Fort Mills
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Fort Mills (Corregidor, the Philippines) was the location of US Major General George F. Moore's headquarters for the Philippine Department's Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays. This was one of the locations at which, under the National Defense Act of 1935, coastal artillery training was conducted.
Also known as "the Rock," it was a key bastion of the Allies during the war. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941, the military force under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur carried out a delaying action at Bataan. Corregidor became the headquarters of the Allied forces and also the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth government. It was from Corregidor that Philippine President Manuel Quezon and General MacArthur left for Australia in February 1942, leaving behind Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright in command.
With the certain fall of Corregidor, the Commonwealth government did their best to dispose of any war materiale that might fall into Japanese hands. Along with ammo, oil, and canned food supplies, the defenders also had the Philippine National Treasury and Phlippine National Bank with them. This included Gold & Silver specie and bullion, bearer bonds, Treasury certificates, precious stones, and privately held gold items and mementos. This treasure trove included 140 tons of silver pesos (Philippine peso coins). Not all of this treasure was lost with the fall of Corregidor - two tons of gold ingots and sixteen tons of silver pesos in canvas bags were loaded onto the submarine USS Trout as ballast to replace the supplies it ran to the island's defenders. Can you imagine sitting in a sub with 16 TONS of these, many in uncirculated condition? The submariners were rather nonchallant - they broke open the bags and even used them as poker chips in their downtime. Everything else went into the deep waters of the San Jose Bay to deny it to the Japanese.
Although Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, the Philippine and American forces held out at Corregidor for 27 days against great odds. On May 6, 1942, their rations depleted, the Allied forces were forced to surrender Corregidor to Lt. Gen. Homma Masaharu of the Japanese Imperial Army after having successfully halted the Japanese advance on Australia.
Within a month, the Japanese were forcing US Navy Diver prisoners of war to dive for the coins at bayonet-point. But the divers did not want these coins to fall into the hands of the Emperor’s troops that easily, and instead of sending to the surface whole bags or cases of silver, they purposely broke open the cases on the bottom, ripped the bags, and sent up only partial containers. The sabotage attempts proved somewhat successful and the Japanese command only recovered about two million pesos, only a fraction of what was on the bottom.
The big guns of Corregidor are now silent and the ruins of buildings, structures, and tunnels in the island tell a very moving story of a war that has claimed so many lives. A visit to this former battleground is a memorable experience especially for those who cherish and value peace and freedom. In his speech delivered at the signing of the surrender of Japan aboard the USS Missouri at Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur said, "It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past - a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice."