Detroit evening times., 1945-10-21
BY GEN. JONATHAN NJ. WAINWRIGHT
cop,usbs Is,s. sy E'ss F,Star

Rspr7aucuon In
OEN. GEORGE c. MARSHALL'S message of
T encouragement to Cowegdor came at time
when we all needed a lift, not only because
of the shelling and the outlook, but because of a
grim bit of symbolism which thousands of us had
witnessed shortly after o'clock that afternoon
of April Is 1912, when our flag became casualty
for few minutes.
The flag flew from 1OO-foot pole at the
highest point of the Rock. During an intense bonn
bardment from one of the enemy's 240 nm. bat
teries on the tip of Bataan shell fragment struck
the pole and cut the halyard
Slowly terribly, the flag began to descend
down the pole if drawn by some ghostly and
prophetic hand, and most of those crouching in
their batteries and holes looked at it as if it were
the very sign of our doom.
But as the flag came down the pole and
neared the ground three men raced to the bot
tom of the shaft in the midst of the furious
shelling. They were Capt. Brewster G. Gallup,
T Sgt. Ezra Smith and Philippine civilian
named HonOrio Punongbaven.
simultaneously they gathered in armfuls of
the falling flag just before it touched the
ground Working fast and bravely, they re-
paired the broken haIyard, raised the flag again
and ran back to shelter.
l gave all of them the Silver Star, for what
they had done was not only courageous but helped
the battered Rocks morale beyond any words
WE WERE still in there pitching, the flag
seemed to say when it regained the top Of the
pole and stood out brisky in the breeze from
the bay.
The pace of the sheing and bombing now
quickened. If possible the shelling was worse than
the -HHeeHtested aerial attacks. The Smelling from
Cavite with the long-range 105-mm. guns could, by
itself, do no great damage to our installations in
the bay But their 240-mm howitzers firing from
Bataan were something else again. They made
our lives hell.
The Bataan Peninsula is covered with dense,
tropical growth whose trees often stand more
than 100 feet high. Enemy batteries under those
trees employed smokeless powder and were there
fore almost impossible for our range-finders to
locate.
On the other hand, Jap observation posts
atop the 4,7O0fOOt Maryeles Mountains near
the tip of Bataan, as well as Jap observation
balloons and proving aircraft, made il easy for
their gunners to correct their fire on our bat
teres and other critical targets
1t was a disheartenngly unequal artillery
fight, made more unequal by the fact that our
batteries were under almost perpetual attack by
enemy bombers. Some of the Jap planes were
dropping bombs as heavy as ton, certainly no
aid to careful craftsmanship on our part.
The shelling never really stopped during the
entire 27-day Battle of corregdor. Nigh brought
no surcease. That is simple sentence which in
no way can convey the terror and the morale
rotting which the artillery batteries visited
upon us
NO PLACE on The Rock was suitable haven
except the inner recesses of Malinta Tunnel,
and we could not fight back from the tunnel, nor
could it hold more than fraction of our men and
women.
-Four of their artillery hits stand out espe-
cially in my memory Of these helpless days and
nights.
""" One shell hit marine company mess while
the men were lined up for the meager suppers
lyi1vy ood linz = of roll