Battery Hall on Grande Island
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The researcher of the new book “Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt” came from the USA to visit; an Australian friend wanted to make his first visit, so, we all teamed up and visited Grande Island, the ex Fort Wint. It is not cheap now; a day visit costs about 3K pesos and staying overnight for two is about, at least, 11 K or 13 K pesos. The resort offers, friendly staff, nice rooms, nice food, nice large pool, nice landscaping, the island, the ocean water of the bay, that’s it. All the gun mounts are still accessible but are not kept clear of wild vegetations.
The book is about a family friend who served in Fort Wint as they trained the Philippine Army in Coastal Defense, then moved to the Bataan Defense. He survived three Hell Ships, starting with the Oryoku Maru which got sunk here in Subic Bay.
We also inspected the Radio building, the magazine, Battery Woodruff and its control station but I failed to take pictures. These places are still here and have not changed.
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#T01 to #T04 images are of the Grande Island pier/wharf, us landing there with native outrigger boat, it is often difficult loading and offloading from these boats, less it is nice sandy beach. The other 3 shots are views from the Grande Island North Beach where we enjoyed our welcome drink.
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#T05 to #T08 images are maps, graphs of Grande Island and of Fort Wint when it was an active military establishment there. #T08 image is my receipt of prepaying my fee for the day visit on the 11th Dec. 2024.
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#T09 to #R12 images are of the former Fort Wint Mining Casemate, it is open now. During our Navy days it was closed with bricks. The present resort management built steps going to the top of it and cleaned up the area and one enjoy a nice view.
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#T13 to #T18 images are of Battery Jewell and area. The north end still has the Navy guard tower standing and that area is fenced in because, I believe, it also contains navigation light.
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#T19 to #T22 images are the area around the ancient, former power plant of Fort Wint. A tree toppled since my last visit but it seems it is not a priority to clear it. The other two buildings were used by the Navy as a hotel and restaurant but they must have been built by the Army; I saw those buildings in a WWII reconnaissance picture. They are not being used now by the present management.
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#T23 to #T32 images are of Battery Hall (6 Inch) and Battery Flake (3 Inch) and the roads leading to and from them. There is a concrete wall at the rear of Battery Flake and it looks like WWII air field metal plates were used as a form. So, the question is when and what for was that wall built? Look at # image #T27.
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#T33 to #T35 images are of the SW corner of Grande Island, we see on of the three Navy Watch tower still stands. Another metal structure is nearby but I don’t know what it was. #T35 shows the road as it comes around that corner.
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#T36 to #T41 images are of the Fort Wint Combined Battle and Fire Command Station. It is a little harder now to get there, climb up into it. Then we chose to go higher, cut thru the bush towards Battery Warwick.
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#T42 to #T46 images are of Battery Warwick, one of the two 10 Inch Coastal Batteries in the Philippines, the other one is Battery Grubbs on Corregidor. SBFZ airport uses this site as radar site and it is manned. The battery site is fenced in but today the gate was left open and we invited us in but the attending crew was very friendly and understanding. People know that the two guns were shipped to a historical Coastal Defense Fort in Washington State at about 1968. Another thing that is unique about this battery is that parts of the Casemate around Gun No. One are beginning to lean out and that is what these pictures show.
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#T47 to #T49 show a concrete structure that my cdsg friends say was the fort Wint telephone exchange. It is located only a few feet east of Battery Warwick on the road to Battery Flake and Hall. This structure is not indicated on the graphs we have.
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#T50 to #T55 images are of the former Fort Wint large water reservoir. It is located only a few yards north of Battery Warwick next to the road leading to the battery. I’m sure that the Navy used this reservoir, the present management, I don’t know. This is another structure that is not on our praphs.
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#T56 image is the intersection, left goes to former Navy Hotel, right goes straight and then left to Battery Warwick.
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#T56 & #T57 images are of Mine Command Mine Control station. In the afternoon we looked for this, the radio building, Battery Woodruff and its control station, the magazine near the Mine Casemate but these two pictures are the only ones I shot.
Two employees came along to learn about the places we wanted to visit, their bolos came in handy.
