January 2, 1942	position.  There was consider­able amount of salvageable wood and galvanized iron from the wrecked buildings in our area which was used. The 2nd Attack occurred on the 2nd.  There was a low ceiling and the bombs fell before the alarm was given.  The Car bo...(illegible)... was set on fire and other miscellaneous (illegible) did by this attack. The Japs seemed to have decided to work on Corregidor and subjected us to daily attacks.
January 3, 1942	On the 3rd – "B" Battery fired 74 rounds and scored a direct hit on 1 plane which started smoking immediately and losing altitude.  It crashed about 5 miles back over the mainland.  During this raid the Japs scored a direct hit on our Barracks and destroyed some of the supplies we had left there in safety. The Topside Checker's Station was also hit and burned, destroying the clothing of the men, which was returning from the laundry. Living conditions are becoming more and more trying.  The water mains have not been fixed since the raid of the 29th and we haul all our water; and it is becoming difficult to get trucks because of the number damaged by the raids.  Consequently we have not been able to get enough water to wash clothes; some of the men are short of clothing due to the bomb damage. The H.D. Artillery Inspector (Major Conzelman) spent Jan. 4 with us.  The Japs came in earlier than usual, arriving about 9.20 A.M.  "B" fired some 89 rounds at them.
January 6, 1942	On the 6th the raids started about 9.00 AM – There were 7 bombing flights over Corregidor and "B" fired 106 rounds at them, getting two, one of which was reported by Fort Frank to have crashed on the mainland. The gun damaged on the 29th was reported ready by the Ordnance and a detail was sent after dark under Lt. Wiser to get it. The Ordnance Machine Shop had been hit several times by bombs and parts of the p1atform, etc., were under piles of junk and debris and the detail had to dig them out.  The one outrigger could not be repaired and we will have to try to prop the gun up on 3 outriggers. On the 6th the gun crews worked on getting the repaired gun back into position.  The raids started about 11:45 AM.  A fire which had been started by yesterdays raids, at Bottomside, suddenly blazed up and heavy dense smoke poured over our position, obscuring the view.  The Japs made 9 flights over the island, above the smoke cloud, "B" was able to fire on only 4 of these flights, firing 89 rounds, getting 1 plane. The Director Crews are becoming so proficient in their tracking that if they have been tracking the planes a short time, before the planes go behind a cloud, trackers can hold the same rate and are very close if not actually on the planes when they come from behind the cloud. An order was issued by H.D. prohibiting the use of fresh water for any purpose other than cooking and drinking.  The Japanese stopped raiding Corregidor on the 6th, there being an Air Raid Alarm but no raid on the 7th.
January 7, 1942	On the 7th we finished emplacing and blocking up the repaired gun. Fired a test shot, under such conditions as to put a more severe strain on the gun than will such normal during actual action.  The gun took it so we are back in shape with 4 guns.
January 10, 1942	On the 10th Col. Aroroso was able to secure the use of a truck for us and the Battery personnel was taken to a spring in James Ravine where they could take a bath. We were able to get two 250 gallon tanks to use for water storage. Buried these, one near the kitchen and the other over by the guns.
January 13, 1942	On the 13th, we got hold of a 450 gallon wagon and hooked it on the Battalion Commander's Reconnaissance Car and hauled water from a spring for the men to use in washing clothes. The men have been working pretty steadily on their individual shelters.
January 14, 1942	The Japs raided us again on the 14th and came over at 8500 yds. altitude, just out of range of the Powder Train Fuze.  They bombed Middleside --"B" fired on the formation and brought one down. During this action a small gear on the Director broke, putting "B" out of action until the Ordnance can make a gear, there being no stock on hand. Sent some of the Mechanical Fuzed Ammunition to "F" Battery and T/Sgt. ____ changed the cam in their Director so they could use the Mech. Fuzed Ammunition. While the Battery was out of action 2 men were given permission to visit friends in other units and take things easy.
January 17, 1942	The Ordnance finished the Director on the 17th and a detail was sent after it and B Battery  was again back in action..
January 19, 1942	The first day since the war started that Corregidor had no Air Raid Alarm occurred on Jan. 19.  However the next day the Japs again flew close enough to cause an alert but no action took place.
January 20, 1942	The Ordnance Dept. secured an outrigger for us from a gun belonging to the 200th CA (AA) and which had been wrecked on Bataan.  The out­rigger was installed on the gun by battery personnel.
January 23, 1942	The 23rd of January was a busy day for Battery "B".  We received 200 rounds of ammunition which had been refuzed with the old type Mechanical Fuze from the ammunition for the Fort Drum AA Guns.  Test fired six rounds of this ammunition and only four burst. In the evening, we pulled the liner out of No. 3 gun to check its condition.  The liner is all right but the repeated use had burned out most of the grease between the liner and barrel.  The liner was regreased and put back in place.  The Battalion Commander who was pre­sent to inspect the liner issued orders to pull one liner each evening for regreasing until all the liners had been treated. Corporal George Wills, who has received quite a little publicity for his poems about the war -- his "Motors In the West" having been read over the "Voice of Freedom" radio -- was called to Malinta Tunnel to be interviewed by Mr. & Mrs. Jacoby, correspondents for "Life" and "Times." The above events coupled with the usual Air Raid Alarm kept us rather busy. The war has settled down to a rather monotonous event leavened by only scattered happenings, although we have a daily air raid alarm.
January 28, 1942	Supplies are becoming short and on Jan 28th, cigarettes, soap, and toilet paper were placed on an issue basis and are delivered with the food.  Since we are feeding about 200 men -- about 75 from other outfits -- it makes more work for the Mess Sergeant to pro-rate these items.
January 30, 1942	Battery "B" was visited on Jan. 30 by Mr. & Mrs. Jacoby, escorted by Capt. Brown (aide to General Moore).  They took pictures of some of the individual shelters and decorated shell cases.
February 2, 1942	On Feb 4th "B" received 1300 rounds of Mechanical fuzed ammunition, which, with the 900 rounds left from the original lot gives us 2200 rounds.  "C" Battery received 2200 rounds from the shipment of 3500 rounds which came via submarine from Honolulu.
February 6, 1942	The war took a new turn for us when on Feb. 6, 1942, Corregidor received its first shelling attack from the south shore.  The artillery barrage lasted about 2 hours and a considerable number hit within 500 yds. of "B" Battery's position. After a few days to get used to the shelling in addition to the bombing, and the war again settled down to a drab existence.
February 14, 1942	On Feb. 14, received orders and held a Field Inspection to deter­mine if the men had the equipment and supplies necessary to go in the field away from Corregidor if need be.
February 19, 1942	On Feb. 19, after consulting with the battalion commander, decided to build a tunnel for the kitchen.  Although the kitchen force have been outstanding in their devotion to duty (in fact, they never take their pots off of the stove during a bombing attack but merely jump into a fox hole when the bombs fall and are back at the stove immediately after the explosion and they have served meals within ten minutes of the completion of a bombing raid) it was thought that a tunnel would give them protection during the artillery firing.  Made the survey and worked on the design and on Feb. 24th submitted the plans to the commanding general, H.D.M.S.B. (Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bay) for approval.
March 1, 1942	On March 1st, the plans came back approved as a project for battery labor and salvage materials.  Sent salvage details out to get material from the destroyed buildings on Topside.
March 2, 1942	The director telescopes are beginning to be deteriorated by fungus growing in them. We sent them to the Ordnance Shop on March 2, to be cleaned and recemented.  This placed "B" out of action for several hours.
March 6, 1942   Japanese Heavy Bomber Mitsubishi Type 97 "Sally"	Work was started on the battery tunnel on the 6th.  The work was scheduled for a 24-hour day -- using 6 four-hour shifts with 7 men on a shift.  Lt. Crawford was placed in charge with Sgts. Atkinson and Everett to aid him. The gasoline is becoming short and rumor has it that we will shortly be unable to use the gasoline field ranges, so a detail was sent in to get the coal ranges from our barracks.  The detail arrived just in time because another detail from some other outfit came by to get them but we were there first and they were ours.  A concrete base was built and the ranges installed on the 8th of Feb. "B" Battery or "Boston" as it is known on the Flash phone is becoming quite notorious -- it seems that the A.A.C.P. reposes great reliance in us because if we confirm the sound of heavy motors approaching, the A.A.C.P. sounds the Air Raid Alarm.  This puts a little strain on the Air Guards but has helped the morale of the unit.  There is not a man in the battery who doesn't actually believe that "B" is the finest A.A. Battery on Corregidor and consequently the finest in the world.  Such a feeling is naturally reflected in the work and behavior.
March 25, 1942	Corregidor continued quiet -- that is the usual air raid alarms, with no bombing and spasmodic shelling from the south shore until about the 25th of March.  On this day a flight of 2 Jap bombers came over Corregidor at an altitude of 6900 yds.  They flew right down the alley -- that is they came in in such a way that all A.A. Gun batteries could and did take them under fire.  Both planes were hit and began smoking, . the west plane being apparently hit the worst because it began to loose altitude, when suddenly there was a flash of fire on the east plane at the junction of the wing and fuselage and the wing came off. This plane swerved to the west, almost ramming the other and went into a dive, hitting the bay at Cabcaben -- the other fell into Manila Bay. Corregidor and Bataan went wild at this spectacle.  The battalion commander, who was at "B" 's C.P.,  immediately gave "B" credit but within a very few minutes had to divide the credit because of every other gun battery also claiming the planes.  The credit was finally given to the gun battalion as a whole.  Rumors had it that these planes were on a reconnaissance mission and carried several high ranking Jap staff officers, because the air was filled with Jap radio messages trying to contact these planes. This action really boosted the morale of Corregidor and Bataan. Several parts of the plane which fell in Cabcaben were salvaged and brought to Corregidor.  A raffle was held, among the gun batteries, to determine which should get what part and "B" won the raffle, thus substantiating our claim to having downed the planes.  We won the undercarriage wheel and tire.  This was mounted on the wall of the Director splinter proof as a constant source of pride and incentive to the battery personnel.
March 29, 1942   Japanese Heavy Bomber Mitsubishi Type 97 "Sally"    *His description of the medium bombers,  "smaller scale replicas of the heavies" is nonsense. The smaller bombers were Type 96, twin tailed "heavy bombers" that could not climb nearly as high, nor near the load of Type 97, or 98 (Betty) bombers. Al McGrew	Along about this time, the Japs started their final drive in Bataan and on March 29th, 1942, commenced to bomb Corregidor again in earnest.  They used different tactics this time.  Instead of sending of 9 to 20 planes they used flights of 3 to 6 (generally 3) heavy bomb­ers flying at altitudes of 8500 to 9000 yards, varied with the same sized flights of medium bombers at an altitude of 6-7,000 yards.  The medium bombers were smaller scale replicas of the heavies, which made identification confusing for a while.  The smaller number of planes, combined with the gradual deterioration of distant vision made it increasingly difficult to pick up the planes before they reached the Bomb Release Line.  However, very few flights did slip in on us, but a few did, and in order to overcome this, in "B" Battery, the Filipino kitchen help and barbers, were used as air guards in the hope that their eyes had not deteriorated as much.  The Filipinos did not prove any better than the Americans.  As a matter of  fact, the heavy bombers, flying 250 miles per hour at altitudes above 8500 yards, reached the Bomb Release Line at just about the same instant they came within range of even  the mechanical fuzed 3" ammunition. The Japs also tried night bombings of Corregidor, but the search­lights proved to be very effective weapons against them and most of the bombs missed Corregidor and fell in the water.  After a week the Japs gave up the night raids.  In order to conserve the Mechanical Fuzed Ammunition, Batteries"B" & "C" were ordered not to fire on night flights below 6000 yds. altitude.  However it  as necessary to alert the battery on each flight and determine the altitude.  Consequently, the day and night raids wore the men down.  The question of relief was discussed with the battalion commander but with only 2 batteries having the mechanical fuzed ammunition there was no relief other than allow­ing the men to sleep and rest whenever there was no raid.  Work on the tunnel was continued to provide some physical work for the men.
April 8-9, 1942	During the night of April 8-9, there was a great deal of activity on Bataan --powder dumps being blown up and units being evacuated to Corregidor, and on the 9th of April Bataan surrendered.  The units of the 60th were all evacuated to Corregidor. One of the gun sections of "G" Battery was assigned to "B", thus giving us 5 complete crews.  The first crew that were given off a day off roamed around visiting friends but by the  time an air raid occurred most of them were back to the battery.  They felt much safer in their own gun pit.  After several days "G" Battery moved into a position on the golf course and their gun section was recalled from "B".
April 11 or 12, 1942	About April 11th or 12th the Japs placed some of their guns in position and started shelling Corregidor from Bataan.  Our kitchen and mess area was in the open with no protection, so arrangements were made with "C" Battery 59th CA, which manned Battery Wheeler, to combine our 2 messes.  They had a protected place for the kitchen and in the event of a shelling attack during meal time the men could get under cover. Lt. Crawford of "B" Battery took over as Mess Officer and Sgt. Peterson of C-59th, stayed as Mess Sgt.  "C"-59th had only been serving two meals a day since we were on half rations, but we, in "B", had been serving a thin soup made of tomatoes, rice, and whatever else could be used at noon.  This was continued. Sgt. Vincent, "B'"s mess Sgt., who was not being used in the mess now, was used on the flash phone to provide some relief for Cpl. Wills. Work was pushed on the Tunnel since it was now vital to get it completed.   We were subjected to daily artillery shelling and bombing.. The Jap Air Corps continuing their new  tactics.
April 16 - 28, 1942	On the afternoon of April l6th, during an artillery barrage from Bataan, a shell fragment cut the rope and allowed Corregidor's battle flag to fall to the ground.  Upon seeing this, and believing that the Japs might misunderstand the reason for the disappearance  of the flag, Captain Huff called for volunteers and led Cpl. Louis A. Roark, P.F.C. Roy O. Bailey, and P.F.C. Harley H. Leaird to the flag pole where the flag was restored to its proper position.  The four men mentioned above were decorated with the Silver Star on General Order #25 dated April 17, 1942, for this action. Later in the month Sgt. Peterson was wounded by a shell fragment and Sgt. Vincent took over the combined mess as mess Sgt. About this time a 240 mm shell hit in an outrigger inspection tunnel to No. 2 gun and killed Pvt. Mehila, Hq. Btry, 2nd Bttn., attached to "B" Battery, and also wounded several members of the gun crew. The artillery barrages were becoming more severe and the bursting shells gradually destroyed most of the vegetation and natural and art­ificial camouflage.  It got so bad that when all the AA Batteries, except "B" Battery, elevated their guns, they were observed and subjected to artillery fire from Bataan.  As a consequence for a period of over ten days "B" Battery was the only A.A. Battery to fire upon the enemy.  The action reports turned in by "B" Battery were heard several days later, broadcast by Radio Station KGEI, San Francisco, and credited to the A.A. defenses of Corregidor.
April 29, 1942	On April 29, the Japs laid down a terrific artillery barrage on "B" Battery positions.  They did not know the exact location of each unit so they walked the area - "B" suffered considerable damage.  3-240 mm shells hit on the Director Bombproof, putting a hole in it and shaking the director and slightly wounding several men, a shell fragment passed through the Height Finder, putting it out of action, one of the power plants was hit and put out of action, some cables were cut, and the No. 1 gun was hit on the muzzle, damaging the barrel and putting this gun out of action.  Several of the men were wounded slightly. The night of the 29th new positions were dug for the Director and Height Finder and the night of the 30th the Director was moved.  Due to "B" Battery having the mechanical fuze ammo, the most concealed position, "F" Battery's Height Finder was turned over to "B" Battery and this was also moved into position on the night of April 30th.
April 30, 1942	The Japanese kept up their artillery barrages and "B" Battery was still the only A.A. Battery able to fire upon the enemy.
May 2, 1942 On May 2, Battery Geary, 12-inch Seacoast Mortar Battery, was blown up due to the enemy artillery fire penetrating the powder magazines. This Japanese photograph gives the best view of the desolation remaining.	The Japanese finally landed a shell in the powder magazine of Battery Geary, blowing it up on May 2.  Pieces of concrete, reinforcing . . . and 12 inch mortar shells fell around "B" Battery's ... station and machine guns.  A piece of reinforcing steel fell into one of the machine gun pits, smashing the gun and injuring 2 members of the gun crew who were in the pit at the time.  A piece of concrete fell upon the height Finder and smashed one end of it.  Our own height finder was not repaired and the only one available was an old T-l.  This was brought to the position, but before it could be installed, word was received that our own was finished and a detail was sent down to get it and it was placed into position.
May 4, 1942	On May 4th the Japanese artillery laid down another terrific barrage on "B" Battery's position.  The phone communication to the guns went out and P.F.C. Mazur volunteered to take the messages to the guns. On his way back a shell hit near him and blew off his foot.  It being impossible to get an ambulance to come after him, Lt. Crawford drove him to the hospital.
May 5, 1942	Artillery shelling with intermittent bombing raids continued daiIy. On the evening of May 6, 1942, the Japanese artillery again opened with heavy artillery barrage.  "B" Battery received orders to prepare for a beach defense mission.  The Battery was moved to the vicinity of its tunnel and preparations made to reinforce the Marine rear area defense units in Crockett Ravine.  Word was received that the Japanese had landed on the Monkey Point end of the Island, but that the situation was well in hand.
