My Father was an original RON 3 member. He served first on the 33 Boat and eventually served on all RON 3 PT Boats. Then made his way to Mindanao and fought with Ferdig. Frank Napolillo Jr. RIP Dad
First book I ever read without pictures was "They Were Expendable" which created a fascination for the early days of the war in the Pacific through Guadalcanal for me. As a young Junior Officer my ship did a refresher training at Guantanamo Bay while Admiral Bulkeley was in command of the base. I never laid eyes on him during the six weeks we were there to my dissappointment.
That was an excellent retelling of the exploit too get Macarthur, and the Philippines President on their way too Australia. We need too hear many more of these great Exploits, for the Benefits of today's Youth. Because as was said Before, Lest We Forget what Others Have Done For US in the Past. WYO, Robert, 🇨🇦🇺🇲🇨🇦🇺🇲👀👀📽️📽️🤔🤔👍👍🙏🙏
Buckley was inspecting our ship and came into my catapult machinery spaces. He stated it was hard to believe looking at this space that the ship was over 20 years old. :)
their exploit was made into a movie - THEY WERE Expendable. the group of Lt. BULKELEY did better that the exploit of PT BOAT 109 (but not belittling their accomplishments). to the officers and staff of motor torpedo boat squadron 3 THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE! Really you came from the GREATEST GENERATION OF ALL TIME. GOD BLESS YOU SIRS
Yes, I’ve watched it a few times. They didn’t go into much detail about McArthur’s escape, which wasn’t at all simple, and didn’t cover Quezon’s evacuation at all.
There's some debate about that, but McArthur was a remarkable individual that draws either strong admiration or the opposite. He certainly didn't hang about waiting for orders, as Operation Victor clearly shows!
There's also a book titled RESCUE, Its about Americans from Silliman University fled to Bacolod and other Americans from Bacolod fled together from Bacolod to Basay Negros Oriental where they were pucked io by a US submarine and were brought to Australia.
@@LesSharp I know that is untrue. There is more to the WW2 PT boats than JFK. Also PTs were involved in the battle of Sarago Strait. Hope I spelled that right.
Absolutely, when you think about how bad the charts they had were, how dodgy the torpedos were, that the boats lacked any armor... Check out my other video on this topic!
macarthur got a medal of honor... for getting sea-sick? for having his air force destroyed on the ground? for his inept defense of the philipines? the least deserved medal of honor in history
Wow, that guy probably couldn't take standing at Parade Rest more than a half hour with All those Medals pinned to his chest and probably had a Terrible back and Lot's of pain in his later years!!
@@LesSharp brave men. they deserved better. it was some capt. at the naval yard who wouldn't allow testing cause the torpedos cost 7k . then they said the crews were blaming the torpedos for there lincompetense
I don't think PTs used the same model torpedo. Early PTs were launched using a gun powder charge. Which exposed their location at night. Not good, later change to roll off launch. No bright flash.
Three V-12s was the normal build-out in the ELCO 77' boats. Still insane power in what amounts to a souped-up wooden speedboat with machine guns and torpedoes tacked on!
Everyone knows MacArthur pulled his forces out too late, he got out, 20,000 left behind to suffer in Japanese marches and death camps. That's why i liked the navy , command goes down with his ship.
THIS IS THE SAME EXACT STORY THAT JOHN WAYNE THE ACTOR PLAYED IN THEY WERE EXPENDABLE WAS THE NAME OF THIS MOVIE THE EXACT SAME THING AND THE EXACT SAME NUMBER OF BOATS AND THE BOAT NUMBERS THE PROBLEM AND THE ISSUES THAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY OF TRANSPORTING THE GENERAL THE WHOLE THING WAS PLAYED OUT EXACTLY WARD BOND WAS IN IT AND ACTOR CALLED MONTGOMERY LAID IN IT AND MANY OTHER ACTORS THE SAME TRAVEL AND ROUTE OF THE PASSENGERS IN THE GENERAL MACARTHUR THE SAME ROUTE AND EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE TRAVELS HOW AMAZING....
Thanks for stopping by. I love the movie, as you clearly do. The director had a limited run time, and of course was trying to make as cheerful a movie as practical, given the circumstances (by which I mean losing the Philippines). "They Were Expendable" doesn't mention President Manuel Quezon, probably due to lack of time, which is the loss of an interesting chapter in the story. They did not cover mishaps like the loss of the fuel drums at night, mistaking one another and almost starting a shooting match with VIP pax on board, or almost blowing up PT-41 when a torpedo starting running itself red hot on deck while Quezon and his family was aboard. The movie shows a great deal of heroism displayed by this unit and was in some places very true to reality, but there was more that went unsung. My video is an attempt to highlight some of the things that didn't go right on that mission. To my mind that makes them more heroic than depicted, not less. Next week I'll have another video up showing the exact locations of all six boat losses and how exactly they occurred, the information coming directly from Bulkeley himself and the official Squadron reports, and I can tell you those losses are not the way they were painted in the movie. So, if you didn't like this video, you definitely won't enjoy that one!
