Back at the Philippines by September 21st, the task force, including the Mobile, continued air strikes around Manila Bay on Luzon Island, ending on the 24th with one day of heavy strikes onthe Philippine Islands hit earlier in the month.
___________________________
From the Data Section of Joe's Journal:
Philippine Is. ____________ Sept 21, 22
Luzon______ } ____ air strike
Manila Bay __ } ____ Clark field
Subic Bay ___ } ____ Nichols field and Canila Naval Base
140 aircraft Destroyed on ground
144 aircraft shot down
____ Sunk
1 large destroyed*
4 [large] oil tankers
1 small [oil tanker]
5 Cargo ships
____damaged
1 destroyer
2 large oil tankers
1 large transport
20 cargo ships
1 floating dry dock
Clark and Nichols fields were on the island of Luzon, not far from Manila.
* Probably meant "destroyer".
1 comment:
My uncle was a POW at Nichols Field in September 1944, building an airstrip by hand with about 400 other POWs. It was a terrible work detail, run by a sadistic commandant nicknamed "The White Angel," who routinely beat or decapitated prisoners. When the allies started the campain to retake the Philippines, my uncle and 1800 of his comrades were hurredly placed in the airless hold of a cargo ship for a voyage to Japan to continue their slave labor. The ship, The Arisan Maru, never made it. Two weeks into the horrific journey (very little food, water, air and light) the ship was attacked and sunk by a US submarine. All but 9 of the POWs perished, including my uncle.
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