Service Medal
4. Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
5. Good Conduct Medal
6. Prisoner of War Medal
7. National Defense Medal
8. World War II Victory Medal
9. American Defense Service Medal
10. American Campaign Medal
11. Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Battle Stars
12. Philippines - Defense Medal
13. Philippines - Liberation Medal (not pictured)

This is his story.

Herbert MARKLAND was born in Kansas in1920 and had received four years of high school education by the time he enlisted as a Private in the US Army on 27 November 1940. He gave his occupation as embalmer or undertaker.

Being posted to the Coast Artillery Corps, he was sent to the Philippines as part of A Battery, 60^th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti-Aircraft), who were responsible for anti-aircraft defences around Manila and Subic Bays as well as the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula. The 60^th CA was equipped with 3-inch guns (an older model with a vertical range of 8,200m), 37mm guns, .50 calibre machine guns and 60-inch (1.5m) Sperry searchlights. The motto of the 60^th CA was Coelis Imperamus – “We Rule the Heavens”.

Life on Corregidor

The most important part of Manila’s defences was Fort Mills, the island of Corregidor: the motto of the Coast Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays was Corregidor Omnia Vigilat – “Corregidor Guards All”. It was to Fort Mills that Herbert MARKLAND was sent for duty.

MARKLAND gave extensive accounts in the Coastal Defense Study Group Journal on his time on Corregidor: 

          “Life on Corregidor during peacetime was really nice. We worked hard,   but also had ample time to ourselves. The weather was good, and the  facilities for soldier recreation fine. The ‘mile-long barracks’ was really nice. It seemed like it was over 1,000ft long, but not quite as modern as Ft. Sill’s barracks had been. The shower room and latrines were all on the ground floor. Each battery had its own mess on the ground floor. Everything except the barracks proper was on the ground floor; orderly room, supply room, barber shop, and day room. Regimental HQ was in the center of the barracks. The regimental HQ also had an indoor gym, library, shoe shop and other things around the perimeter of the upstairs HQ. The PX and guardhouse were on the ground floor. This guardhouse was used to manage the guard mounts that were maintained for the  batteries and other important structures on the island.

 Reveille was at about 6:00 in the morning, and you would fall out for Physical Fitness Training (PT). Then we went for showers and on to   breakfast. First formation was called at about 8:00 or so, and we would march down to the battery for drill. We came back for lunch, and then in the afternoon back to the battery for maintenance or details. We never saw the officers in the afternoon. They were either at the golf course, conducting ‘officer type’ training, or doing office work. The afternoon belonged to Corporals. We knocked off at about 3:00 and got ready for retreat at either 4:30 or 5:00. One morning per week we would do close order drill on the parade ground with the band. We would wear our brown (almost green) flannel shirts for that, or cotton khaki. We always conducted the drill with fixed bayonets. That was a tradition we held  from the old foot artillery of the Mexican War. Using fixed bayonets during the drill was a special privilege for only the Coast Artillery Corps, especially this regiment.

 The Regimental Parade was on Thursday afternoons. We marched in columns of fours and then formed battalion squares with three battalions. Each battery was a line in the battalion square. We had our own  regimental march, ‘The March Lorraine’, a French march. These parades were really something and I really enjoyed them. When the General (Harbor Defense Commander) reviewed the troops, a waltz was usually  played. ‘In the Good Old Summertime’ was the most commonly played. The other regiments held parades on separate days. The 60^th Coast Artillery (AA) paraded on Tuesday, and the two Philippine Scout regiments paraded on Mondays and Fridays.

Friday mornings were devoted to the infantry tactics and maneuvers. We concentrated on squad and platoon level drills for the protection of our beaches and the gun position proper. Individual techniques were also practiced, such as hand-to-hand combat and bayonet drills. Saturday mornings we had inspections. They were very rigid, and they usually ended at about 11:00 in the morning. Soldiers and junior NCOs were generally free for the rest of the weekend unless you had guard or detail.

Life was really good and pleasant, though a bit monotonous. The food was good. Topside itself was very comfortable and at night sleep was pleasant, unlike the rest of the Philippines garrisons. There were no mosquitoes since we were so high. The barracks was on the highest point of the island and you could see out to sea both ways. Middleside also had no mosquitoes. Unfortunately, Bottomside had mosquitoes where the barrio and Malinta Tunnel were.”

'Topside': the 'Mile Long Barracks' today.