Actually, Robert Montgomery is the one who received the top billing in the movie credits. He was a much bigger name and had been a leading man for years in alot of movies.
That is how my Filipina partner pronounced it, but sure, go ahead and spout about places you've never been to. Do you have a newsletter I can subscribe to?
The title refers to the flight of President Manuel Quezon, who basically only decided to leave the Philippines while here on this island, Negros. I'd be open to changing the title if you have a better one to suggest.
@@LesSharp The PT Boats as small and under-developed at the time were crucial in evacuating McArthur & Quezon. I missed the name of the Island. The documentary covers the situation, but only 43 Comments with almost 80,600 Views. McArthur and Quezon Evacuated by Swift PT Boats. Content was Great.
Stand Corrected: Ship's name was the Princess of Negros. After the Island. Maybe I'm a "Sick Bastard" but I expected a story about Pacific Islanders, descendants of Africans, escaping Japanese Occupation and Slavery via US PT Boats. Oh well, watched a second time anyways.
Sorry it took so long to reply. Our island was named by the Spanish for the skin color of the inhabitants. Welcome to the 1800's! The ferry ship you refer to was bought very second-hand and put into service between Iloilo, Guimares Island and Bacolod thereafter.
@@LesSharp That's OK. Sometimes I've made comments and then studied the Subject Matter. I have gotten responses to comments six months to year plus later. ?. Skipped through the first viewing. Second time I paid attention. Very thorough for short presentation. Real Good. Again Thanks.
Mac Arthur, Doug the coward, false hero, escaped from the Philippines, vomited and got seasick in the boat, told his soldiers:"Fix yourself as you can". He took his family and a mattress full of gold. That was the hero.
Because the Rolls Royce company could not keep up with the demand for their famous "MERLIN" engines, they entered a contract with the US Car manufacturer, PACKARD, to produce the MERLIN engine under license in the United States. Therefore, the engines in the PT Boats were actually Rolls Royce "MERLIN" aircraft engines built my Packard in the US.
That is correct John, in that Rolls Royce could not build enough Merlins for the war effort, and needed the help of the US to build more. But not quite correct on the engine in the PT boats. The Packard V12 engine in the PT boat was a unit that has it's ancestry in the wonderful WWI Liberty bomber. It's not the Packard version of the Merlin. I had the same conception until I started researching this video! The M-2500 series of engines was a whopping 40 to 42 liters, or 2.489ci displacement with the later ones being around 2,600ci. The RR Merlin, by contrast was only around 27 liters. There's actually no connection between these two engines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_1A-2500
John J Cox lll :: Rolls Royce merlin built in America was the Packard merlin and was use in seceral different air craft like P51's in the states and mossy's and Lancaster's built in Canada. And for some spitfires replacement engines on their earlier models.
@@nethanelmasters5170 Most of the Packard Built merlins, 37,137 of them went into the Lancaster MkBIII built in England, 3,040 of them and 400 MkX Built in Canada, also 1500 Mosquitos and 1200 Hurrycanes built in Canada, the only $hitfire to get a Packard Merlin were 1020 Mk XVI (16) and that was late in 1944, They were the only 60 series 2 stage versions the Brits received, The USA received 18,000 Packard built Merlins 15,000 of those were the V1650-3/7/9 the 2 stage version, which were used only in the Mustangs, 1350 P40/F&L got the first Packard V1650-1 single stage merlin. Packard built 14,000 of the M2500 PT Boat engines that the US Navy first received in 1938, Packard built the first Merlin in Aug 1941 with production in 1942, The M2500 was a purpose designed and built engine based on the internals of Packards 1A2500 aero engines. and had NOTHING to do with the Packard built merlin. NO Merlins of any source were ever used in a US Navy PT Boat and Many M2500 were used in British MTB's & MGB's. Facts of history, see you tube video PACKARD V12 PT Boat engine. very clearly explained.
johnjcoxiii RR contracted with PACKARD in 1940 to build 9000 Merlins FOR THE BRITS as an off shore shadow factory with Packard running their first Merlin in Aug 1941 and production in 1942, The US Navy took delivery of the first M2500 PT Boat engine in 1938, so how the Hell was the PT Boat engine a Merlin ???? Merlin was only 1650 Cu in, or 27 liter, the M2500 was 2500 cu in or 42 liters !!!! Or 50% LARGER !!! See the You Tube video PACKARD PT BOAT ENGINE where it is discussed at great length and many pictures suggest you watch it and learn the truth, the M2500 had NOTHING to do with the merlin. PACKARD had been designing and building aero and Marine engines since WWI, and it was the Brits getting and using the M2500 that brought RR to PACKARD as they had seen and experienced the QUALITY pf Packards build. The Brits had even Use Packard Liberty V12 as a tank engine and even building them under license untill WWII.
