Greetings from the Philippines

Hi All,

My name is Drew, so my member name is quite original, don't you think?

I'm 52 and have been interested in WWII all my life, or at least as far back as I can remember. My dad served in the 185 RCT, 40th Division and landed on Luzon the first day of the landings in Lingayen Gulf on 9 Jan 45. My mom's brother landed with the 25th Division on Luzon on 11 Jan 45.

I'm originally from Alabama and have lived in Asia for 20+ years. I currently find myself between jobs so instead of continuing to live in Hong Kong I've come to the Philippines (where I lived previously and where my Filipino wife is in nursing school) to ride my bicycle and explore some of the country. My living here is not related to my dad having been here during the war, I was sent to Asia by an employer in '89.

My dad passed away in '66, when I was 7 years old, so I never really talked to him about the war. Over the years I pieced together some information from documents my mom still has and at one point tried contacting a couple of different agencies but kept getting passed on to another department and finally gave up. I was trying to do this from Asia and didn't have much success. In hindsight I should have made a visit to the National Archives.

Even though my dad served in the Pacific, as a kid I was more interested in the European Theater and that's where I did most of my reading. It was only after moving to Asia that I became interested in the Pacific. However, after I moved to the Philippines (in the 90s) to work I never found/made the time to do much exploring.

I'm currently living in Angeles City, home of the former Clark AFB, and a great location for exploring both the events of '41/42 and '45.

As mentioned above, I'm in the Philippines to ride my bicycle and I'm planning to explore, to the extent I can put information together, the following by bike:

> the fall of Luzon (or at least Pangasinan/Tarlac/Pampanga/Bataan) in '41/42

> the Bataan Death March

> the Lingayen Gulf landings to retake Luzon in '45 (which my dad and my mom's brother participated in)

> the POW camp at Cabanatuan and the raid by the 6th Ranger battalion and Filipino guerrillas to liberate the camp in '45

> and the area where my uncle Cecil (25th Div) was wounded (though that's just going to be a very approximate based on a couple of discussions he and had a few years ago, unfortunately he passed away in Dec '07).

One place Uncle Cecil mentioned to me is Dalton Pass,  named after General James Dalton 2nd, asst commanding general of the 25th Div., who was killed by a sniper.

I originally found this forum looking for information on where General Dalton is buried. He was originally buried in "USAFE Cemetery #1, Santa Barbara, Luzon", but to my knowledge the only cemetery in the Philippines that the US government maintains is in Manila, so I'm interested in finding out if General Dalton's remains were re-interred in either Manila or repatriated to the US. If he's interred the Philippines I would like to visit his grave. I'll visit the Manila cemetery to determine if he is buried there.

I also have a budding interest in WWI, until a couple of years ago I had done very little reading on The Great War, but I accompanied an English friend on a bicycle tour of the the Western Front from Dunkerque to the Somme. Preparing for that trip I developed a keen interest in WWI and I'm currently reading a book on the British Unknown Soldier. If you interested, here's a journal my friend made of our cycling trip:http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/gewf. My friend is more into to cycling than history, so the journal doesn't have much historical content, but it was a very, very interesting trip.

Sorry about the length of this message, among my friends I'm known as someone that can't tell a short story

Cheers,
Drew Childers

 

Hi and welcome Drew! Have fun and i´m sure there is a lot to find to the topics you mentioned above!

 

Hi Drew. Great introduction you wrote.

I too have a great interest in the battles of the PI.

When I was last in the PI, I visited Corregidore and the US cemetery. That was a decade ago.

 

Hi, Drew.

Dalton is indeed buried at ABMC Manila.



His body was originally buried at Santa Barbara.



This is Signal Corps' photo 265832, funeral procession for BG Dalton, 18 May 1945.

By the way, you know Bert, don't you?


Dave

 

Thanks All for the Welcome!

syscom3, I visited Corregidor in '92. I spent the night at the lodge there and could feel something, not sure what but had similar feelings when visiting Gettysburg. Visited Manila cemetery last year, plan to revisit it to see General Dalton's grave.

