| Original caption: “Flame-throwers attacking the Fortress of Corregidor in an all out attack.” Japanese soldiers deploy a Type 93 flamethrower against the water tank on Denver Hill on Corregidor. This is a staged photo taken after the surrender. The Japanese were inspired by the combat actions of United States Marine Corps Sergeant Major John Sweeney (January 22, 1905 – May 6, 1942) and Sergeant John Haskin (August 21, 1910 – May 6, 1942). During the assault on Corregidor, the 4th Marines were pushed back slowly after the Japanese landed. Gradually overwhelmed, small unit actions were common as the Japanese landed at the beach and moved towards Malinta Tunnel. Marines recalled Sweeney’s parting words: “Well, this is it. We’ve been in the Marine Corps fifteen years and this is what we’ve been waiting for. If I don’t see you, that’s the way it is.” Sweeney and Haskins moved to retake Battery Denver. A Japanese machine gun crew had set up shop in the base of a concrete water tower, and from this ad-hoc bunker they cut men down in droves – until Sweeney and Haskin arrived. Sometimes the men would get up the slopes leading to the battery gun pits, but they were always driven back, fewer in number each time. On the right flanks, Sergeant Major Sweeney and Sergeant Haskin took advantage of the water tower’s battered elevation to hurl grenades down on the machine guns that were holding up the advance; Haskin was killed trying to get more grenades up to Sweeney, and Sweeney was picked off after he had knocked out at least 1 of the guns. Quartermaster Clerk Frank W. Ferguson (December 8, 1903 – April 12, 1969), who knew and had served with both these long-time regulars, wrote their simple epitaph: “They were very close friends in life, and it was most fitting that they should go out together.” The battle for Water Tower Hill seesawed back and forth a few times, but the Japanese ultimately held the position. The bodies of Sweeney, Haskin, and dozens more were left behind as the Americans withdrew toward Malinta Tunnel. Another Prisoner of War, Jesse Ward “Dick” Bilyeu (April 30, 1921 – December 16, 1993) of the 59th Coast Artillery was part of a burial detail sent to Corregidor in early 1943. Every American body found was carefully searched for identification, then boxed and transported for burial “at the east end of Corregidor.” 1 day, Bilyeu chanced upon several fallen Japanese and set out to find the American position that caused the carnage. He scaled 1 of the water towers and beheld an unforgettable scene: “There at the north edge was a 30 caliber [(7.62 millimeter)] water-cooled machine gun, its barrel pointed in a rakish manner toward the sky, with expended rounds of ammunition everyplace scattered for 7 or 8 feet around the gun. At the rear of the machine gun were the skeletal remains of a soldier…His finger bones were extending from the sleeve of his khaki shirt, his flesh long since gone, blown away by the winds and rains…On the belt side of the machine gun were the remains of a Marine, in the Marine Corps green fatigue uniform. His right arm had been blown some 4 or 5 feet away. Part of the shoulder bone was still there, but the sleeve and the rest of the arm was torn off completely. His left arm was folded across the front of his shirt as if we were feeling for his right arm…These 2 soldiers had rested here since the fall of Corregidor, their flesh wasting away in the sun and the heat and the rain and the wind. The bodies of Sweeney and Haskin were recovered in 1946. This photo was published in a series of commemorative photographs celebrating the early victories of the Imperial Japanese Forces that were captured by the United States. The series is now in the United States National Archives and Records Administration. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2109.jpg |
| Image Size | 288.46 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2130 x 1511 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 6, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | Corregidor |
| State or Province | Luzon |
| Country | Philippines |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | M1733-648094-331 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database