THE BIG PICTURE - BATTLE OF MANILA

the United States Army presents the big picture an official report produced for the Armed Forces and the American people when you're in the army you get a chance to do a lot of traveling see a lot of sites and meet all kinds of interesting people for me some of the most interesting have been right here in our own country my name's sergeant Stewart queen host for the big picture a good percentage of ideas for the big picture is taken right out of our history books other stories feature current army activities of interest to the nation but once in a while something unusual comes along tying in the present with the past and we come up with a warm human interest story in my work I get around the country quite a bit it's part of my job and whenever I'm in this particular vicinity along this stretch of road I stopped by a quaint little restaurant called Charlie's Harbor in because it was here at Charlie's this story happened some months ago was right here I discovered for myself that truth can be stranger than fiction it was the kind of incident you read about in a novel or see in a grade B movie but if anyone told you it was a true story well nobody believed it in a thousand years and I wouldn't blame them but this story really did happen I know because I was there when it did and I saw it all anything wrong officer this your car yeah why that's why so help me officer I didn't even know it was there let me see your license look officer I've only been here about 10 minutes yeah I know I was just making an important phone call don't I know you from somewhere now look here officer I'm an honest law-abiding citizen I've never been in trouble with the police or anybody else why I never even hey okay forget it you ever been in the service yeah but what's that got to do with it nevermind that just answer the question when did you serve world war two in the army where what part of the world a Pacific say what is this an inquisition all right everybody take it easy we're in the Pacific it started in Australia then New Guinea Britain the Admiralty's and let's see the philippines the philippines where in the philippines must be lady in Luzon aha luzerne we hit lingayen gulf then right down to Manila you were in the Battle of Manila from the kick off till the final whistle santo tomas mean anything to you I wrote the back of the first tank in I thought I recognized you me from where from Santo Tomas you see I was one of the civilian prisoners there on Manila that you and your outfit liberated no kidding yeah well if this don't beat well if this ap look you got a minute sure let me buy you a cup of coffee yeah sure look whoever thought fish whatever believe it I know that after all these is here was a veteran of World War two and here was a man he helped liberate both meeting for the first time since that historic battle of manila in 1945 peg will you get us a couple of cups of coffee two cups of coffee as I said before a true story stranger than fiction taking place right before my eyes man you've added a few pounds here and there foods better over here and the wife's a good cook say don't I remember your wife at Santa mus kind of frail that's right after you arrived we had to take her out on a stretcher how is she now couldn't be better matter of fact we got four kids oh yeah that's great my wife and I often talk about those days we never did get much of a chance to thank you and your outfit for a liberating us I'll never forget the first day you arrived at Santo Tomas how'd your alpha get there so soon well it was all part of the stepped-up liberation of the Philippines as I recall you really want to hear about it yeah I sure would well as I recall the GIS had taken lady and landed on mindoro the island directly south of Luzon so my outfit and a lot of others were ready for the main event we hit the beach on lingayen gulf 100 miles north of Manila we thought we'd be moving into the teeth of enemy resistance we were wrong that was to come later we pushed on down the valley toward Manila cleaning out little pockets of resistance where we found them on ahead of us Air Force and Navy planes were softening up the way we move cautiously forward wondering what had happened to the enemy and for a while there it looked like we were tourists having ourselves a real ball along the way one of the GIS picked up an innocent looking piece of paper which turned out to be an enemy field order it contained information of enemy intentions and plans useful intelligence Filipino guerillas brought in reports that American and Allied prisoners were in the city so we stepped up the pace in the outskirts of Manila finally established contact with the enemy but we soon lost it we realized the enemy was withdrawing to the heart of the city at grace park where the monument stands snipers took potshots Addison slowed down our advance somewhat and the only satisfaction i recall here was that my outfit was the first to enter Manila proper a fierce battle suddenly developed in of all places Rizal stadium Vanilla's baseball park the enemy had dug himself in under the stands and we slugged it out with him with no cover rizal stadium a baseball park no game today then we raced into the University of Santo Tomas and liberated along with you hundreds of American and allied in Chinese it had been three years since this pathetic group of prisoners had seen a free American everyone in Santa Tomas was fortunate that there had been US Army and Navy nurses who had been captured on Corregidor to care for you during those dark years after we arrived wires were sent home by the internees and many replies came back in a few hours affecting some noticeably but for everyone the liberation was a big celebration party kids who'd had no toys for three years now had giant sized ones and all of us were discussing how wonderful it was that the nightmare was over at last but the nightmare wasn't all over we saw internees who'd survived the three years as prisoners killed by the incoming fire I'll never forget evacuating the seriously ill and injured through the falling shells finally the shelling of Santo Tomas led up the Japanese needed their artillery more urgently elsewhere then the internees were evacuated to the state's most of them my plane but I guess you'd remember more about that evacuation than I would I'll never forget it if you'd been a few more days rescuing us I don't think my wife could have held out but she made it okay thanks to you and your buddies that's the way the ball bounces you never know when he can help the next guy yeah i remember when i left lose on the Battle of Manila seem to be getting worse yeah it sure was what were the excitement of going back to the States after being a prisoner for three years I never did get the dope straight on how the final stages of the battle went it's it's all kind of fuzzy in my mind all I know is we won but it was quite a scrap wasn't it it was rough yeah I know how'd you make up after I left well we got ourselves a good taste of street fighting being jungle GIS up till then we found we had a lot to learn about fighting in city streets and big office buildings but we learn fast combat is one thing for sure a good teacher how'd you come out Oh me personally okay but not so for some of the others the deeper we got into Manila the more fanatical enemy resistance became I couldn't escape and they wouldn't surrender so they fought till they died most of them anyway our casualties were heavy and the more we moved into the heart of the city the more the