The Pacific War begins

Japanese forces attacked the Philippines at Cavite Naval Station and Clark Air Force Base the same day they attacked Pearl Harbour (7 December, 1941). The US Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE), under the command of General Douglas MACARTHUR, were unprepared for Japanese attack, and despite the optimism of the lower ranks, the officers were aware that reinforcements from the US would not be forthcoming and their task was only to delay the Japanese forces.

Japanese forces, under the command of Lieutenant General Masaharu HOMMA, planned a 50-day operation to take the Philippines and forces landed on Luzon on 10 December. As the Japanese advanced, the USAFFE forces fell back to Manila Bay, specifically the Bataan Peninsula and the island fortress of Corregidor.

The Philippine Coast Artillery Command was the responsibility of Major General George F. MOORE and was made up of three coast artillery regiments and one anti-aircraft unit (59^th, 91^st (PS), 92^nd (PS) and 60^th (AA) respectively). Total strength was around 5,700 men. There were an additional 600 Philippine Army troops which were hastily organized into the 1^st and 2^nd Coast Artillery Regiments (PA). These last two operated under the Philippine Scouts units.

Forces on Corregidor were divided into four commands:

1.     Seaward Artillery Fire – Colonel Paul D. BUNKER

2.     Anti-Aircraft Fire – Colonel Theodore M. CHASE
3.     Beach Defense – Captain Kenneth M. HOEFFEL, USN
4.     Inshore Patrol – Captain Kenneth M. HOEFFEL, USN

The other forts in Manila Bay had their own fire commands under the Philippine Harbor Defense Command. These were: Fort Frank (200 men), Fort Hughes (800 men) and the “Concrete Battleship” Fort Drum (200 men).

On Christmas Eve, Subic Bay and Fort Wint were abandoned and personnel transferred to Corregidor or other duties, followed by survivors from Cavite Naval Station and US Army personnel from Manila itself. MACARTHUR and the Philippine Commonwealth Government under President Manuel L. QUEZON established their headquarters in Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor on Christmas Day.

Specific attacks on Corregidor began on 29 December, and intense aerial bombardment commenced for eight straight days starting on 31 December. Unfortunately for MARKLAND and his comrades, the aircraft could fly above the maximum range of their AA rounds. Buildings on Corregidor were extensively damaged, but most guns remained in operation after some light repairs. Soon, Japanese artillery began firing from Cavite but the USAFFE fire was ineffective due to the guns and ammunition in the forts being designed for attacks against armoured warships and not land targets, and also the well hidden locations of the Japanese guns.

Fearing for MACARTHUR’s safety, President ROOSEVELT ordered him to leave Corregidor and he did so along with his family, President QUEZON and his staff on 10 March, 1942 by PT boat under the cover of darkness. 

Renewed bombing commenced on 24 March as Japanese forces closed on Bataan. At times this bombing was extremely intense, but overall was sporadic in nature. On 8 April, units began transferring from Bataan to Corregidor. MARKLAND describes that night: 

          “We fired until the Bataan line fell back to where we were masked by our own casemate hill. This was well after midnight. Battery Smith fired  longer than we did; I guess they had a better field of fire for that shoot. That was also the first time I remember Battery Smith firing. Up until that time, Hearn and Geary had done most of them major-caliber firing from Corregidor.”

The Siege of Corregidor

With the fall of Bataan, the population of Corregidor swelled to over 15,000, all of whom were housed underground to escape the bombardment. Malinta Tunnel housed all the command elements of the US Army and the Philippine Government as well as the “1,000-bed hospital”.

Inside the Malinta Tunnel today. On the right is one of the hospital laterals.

According to MARKLAND:

          "Our battery had its own mess section and fixed pretty good chow. Chow varied from company to company, depending on the skill of the mess sergeant and the resourcefulness of the executive officer. We set up a field kitchen on a concrete platform behind the battery. We moved the coal stoves down from the barracks building so we could save gas. The fuel was critical as it was used in the mess section’s field stoves. Long  before Bataan fell, we improvised a water main for the kitchen. The mess section cooked right up to the end, and even a few meals beyond that time. We were lucky our mess section was not hit. We never lacked for good food. The kitchen was in a low spot, and was fairly well protected. We stacked old powder cans full of sand around the site. They were stacked about two or three deep and stopped most of the fragments.”

Once Bataan fell, the Japanese were able to concentrate artillery fire onto Corregidor and the remaining forts in Manila Bay. This consisted of some 116 artillery pieces arranged in 18 batteries in both Bataan and Cavite.

