Conquering Corregidor Island 6: Parade Grounds of Topside

* the parade grounds at Topside* the set of guns displayed near the parade grounds at Topside

* wheeled gun

* gun mostly likely used for hostile planes of the enemies

* another gun* a surviving spring, of what (a gun, a ship) I don’t know


* a surviving bomb shell; a closer inspection reveal its durability having sustained only marks shown above

* Trailer Pransis manning a gun; he’ll make a poor soldier with that stance

To continue with my Corregidor Series.

The Topside apparently contained the important buildings of the American forces in Corregidor Island. A small plateau-like area serves as the parade grounds and the quarters of the soldiers stationed in the island at that time. On the parade ground we were able to see some of the surviving firearms used by the soldiers and a breath-taking, unobstructed view of the sky.

* Cine Corregidor

* Cine Corregidor’s box office

* view of what was once the outer structure of Corregidor* part of the façade of Cine Corregidor

* a look inside Cine Corregidor

Looking around, it seemed that the place was really meant for the fighters’ respite. Not far was the structure called the Mile-Long Barracks (pictures of which will be posted later), the Cine Corregidor, and the other quarters for the ranked soldiers and officers. Cine Corregidor has this architecture on its façade that recalls to mind the art deco style. Our tour guide said that the last movie to be shown there was “Gun With the Wind.” On my first visit, our guide spoke of the limitation of the cinema: only Americans can enter the place. This fact, I think, is debatable.

* The Bachelor Officers Quarters; the roman numeral above what could have been the door of the quarters says “1916 A.D.”, probably the year the structure was constructed

* another look at the Bachelor Officers Quarters

* the ruins of the Headquarters Building;
there was once a chapel on the building’s second floor, the structure was built in 1915

* the Senior Officers Family Quarters

Across the cinema is the Bachelor Officers Quarters. I did an online search and was able to find the website corregidor.org. The website has a number of photographs of Corregidor and some of the structures at that time. I was able to see the Bachelor Officers Quarters in its pre-destructed state. See the photo here. (But I suggest that you visit the page about the “Lost Corregidor” here.)

* the grounds of Corregidor Island during the War was literally covered with trolley lines

* this statue is the highlight of the Filipino-American Friendship Park; online reading reveals that this park was once located at the Middleside near the Corregidor Elementary School and the Middleside Barracks; why it was transferred to Topside is something I have to dig in

There were other recent additions on Topside such the Pacific War Memorial, the Pacific War Memorial Museum (I’ll be posting an entry about it later), and the Eternal Flame of Freedom. Too bad time constraints prevented me from re-exploring the Eternal Flame of Freedom. I was able to visit it during my first visit though but I was not able to snap a photo of the place in this second visit.