"Speedy
Gonzales" was a tour-bus driver on Corregidor Island not many years back and he never
failed to impress or astonish the many visitors to the island. He knew all of the small
stories associated with the place, not to mention his familiarity with the lay-of-the-land
off the normal tourist track.
According to one of his stories… On a hot and
humid afternoon back in 1951, when the island was home for only a few dozen villagers amid
the jungle-covered fortifications, Gonzales was taking his daily siesta inside one of the
bomb-proofs of Battery Geary up on Topside. While he was laying down on the concrete floor
he was awakened by twelve armed American soldiers. They politely, but firmly, requested
him to move aside. There before his very eyes they lifted the concrete slab that he had
been laying on to reveal two large boxes. When the boxes were lifted out of the hole one
of the soldiers opened the box to check the contents, which revealed two large gold
ingots!
Speedy stated that an American Major was in charge of
the group, who promptly thanked him for moving and being quiet about it. The men quickly
left the Battery and proceeded to Bottomside, where they boarded two different landing
crafts tied up at the old South Dock. As Speedy watched them disappear around the Bataan
Peninsula from atop his vantage point at Battery Geary, he ruefully stated to himself:
"And to think I had been sleeping there for three years!" The shock of this
amazing event was to haunt Speedy Gonzales for the rest of his life. (18)
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