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CORREGIDOR
BY PFC LEROY GANT
59th COAST ARTILLERY
How many days, how many nights
have we suffered through this war?
Hopes fading fast that we’ll be saved at last,
from this hell on Corregidor.
The enemy is near, but there is no fear
of what may lie in store.
For death is a relief from the misery and grief,
that we have seen here on Corregidor.
Though hope is gone, we still carry on.
Each day is worse than before.
Our hearts beat fast but we’ll give our last,
on this place called Corregidor.
No water, no sleep, nothing to eat.
Oh, how painful is defeat.
My God, we can't take much more!
The sun is sinking fast over Corregidor.
THE WHITE FLAG IS UP.
The Japs have reached our shore.
The battle is lost at a terrible cost.
Our guns will fire no more.
So ’til a better day, somehow, someway,
we'll come home again once more.
I'll say goodbye for those who fought and died
on this godforsaken... Corregidor.
My God, we can’t take much more.
Courtesy of BM2 Gary Lemon,
USN
PFC Leroy Gant, author of this poem, was born in
Texas in 1914. He entered service in Oklahoma City,
OK on February 5, 1941. At that time he was a
resident of Pottawatomie County, OK. He died as a
Prisoner of War October 10, 1942. His remains were
recovered post-war and interned at Manila American
Cemetery in the Philippines.
In 1954, Gary Lemon, USS Carpenter (DD 825), was in
a bar in Olangapo in the Philippines where the above
was posted and he, [then] Seaman Lemon, copied it.
The poem was written in pencil and signed, “Gant 59
CA”. |
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These (107) 200th & 515th Coast
Artillery men escaped to Corregidor at the fall of
Bataan.
Abraham, Ned L.
Alderete, Feliciano R.
Althaus, Rubin M.
Almeraz, Frederico S.
Antonio, Sam J.
Arceneaux, Frank S.
Armijo, Salvador J.
Armour, Jesse J.
Barron, Charley R.
Bergquist, Francis E.
Brooks, Delbert H.
Bull, Malcolm T.
Burruss, Eugene
Calderon, Arthur J.
Cardin, Thomas G.
Cata, Jose Isidore
Chavez, Juan M. "Bob"
Chavez, Lazaro A.
Craig, George M.
Dansby, Donald M.
Darling, George E.
DeHerrera, Valdemar A.
DeVenzeio, Orlando J.
Duncan, Joseph J.
Eagle, Eldwin J.
Fails, Alvin H.
Fleming, John W.
Ford, Virgle L.
Foster, Henry B.
Gannon, Charles F.
Gannon, Harold J.
1
Garcia, Manuel J.
Garcia, Pedro
Gardner, Lee J.
Gavord, Charles B.
Genovese, John A.
Godfrey, Robert R.
Gonzales, Carlos G.
Gulbus, Irving
Hays, Joseph
Healey, Thomas G.
Heck, Marion W.
Henry, Boyd N.
Hise, Harold C.
Hnulik, Richard A.
Jensen, William E.
Johnson, Howard W.
Knight, Robert J.
Lansford, Jack L.
Light, Jake W.
Loman, Louis E.
Long, Carl M.
Long, Martin S.
Longoria, Jose A.
Lowe, Harold S.
Lucero, Natividad J.
Lugibihl, Myron R.
Lutich, Louis P.
Malak, Stephen L.
Martinez, Belarmino
Martinez, Tony A.
Mascareñas, Jose E. T.
McCollum, Virgil O. Jr.
McGee, John T.
Meuli, Maynard C.
Millard, Cleophas
Miller, Laddie
Mirabal, Lorenzo
Mitchell, Harwell H.
Montoya, Ernest
Overmier, William C.
Pacheco, Alberto
2
Palumbo, Paul
Parchman, William E.
Parson, James O.
Petruzela, Alexander F.
Philpott, Chester A.
Plomteaux, Francis A.
3
Pruehsner, Orville A.
Pruss, Harry J.
Radosevich, Joseph R.
Ream, Glenn G.
Reyes, James B.
Roehm, Robert R.
Roessler, Norbert R.
Sagash, Charles D.
Sanchez, Alfredo F.
4
Sanchez, Joe
Sandoval, Eduardo A.
Senter, Albert C.
Silva, Agapito E.
Smith, Clark G.
Smith, George L.
Stevens, Dorris
5
Taylor, William R.
Terrazas, Nick L.
Thompson, James R.
Tillman, Willie
Tovar, Alex E.
6
Tucker, Lee C.
Vigil, Antonio J.
Wallace, Ira D.
Weeks, Orie B.
Whitted, Jess J.
Willie, Wilson E.
Wyper, Menzies Jr.
Ybaben, Erminio L.
1 Manuel Garcia may
have been Killed in Action on Corregidor.
2 Paul Palumbo was a
recipient of the Silver Star for actions at Engineer
Point, Corregidor, May 6, 1942.
3 Orville Pruehsner
continued the fight with the 59th Coast Artillery on
Corregidor. He was killed there on the last day, May
6, 1942.
4 There were three
men named Joe Sanchez in the Regiment. Joseph M.
'Joe' Sanchez, ASN 20843347, son of Genovevo Sanchez
of Gallup, New Mexico is the one who escaped to
Corregidor.
5 Liberated at war's
end, William Taylor was lost when the plane he was
being ferried from Japan to Manila on crashed at
sea. Although he was not the last 200th man to die
as a POW, he was THE LAST 200th man to die overseas.
He died a free man.
6 Lee Tucker was a
recipient of the Silver Star for actions at Battery
Way, Corregidor, May 5-6, 1942.
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