Last Broadcast of Corregidor

In the year 1941 and '42 in the small island of Corregidor, 13,000 US and Filipino troops fought together against the Imperial Japanese forces. The battle lasted for months, from December to April 1942. The defenders fought valiantly and with great ferocity that the casualties of the more well-equipped, better supported in air and sea Japanese forces drastically mounted. Corregidor was the last stand of the Allies in the Philippines and the whole of Asia.

Ultimately the defense was weakened as more and more Japanese troops arrive and the defenders' casualties begin to rise. Lack of reinforcements further broke the will to fight on as the enemy drew closer.

This morse code broadcast is made by an American soldier Irving Strobing who took the time to spread the information of their final moments in defending "The Rock". It was transcribed in Hawaii by Sgt. Arnold Lappert.

There's been a confusion in Strobing's rank, whether he is a lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, a private or an Army Signal Corps radioman. By the fall of Corregidor, and during this transmission, Strobing was likely a private and a radio operator.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/24/nyregion/irving-strobing-radio-operator-on-...
http://corregidor.org/chs_signals/sigs.htm

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Tags:

• last broadcast
• of corregidor
• fall of bataan
• death march
• world war 2
• pacific theater
• imperial japan
• philippines
• asia
• USAFFE

[Sniperboyist]

Chilling. At the time this broadcast was sent, my late Father was at his post on "Topside" 60th Coast Artillery, Battery B, Anti-Aircraft. He survived the war thankfully or I would not be here to write this. Thank you for preserving this important piece of history.

[petekilde]

Superb my friend!

[damienmalchus]

May all the heroes name echo to eternity and may their names be honored! RIP to all that lost a love one!

[AriesGoddess93]

@Aethian Interesting...

[Aethian]

@AriesGoddess93 Chocolate soda's were a popular thing back in those days. I got to have one when I was a kid and visiting relatives that were young adults during this time. They taste different.

[loudmxr]

I have been there. It is a stunning experience. I have set foot on those beaches and climbed those hills and I have wept.

[blueprairiedog]

My father was on Corregidor on this day. He and others like Strobing were transported to various camps by rail car, packed in like anchovies, after the surrender. The rail cars were so hot, my Dad said, that the men standing by the walls were severely burned. They spent some time in a camp in the Phillippines, then went to Japan as POWs on "hell ships" without food, water, or sanitation. Many died, packed so tightly they didn't fall until the ship was unpacked in Japan. God bless them.

[AriesGoddess93]

@stereonut001 LOL

[stereonut001]

@AriesGoddess93 Maybe they were talking about Yohoo?

[AriesGoddess93]

Er... I just heard "how about a chocolate soda?"

Is that code for something?

[Mr3star1sun]

this is a very important peice of history

[joebombero1]

@Clarkesque actually the "death march" was suffered by the soldiers on Bataan a few weeks earlier. The Japanese had transports to move the survivors of Corregidor and could take their time since the whole of the Philippines had effectively been pacified by this surrdener.