Live Shells on Corregidor

While in Philippines we visited the island of Corregidor for a day tour. It was a really neat tour that included a stop at the Pacific War Memorial Museum. I think the neatest part of the museum was the artifacts displayed. Our guide told us an interesting story about one of the artifacts.


In September of 1989 Vice President Dan Quayle visited Philippines to talk with President Aquino about the US continuing to lease the Clark and Subic military bases. One of his stops in Philippines was Corregidor. While there he had planned on visiting the Pacific War Memorial Museum. Before he arrived and during a security scan of the building a dog sniffed out a live bomb/artillery shell on display in the building. The shell was probably at least 4 feet tall and about 18 inches in diameter. I don't know how long the shell had been on display prior to being discovered but it was removed and replaced. Vice President Quayle reportedly did not visit the museum.

At another place on the island we saw an artillery cannon that had been disabled while it was loaded and preparing to fire during a battle. We were told the shell was still live in the barrel of the cannon. Of course we looked down the barrel of the cannon to see the shell.

Jenna by the bomb that is no longer live

Our guide also told us stories about and showed us things he had found while hiking/trekking around the island. Some of the things he showed us were artifacts from the people like Coke bottles, etc. One neat story he told us was about a set of dog tags that he found recently. He did not keep them or sell them. He took them to the embassy and turned them in. All he asked was that he receive an email if the owner or the owner's family was found. A short while later he received an email from the grand son of the soldier to whom the dog tags belonged. That was a neat story that we all enjoyed hearing.