enemy took advantage of the huge government buildings for defensive positions some of the buildings had to be ripped apart stone by stone before we could continue our advance the enemy defensive plan soon became apparent he was fighting delaying actions to allow his troops to cross the pacy River which cuts Manila East and West right through the middle we pressed forward as fast as we could through fantastic tangles of broken buildings after each enemy unit crossed the Passaic River Bridge was destroyed leaving one less for us when we reached the river our troops found out the hard way just about all there is to know about Street to Street building to building combat and the more we learn the faster we move denying the enemy the advantage of a leisurely withdrawal and his men who couldn't pull back dug in and fought till they died many Filipinos braved frontline fire handing out cigars or candy to show their gratitude to us the enemy had orders from the High Command hold manila in a fighting that followed flames raged everywhere detonating barrels and drums of gasoline and motor oil added to the inferno TI's kept up the initiative carrying the attack forward for the deceit river any of the firefighting equipment which had survived the street fighting was used but it was hardly worth the effort a fire gained momentum burning city blocks at a time consuming everything in its path that would burn and it seemed to reach its peak of destruction at night bottle nilla had reached the decisive phase we were north the Passaic River and the enemy was solved and moving into the famed old walled city called intramural we kept the enemy pinned down fire while we brought up troops to prepare for a boat crossing advocacy several times we saw General MacArthur supervising the direction of battle at one moment he gazed out across Manila harbour at an island or rock called Corregidor no doubt he recalled the desperation of December 1941 and then in May 1942 the enemy swarmed over Corregidor no doubt to the general had many times pondered the fate of his troops who were outnumbered out of ammunition food and medical supplies and thus compelled to surrender the tide of Hope had reached its lowest ebb for Americans when General Jonathan Wainwright sat at the surrender table and the American flag was lowered on Corregidor there was one thing General MacArthur wanted more information about the American and Philippine prisoners taken on Corregidor and elsewhere in the Philippines these were the troops the general had in mind when he returned to the Philippines the general had all of those depressing memories of 1942 to consider while he directed the battle in Manila three years later during February 1945 an isolated pocket of resistance developed in Vanilla's city prison called beloved Filipinos brought in word that American prisoners many captured on Corregidor were being held in phila vision we stepped up the attack and raced toward the city prison inside beloved we found all beyond their years but possessing an undaunted spirit they lined up for chow with a three-year appetite these were young fighting men on Corregidor now they were no longer young but they were alive while the battle raged on preparations were made for an aerial invasion of oregano Oh Manila could not be secure without Corregidor in our hands a parachute jump would be coordinated with an amphibious landing on the island fortress Air Force and Navy pondered the rock while the troop carriers flew in the parachutists and when the drop zone on Corregidor was lined up there was nothing left to do but jump supplies were dropped right where they were needed while the parachutists sees their objectives on top of the island amphibious task force hit the beaches another airdrop of supplies or at first everything was delivered by parachute although Corregidor was lightly defended every enemy soldier there fought a fierce battle while the island fighting continued battle in Manila was going into the final phases all of the enemy forces alive had withdrawn into the walled city south of the secret now they literally had their backs to the wall they couldn't escape that wouldn't surrender so we got set for the final round roughly was to concentrate our artillery mortar and small arms fire on the enemy while we crossed the pacy wire communications were strung to assure the closest coordination of overhead fire finally when everything was all set the order was given to commence firing we lined up assault boats and amphibious tracked vehicles and then made the first river crossing attempt we had no way of knowing how successful our concentration of fire had been on the enemy in the walled city but we found that they apparently were effective since the only incoming fire on us with small arms soon we were pouring across the river getting established on the south side and moving toward the closest wall of the walled city all of us knew by now that the toughest barrier of Manila was directly ahead a 14-foot thick wall of intramurals while we approached our objective our artillery and tracked vehicles gave us direct fire support between the river and the walled city was an open park aeri and as we moved over it we realized that this was the first open spot we had crossed since the Battle of Manila had begun the closer we got to the walled city the more we saw the effectiveness of our artillery and mortar fire and softening up the enemy positions filipinos willingly pointed out prepared defensive positions of the enemy finally we reached the outside wall it took a great deal of probing to find the proper place to make the assault for breaching this fortress was no easy matter regardless of how much artillery we had poured into it but we've finally cracked it once inside intramurals the city within the walls a battle was suddenly over only the rubble and chaos of combat remained and among the debris we found human wreckage many of the Filipinos who had lived in intramuros were dead those who somehow miraculously survived started a great mass exodus across the river to go anywhere anywhere away from the horrors of the walled city although the fighting in Manila was over there still was one more military action to be taken a general had said he would return he had now with a flag raising ceremony on Corregidor the Battle of Manila was officially over that's how the Battle of Manila went was a rough one gruesome at times and I thank my lucky stars I got out of it okay some of my best friends didn't maybe you'll understand how indebted I feel towards them yeah I guess so look you gotta come out to the house and see the wife I can't tell you how happy she'll be to meet you again why did you come out some night for dinner soon whatever you say good looks like we got some unfinished business here yeah it sure does well there's one way to finish it but good that's just the way it happened and a good finish it was for a true story in an important sense the incident has meaning for all of us for it brings into sharp focus the great sacrifices and courage which typify our armed forces it is this type of unsung action that gives depth and meaning and purpose to military history and to a country's heritage oh yes one more thing I'm sure about it'll be a long time before I can forget Charlies place it will always remind me of a certain careless motorist and a good-natured forgiving calm the big picture is an official report for the Armed Forces and the American people produced by the army pictorial centers presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this