Friday, 2 March
The MNDF’s Last Stand
The rear of the Finance Building, with the Legislature and City Hall in the background
US National Archives
At 0800 the Americans commenced their final bombardment of the Japanese in the Finance Building, continuing for two hours before ceasing fire to allow the infantry to move in and do their work. As they approached, three Japanese soldiers emerged from the dust carrying a white flag, but this was only a ruse, as the machine guns in the building opened fire of the Americans when they approached the men to take them prisoner. This action left the Americans to again withdraw from the building, and the guns again opened fire for another barrage, this time for another three hours.
An American stands next to a Japanese gun emplaced near the Finance Building
US National Archives
The Americans resumed their assault at 1300, and this time there would be no prisoners taken. The infantry pushed into the building, moving room by room through the darkened hallways as they fought the Japanese hand to hand, pushing through the Finance Building and ending the day with only a small pocket of Japanese troops sealed away on the upper floor of the building, who would spend their last night on earth defending their small bastion from determined American forces.
The Stars and Strips is raised once again over Corregidor in a formal ceremony
US National Archives
Today also, General MacArthur returned to the island of Corregidor, site of his 1942 flight near the end of the American attempt to defend the Philippines from the Japanese invasion. Joined by several of his old comrades from that time, he traveled aboard a PT boat much like the one he had ridden to safety while his men fought to the end on the island years prior. He toured the island, at one point tripping over the burnt skull of a Japanese soldier near the Malinta Tunnel, and then to the old parade ground at Topside, where the flagpole, an old ship mast from the Spanish-American War, still stood, albeit bent. Colonel George Jones, who had commanded the paratroopers on Corregidor, presented the island to General MacArthur.
“The capture of Corregidor was one of the most brilliant operations in military history. I see the old flag pole still stands. Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak and let no enemy ever haul them down again.”
Manila: 2 March, 1945
Finance Building - Secured today by US troops aside from a small pocket on the top floor
Wallace Field - Small Japanese positions bypassed by the Americans are now the last organized resistance in the city