Corregidor Tour - Bottomside Landmarks

Corregidor Island is 6 kms long and 2.4 kms on its widest side. It has a tadpole shape with the bulbous head having an elevated large flat surface and is called the Topside facing the South China Sea while the tail end of the island is pointing towards the Manila Bay.

The Bottomside of the island is towards the tail and there is a small plateau in between the Topside and the Bottomside areas of the island which is referred to as the Middleside.

We disembarked through the Bottomside of the island and as soon as we got on board our Tranvia buses we were immediately brought to our first destination - Douglas MacArthur Park and Lorcha Dock





General Douglas MacArthur Park - in honor of General Mac Arthur ,this park has a bronze statue of General Douglas MacArthur (the commander of the USAFFE - United States Armed Forces in the Far East ) and it has this famous line written in its base " I shall return." The promise he made to the Filipino and American people he left in the Philippines when he left the country for Australia upon the orders of US President Roosevelt.






Adjacent to the General Douglas Mac Arthur Park is the Lorcha Dock













Lorcha Dock - it was at Lorcha Dock where General MacArthur boarded the PT (Torpedo) Boat 41 on March 11, 1942 for Bogo Dock in Misamis Oriental where he was to ride an aircraft that will bring him to Australia.






This is the ruins of the Lorcha Dock used by General MacArthur. You can see at my back the rusted railway track used for the transportation of personnel, ordnance and ammunition directly to the Malinta Tunnel.




The mountainous region facing the Dock is the Bataan Peninsula



General Jonathan M Wainwright Memorial - a small plaza in honor of General Wainwright. General Wainwright is the deputy officer of General Douglas MacArthur. He took over the command of the Filipino and American Forces in the Philippines when General MacArthur left the country for Australia. Because of the valiant stand of Corregidor against the Japanese, the Filipino and American soldiers prevented Japan from invading Australia and New Zealand. On May 6, 1942 almost a month after the Fall of Bataan, with no relief in sight coming from the United States, General Wainwright surrendered to the Japanese soldier to prevent further bloodshed. Corregidor was the last to fight the Japanese invaders in the Philippines.

General Wainwright was taken as a prisoner of war and was imprisoned in one of the concentration camps in Manila. He was given the harshest treatments by the Japanese because of his position.

After the war in 1945, he thought he will be court marshalled in the US because he surrendered to the Japanese but he was given a hero's welcome by his country.

My other Corregidor's stories and their links:

* Our Corregidor Trip

* Corregidor's Batteries and Barracks