May 6, 1942 Capt. Huff  continually repeats that only Boston fired on enemy planes during the latter part of the defense, and this is ridiculous.  All batteries were out of action temporarily at different times, but hardly all of the time toward the end. Al McGrew   The Surrender Japanese troops march through Malinta, with arms shouldered, whilst surrendered troops stand by attempting to come to terms with the unthinkable.	About 7.30 AM, word was received to revert back to AA Status and all limits on targets and amount of fire were removed.  "B" Battery moved back to its AA Positions and went into action against dive bombers.  The gun crews had a glorious time firing upon and turning back numerous dive bombers coming in to attack Corregidor.  Again "B" was the only A.A. unit in action.* At 11:00 A.M. the Battery Commander talked to the Battalion Commander and plans were laid for "B" to send a detail to "F" Battery's position and get one of the guns under cover of darkness that night, so "B" would again have 4 guns. At 11:30 A.M. word was received from the battalion commander to destroy equipment by 12 noon as Corregidor was surrendering.  The equipment was well destroyed, the director and the height finder being blown to pieces, the power plants blown up, the guns drained of oil and fired.  Fire control clocks were smashed and the gun pits set on fire to destroy the ammunition. The Battery personnel was all collected at the battery tunnel at 12 noon awaiting orders.  Orders were not forthcoming and the Japs continued to shell and bomb Corregidor.  The Battery was then moved to C1Gl Tunnel and then to Battery Whee1er where communication was again established with the battalion C.P.  The night was spent at Battery Wheeler.  Word was received that the Japs were going to open fire on Top-side at 7:00 AM the next morning so the battalion Hq. Battery, "B" and "G" Batteries left topside at 6:00 A.M. and marched to Malinta Tunnel where we were turned over to the Japanese. Thus ended "B" Battery's part in the War.
	/s/      Arthur E. Huff Captain, 60th C.A. (A.A.) Commanding "B" Battery
Awarded Silver Stars -	Captain Arthur E. Huff - G.O.# 25 - 4/17/42 1st. Lt. Lewis B. Chevaillier 1st Lt. Jack P. Crawford Sgt. Harold Vincent Cpl. Louis A. Roark - G.O. #25 - 4/17/42 Pfc. Roy O. Bailey - G.O. #25 - 4/17/42 Pfc. Harley H. Leaird - G.O. #25 - 4/17/42
Organization of Battery "B" 60th C.A. (AA)     The Battery Histories which appear on this website are due to a long line of men,  many whose names will never be known.  These men, at the risk of their lives, wrote them from memory and created the original documents whilst incarcerated in Japanese POW Camps. They then concealed  the documents for the duration.   Not every battery history has survived the war, and their loss is part of the tragic story of Japanese indifference to human life in their custody.   At the end of the line of these men who have preserved these histories, are George Munson and Al McGrew (himself a POW),  who have enabled us to put them into the public domain.	TABLE OF ORGANIZATION   Captain Arthur E. Huff Battery Commander     1st . Lt. Darvin E. Wiser Executive Officer           1st Lt. Lewis B Chevaillier Range Officer             Staff Sgt. Grover C. Guy       Sgt. Grady Gosnell Chief of Range           Sgt. Billy S. Sutton #1 Gun Commander       Sgt. Frank R. Prenzlau Height Finder Sgt.           Sgt. Daniel O. Webb #2 Gun Commander       Cpl. Lloyd L. Montgomery Communications           Sgt. Joseph M. Carboy #3 Gun Commander       Cpl George W. Wills Flash Phone           Sgt. Edmund S. Zielinski #4 Gun Commander                   1st Lt. Jack P. Crawford Machine Guns       1st Sgt. John A. Hillmon           Sgt Morris L. Atkinson     Tech Sgt. Jack W. Connelly Equipment Repair         1st Lt. Geo. W. Pearcy Air Corp - Attach after fall of Bataan. Asst M.G. Officer   Sgt. Harold Vincent Mess             Sgt. Riley A. Everett Supply           Cpl. Benedict F. Gelmus Clerk
	Unfortunately, Capt. Huff was awash in his erroneous descriptions of events, both at the beginning of festivities, and those statements toward the end.    The early Japanese  formations did approach Corregidor both from the east, and the south. They did not over fly the Rock, they split and flew around the island. Boston did not turn the formations. Denver alone turned one formation, and all batteries fired on the large group which split and flew around the island.  Capt. Starr, commanding "Hartford",  suggested the Japs were searching out the positions of the AA batteries . Al McGrew

CD Version 130603