Mindoro, McGuire Airdrome

Mindoro, McGuire Airdrome

Military camps

Military vehicles

"McGuire Airdrome overview of Mindoro air strip facilities" From "Darkroom Soldier": "Invading Mindoro. Moving north from Leyte to establish airfields closer to Manila and Luzon, the Allies chose to invade Mindoro, a mountainous, oval-shaped island, seventh largest in the Philippines. On December 15, 1944, the invading 3rd Battalion of the 503rd Parachute Infantry drove unopposed eight miles inland, secured the airstrip, Mindoro Sugar Company plant, and village of San Jose without casualties. By January 7, 1945, when Hill's Photo Section debarked from LST-626, Mindoro seemed relatively safe, though it was only about 150 miles from Japanese airfields around Manila. At San Jose, Hill photographed McGuire Airdrome, his unit's new base on Mindoro Strait, and the parked B-25's of his 17th Reconnaissance Squadron. Tons of crushed white coral pave the roads, taxi strips, hard stands and runways. They would build their new photo lab and living quarters in a cornfield out of the picture on the lower right." ("Darkroom Soldier" caption authored by George Venn)

Hill, Fred

1945

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2010.1.559