Evening star., 1945-10-24

Some of the silver coins re,
Gen. Wainwright dropped SIS,
the money from the Japs.
large number of smaller boats for
troop transport. I have nothing on
which to base an estimate of present
hostile strength of troops on Luzon
However, the enemy in taking Cebu
and Panay used about 10000 men
in each operation. He is now en-
gagged in attack on Mindanao.
estimate that at least 10000 men
are engaged on Mindanao.
UNLESS japanese troops have
been withdrawn from the Philip
pines I believe sufficient force is
left on Luzon to undertake an op-
Grafton against Corregidor =
In my opinion the enemy is capable
of making an assault on Corregidor
at any time.
Success or failure of such assault
viii depend entirely on the stead
! fastness of beach defense troops.
Considering the present level of
morale, I estimate that we have
something less than an even chance
to beat off an assault. have given
you in accordance with your re-
quest very frank and honest opin-
ion of the situation as I see it,"
1t was time to see to the burning
or disposal of code books and secret
papers, just as I had earlier found
means of doing away with, or hiding,
Corregidor's wealth.
Still Had Silver Stocks.
The gold reserves of the Philip
pines had been sent to the United
States for safe keeping early in the
war But considerable wealth found
its way only as far as The Rock.
While the Japs framed their assault
on the island still had RESPONSE
lbility for SAC, ,o00, 600 in Philippine
currency and $15.000,000 in highly
negotiable silver.
Gen. Douglas Macarthur instruct
ed me to take down the serial num-
bers of the banknotes, radio the list
to the Treasury Department in
Washington and cut up and burn
the money. This we did. When the
job was done and the serial num-
bers had been radioed, we destroyed
our lists of banknote numbers, as
did the Honolulu relaying station
which moved the numbers on to
Washington. These numbers even-
tually reappeared on fresh Philip
pine bills, after the liberation-bills
which had the word Victory spelled
out across their backs.
The silver coins, valued atgSI5,-
900 900, presented much more of
problem. Under the direction of
Gen. Moore they were sealed in
wooden boxes, and for three success
sive nights these boxes were towed
out into the bay, on barges, and
dropped at a carefully surveyed
point between Corregidor and Fort
Hughes. The. location of the silver,
on such notations as we were forced
to make, was radioed to Washington,
and all documents pertaining there
to were burned.
This was not the last I was to
hear of the silver. During the early
days of my captivity I was con-
stantly questioned about it. The
Japs knew we, had hid it in the
bay, but they never found out
where it rested.
Ready to Invade.
1t took no mental giant to figure.
out, by May S, 1912, that the enemy
was ready to invade Corregidor. For
further confirmation of my beliefs /
had a courageous Philippine Army
officer posted in Manila with a clam
|destine radio. At great risk to his
life, he reported to me that the
japanese 4th Division had finished
extensive landing maneuvers on the
snoreS OF CaV1te, near our old naval
base.
He further revealed to me that
the Japs were constructing thou
sands of bamboo ladders at a place
near Manila, to be used in scaling
the more forbidding cliffs of Cor
regidor.
Just at dusk on one of our final
evenings on The Rock an observer
posted on the highest point on Cor
regidor reported a fotilla of small
self-propelled boats attempting to
slip into Mariveles Bay on the tip
of Bataan. They were just clear
ing Langaskagayan Point when
spotted.
Our remaining 3-inch guns and
our single big mortar opened fire
and dispersed the flotilla.
The moon was another tipoff. The
four Jap attacks on my left rear
flank on Bataan had come during
the rise of previous full moons.
which Illuminated the battlefields.
Troops Are Alerted.
The moon approached full scale
ourlng the early days of May, and
we knew that itwas our best sign of
the coming attack. Our troops along
the beaches and in the ruined and
haif-ruined batteries were alerted.
At 8 o'clock on the night of May 5
Jap batteries on Bataan opened up
furlously and shelled our entire
north shore, tremendous concen-
tration OF fire which caused many
casualties and drove many defend
ers inland to cover.
I watched the Smelling from a
point near the east end of Malinta
Tunnel, where I had small OBJ
servation post, and then returned to
my own quarters IN the Tunnel,
wondering and waiting.
And it was there, at l1.i5 on that
night of May 2. 1912, that / got
the word that had to come. The