Shelling and bombing intensified on 1 May as the Japanese prepared an assault on the island. In just five hours on 2 May, 3,200 240mm and other calibres fell near Batteries Cheney and Geary, with one shell hitting Geary’s magazine at about 1030, completely destroying it. The following three days saw even more intense bombardment.

By 5 May, most guns on the island were out of commission and the Japanese began their landings. By 0100 on 6 May the Japanese had taken Water Tank Hill north of Kindley Field, and by 1000 were able to lank three tanks. Once they had approached an area near Manilta Tunnel and its thousands of inhabitants, General WAINWRIGHT, commander of the USAFFE decided to issue orders to destroy weapons and surrender. 

According to MARKLAND, this was the saddest day of his life:

          “We all agreed that the Japs should never be able to make ‘good ole Hearn’ fire again, so as a group we decided to really destroy the gun by firing the drill shell backwards using the largest powder charge we had. The drill shell was too big for the bore, so we knew that would really damage the gun. Sergeant Touberville went down to the gun well and   unscrewed the recoil oil plug and drained the oil out. I gave my last ‘Home, RAM!’ when we rammed in the drill shell. Once the gun was loaded, I took my long lanyard and ran it back over the casemate hill. Then we all went inside the casemate and closed the doors. We had no idea how this would affect the gun, but we know it would hurt it badly. Once we were inside, I gave the lanyard a good hard yank! What a noise the gun made when fired! I went back out and there she was, ruined. We were right, we had really damaged the gun. The firing piece smashed the breech down against the well, cracked a trunnion, and broke the elevation segment. To top it off, that drill round probably stripped the bore, for it sure was not in the gun!”

Battery Hearn in 1941

Battery Hearn today showing battle damage. The entrance to the magazine is behind.

MARKLAND becomes a prisoner of the Japanese.

MARKLAND was captured when the Corregidor fell to the Japanese on 6 May, 1942. He was held at Cabanatuan before being taken to the Japanese mainland along with 1,034 other prisoners aboard the hell ship Noto Maru. 

The Noto Maru left Manila on 15 August, 1944, made a brief stopover in Takao, Taiwan, and arrived at Moji, Japan. The prisoners were trained northwards with batches being disembarked along the way, and MARKLAND was among 500 prisoners who arrived at Hanawa on 9 September, 1944. At Hanawa was Sendai #6 Divisional Camp (formerly Tokyo #8) and MARKLAND was PoW number H-178.

Sendai #6, Hanawa, was a slave labour camp for the Mitsubishi Company’s Osarizawa Copper Mine, one of the oldest mines in Japan with a continuous working history of over 1,300 years.  

The mine had long been considered uneconomical by previous owners as it required heavy labour to extract any remaining ore, but operations resumed as soon as a ready supply of slave labour became available despite the antiquated equipment and absence of any safety personnel. The mine continued to be used after the war and was finally closed in 1978, becoming a theme park named “Osarizawa Mine Land”. 

A description of the Hanawa camp is given by survivor James T. MURPHY:

            "The size of the prison compound was approximately 200’ x 350’. A twelve foot high wooden fence surrounded the installation. Inside the enclosure were three barracks each approximately 20’x100’. The barracks were connected by covered passageways that were open on each side. The barracks had 30’ ceilings housing double deck sleeping platforms lining each side. Straw mats were placed on these platforms to form bed-like facilities. The floors were packed dirt. Tables and benches were installed in the aisle of the barracks and provided eating facilities. The meals were brought in from the galley in buckets and served by fellow POWs.
Other buildings within the compound included three squat type latrines over cement pits; two rectangular buildings for an infirmary and medical  personnel; an L shaped building for the galley and bath; and a Japanese  headquarters building."

Despite the extremely harsh conditions (including constant cold all year and deep snow drifts in winter), heavy labour and the poor health of the prisoners, deaths at Sendai #6, Hanawa were surprisingly few, with perhaps only 10 deaths recorded including one after liberation and another officially recorded as dying at another camp.

MARKLAND was liberated from Sendai #6 and taken to Tokyo POW Camp (Shinjuku) Tokyo Bay Area 35-140 on 16 September, 1945 for repatriation.

After the war he re-enlisted as a Sergeant on 8 February, 1946 for the Hawaiian Department. He retired from the army as a Command Sergeant Major.

The fall of Corregidor, 6 May 1942. Lest we forget.