.
In the confusion, two sailors, Signalman First Class Maurice C.
Havey and Signalman First Class Frank H. Bigelow, became separated
from their command and came upon an unmanned twin .50-caliber
machine gun overlooking the beach area. They manned the gun and
opened fire on the Japanese on the coastline for 30 minutes. Havey
fired until the barrels burned out and Bigelow then replaced them.
Suddenly, Havey dropped from the gun, turned and said, "I'm hit." He
staggered to the rear toward Malinta Tunnel while Bigelow stayed
with the gun. Havey had traveled only 100 yards when he was killed
by seven machine gun bullets across the chest.
Unbeknownst to the Marines,
the Japanese troops on Corregidor received reinforcements just
before dawn. The 3d Battalion, 61st Infantry, engineers, and
light artillery arrived with at least 880 men to join the battle.
This force was originally scheduled to arrive at 0230, but the
losses in landing craft in the initial attack forced the delay. Even
so, five tanks and most of the field artillery were left on Bataan
due to lack of landing craft. At 0530, three green flares signaled
the successful landing by the Japanese.
Photo:
National Archives |