Dave, the picture you posted was in the forum posted I initially found which lead me to this forum. I was aware he was initially buried in Santa Barbara, which is near the area of the landings in Pangasinan.

If by Bert, you mean Bert Bank, yes I'm aware of him, I can remember as a kid my mom talking about Mr. Bank being in the Death March. I also just finished re-reading (read it years ago when first published) Ghost Soldiers as research for my trip. My uncle Cecil, mentioned in my initial post, lived in Tuscaloosa where Mr. Bank is from. I'm from Greensboro, 40 miles south of Tuscaloosa. Everyone in my area, or at least those of my mom's generation and many of mine, know Mr. Bank was at Bataan. I'm also a graduate of University of Alabama, same as Mr. Bank.

Thanks Guys,
Drew

 

Welcome to the forum, Drew. I like your member name. It makes it easier to decide how to address you.

I have a great interest in the PTO and, more specifically, the Philippines as I have been researching the service of my great uncle. He served with the 129th IR, 37th ID and also landed at Lingayen on January 9, 1945. The 129th took part in capturing Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg where he was KIA on January 30, 1945.

I hope you will share the fruits of your research with us. I look forward to seeing your future posts. I'll try to remember look through some of the info I've come across to see if it might be of interest to you.

Oh, and thanks for the great intro. As long as it's a good story, it's okay to be long.

 

Thanks Tom, my friends laugh at me because when ever I tell a story I usually included a lot of background, which I think is necessary to understand the context, and sometimes get off track on tangents before the story is every finished.

I'll keep an eye out for the 127th/39th. I'm staying very near Clark and will look for markers, etc. for the 127th.

Where is your great uncle buried? If he's in Manila, I'll be glad to visit the cemetery and take pictures or assist you in any way.

Drew

 

Drew,

Here is a photo of Dalton's funeral you may not have seen.




By Bert, I actually meant Bert C. of the ABMC.


Dave

 

Thanks Dave, sorry for misunderstanding who "Bert" is. I don't know Bert of the ABMC, who is he?

Bert Bank I mentioned is one of the POW's that Ghost Soldiers focuses on.

 

Welcome to the forum friend, and that was a well written initial post there. Hope you enjoy your time here with us, and remember to live long and post often.

 

Hello there Drew and welcome to the forum

 

I totally relate. I have the same problem sometimes.

Make that the 129th Regiment and the 37th Division. That would be great if you would do that, provided it's not any trouble. I doubt I'll ever make it over there, though I would really like to someday. There's a 129th Rgmt thread on the forum in case you're inclined to post photos.

Thank you for that very generous offer, Drew. As I understand it, Glenn was originally buried in one of several US cemeteries that were set up on Luzon during the war. I think that somewhere I have a photo taken of his marker in the Philippines. A year or two later, his remains were returned to the USA and reburied in a hometown cemetery. I've been there a couple times this summer and posted about it under the title, How I Spent My 4th of July. I posted a photo of his white marble marker there if you're interested.

You're a great fellow, Drew, and a fine addition to the forum.

 

Welcome - my grandfather also served in the Philippines during the War. I know he was an MP and a sergeant.

 

Looks like a well spent holiday Tommy.

You're too kind, only following the Golden Rule. When I visited Ypres and The Somme a couple of years ago, it was a pleasure to be able to take photos and video for a couple British friends that lost relatives in WWI. In one case, a friend's mother's great uncle had died at The Somme and no one from the family had ever visited the site and seen his name on the memorial at Pozieres where he was lost (he was among the very large number that were lost in WWI and never found).

 

Steve do you know when your grandfather's unit number? Regiment, Division, etc.

 

hi Drew, nice to have you here. Our Administrator Slipdigit is also from Alabama.

 

I did notice someone with a good size Alabama state flag in his signature, that must have been Slipdigit.

Drew

 

That would be him. His avatar is a firefighter. I believe it is autobiographical.