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Battle site beautifiedCorregidor becoming shrine, tourist attractionCORREGIDOR (UPI) -Conetreasureid or, long a negth*d of hi lory and memorieswil soon r* e its lost splendor.Today, workers are busy aroundtli • three-square-mile island inIV'jiiil.i Bay. transforming ii into a v *U-scrubbed war shrine, and a tourist attraction. The beauty ti m'merit, costing more than $2 rr.iHi »n, is expected to be complet'd next year.If wa on Corregidor 25 year-ago that thlt; Philippines and the Unif'i State sealed their blood p*- of comradeship in a gallantagain * the invadirr Japan*,* forces On May 6, 1542Con egidor fell as the last Alii 1 military bastion in the Philippines in World War II.IMTII l%ted t lonel.Ni - n . B oCorregidor remain-sentinel guarding devoured b,\ thejungle, a silent sufferer of tlie elements: It’s mighty guns which once roared in angry defiance of the enemy lay silent, forlorn and wasted away by rust. Bomb-ed-out skeletons of the military barracks on the island stood like ghosts, bringing recollections of the past.Corregidor did get spruced up once in a while—for the annual anniversary celebration markingthe fall of “The Hock” and for the occasional American tourists with long memories who an ted to return to Corregidor and remember. But there has really been no honest, organized effort to put the historic island under the perpetual care that it deserved until in recent years.Out of appropriations approved by the U.S. Congress in 1964, construction crews are now working atop the island to builda million oouar racuit war memorial. The modernistic shrine will include a rotunda with a circular altar, a monument sculpture symbolizing the flame of freedom, and a series of descending platforms and terraces with cascading waterfalls.I III MEMORIAL which willbe the most prominent feature greetitng the visitor to Corregidor by next year, was designed by the architecurai firm of Na-ramore, Bain, Brady and Johan-son of Seattle, Wash., with the assistance of noted Manila architect Leandro V. Locsin.Below, on the southern end of the island, the Philippine government has broken the groundfor a SI.24 million tourist resort complex complete with air-beaeh houses •with piped-in music and two swimming pools.The beach around the complex will be cleared of big boulders and will have white sands transported from Bataan, the historic “war twin” of Corregidoracross Manila Bay which also fell to the Japanese in 1542.Philippine tourist commissioner Manuel Nieto hop' s to seek an amendment to a presidential order creating Corregidor as a v/ar shrine to allow private groups such as the Hilton Hotel chain to help deve the island’s natural assets as a tourist spot.IN ADDITION, Nieto there are plan* to construct a tiny train service around the island similar to that in Disneyland, widen and pave the dirtroad snaking around Corregidor, improve the existing airfield and introduce helicopter service to the Island.The big guns on the different battery stations, the ruined buildings and the Malinta tunnel dug beneath the island and which once served as the seatof the Philippine commonwealthgovernment and the headquar-t#• r* of the late Gen Douglas McArthur will get a cleaning, but swill otherwise be left untouched so as not to spoil itvisitors. '■ '-hr? -i
Newspaper Details
Denton Daily Lass-o
Denton, Texas, US
Fri, May 05, 1967
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
University O.
NM, USA 07 Aug 2018
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