My Father was an original RON 3 member. He served first on the 33 Boat and eventually served on all RON 3 PT Boats. Then made his way to Mindanao and fought with Ferdig. Frank Napolillo Jr. RIP Dad
Thanks for sharing this very important piece of history.
First book I ever read without pictures was "They Were Expendable" which created a fascination for the early days of the war in the Pacific through Guadalcanal for me. As a young Junior Officer my ship did a refresher training at Guantanamo Bay while Admiral Bulkeley was in command of the base. I never laid eyes on him during the six weeks we were there to my dissappointment.
That was an excellent retelling of the exploit too get Macarthur, and the Philippines President on their way too Australia. We need too hear many more of these great Exploits, for the Benefits of today's Youth.
Because as was said Before, Lest We Forget what Others Have Done For US in the Past. WYO, Robert, 🇨🇦🇺🇲🇨🇦🇺🇲👀👀📽️📽️🤔🤔👍👍🙏🙏
Glad you liked it. I have a new one up today with some more background on the boats, and where they all ended up.
Buckley was inspecting our ship and came into my catapult machinery spaces. He stated it was hard to believe looking at this space that the ship was over 20 years old. :)
my dad got picked up by a PT boat after his heavy lead cruiser ship sank from a torpedo , it sunk at night, so he was in water half the night alone.
Very versatile boats, just hard to maintain and expensive to run.
@@LesSharp oh i didnt know that
His pictures reminds me a lot of my uncle in his uniform who was a master chief. He died when I was a kid but I still miss him.
They truly were the greatest generation.
their exploit was made into a movie - THEY WERE Expendable. the group of Lt. BULKELEY did better that the exploit of PT BOAT 109 (but not belittling their accomplishments). to the officers and staff of motor torpedo boat squadron 3 THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE! Really you came from the GREATEST GENERATION OF ALL TIME. GOD BLESS YOU SIRS
Stick around mate, there will be more on those stories.
my dad's uncle was on the PT109 with John Kennedy when it was cut in half... he never talked about it much...
This story was told in the John Wayne movie "They were expendable." After this McArthur was known as "Bug Out Doug."
Yes, I’ve watched it a few times. They didn’t go into much detail about McArthur’s escape, which wasn’t at all simple, and didn’t cover Quezon’s evacuation at all.
MacArthur refused to leave until he was ordered out by President Roosevelt.
There's some debate about that, but McArthur was a remarkable individual that draws either strong admiration or the opposite. He certainly didn't hang about waiting for orders, as Operation Victor clearly shows!
There is no doubt whatever. FDR issues a direct order.
Great story of harrowing escape! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it! Check out the latest one on this topic!
There's also a book titled RESCUE, Its about Americans from Silliman University fled to Bacolod and other Americans from Bacolod fled together from Bacolod to Basay Negros Oriental where they were pucked io by a US submarine and were brought to Australia.
Anytime the PT boats are discussed PT-109 comes up. The better story is that of PT squadron 3 in They Were Expendable.
You'd be surprised how many people believe JFK rocked up here in PT-109 to whisk both McArthur AND Quezon away. Or maybe you wouldn't!
@@LesSharp I know that is untrue. There is more to the WW2 PT boats than JFK. Also PTs were involved in the battle of Sarago Strait. Hope I spelled that right.
@@davidneel8327 Surigao
JFK got his crew run over by a Japanese ship and became a hero. He must have had good PR.
@@davidneel8327 Siargao, sir.😊👍
Great production and very detailed, but please for gods sake, change the music.
Thanks for the input! What part of the soundtrack in particular did you dislike? All of it?
My plan is to drive out of Chicago ...
Very good. Start small. Manage expectations. Work up to your bigger goals step by step!
hee hee...I saw what you did there.
PT Boat skippers tended to be a fearless bunch. They seemed willing to try anything once, twice if the first time didn't kill them.
Absolutely, when you think about how bad the charts they had were, how dodgy the torpedos were, that the boats lacked any armor... Check out my other video on this topic!
macarthur got a medal of honor... for getting sea-sick? for having his air force destroyed on the ground? for his inept defense of the philipines? the least deserved medal of honor in history
thank you
this was wonderful
Glad you enjoyed it!
great stuff!! thank you.
Excellent Les a great story well re-told with hands on Local Knowledge.
Thanks mate!
Wow, that guy probably couldn't take standing at Parade Rest more than a half hour with All those Medals pinned to his chest and probably had a Terrible back and Lot's of pain in his later years!!
I was thinking something similar, but from the weight of his massive, cast iron balls.
every body had a working torpedo but the U S NAVY.
Amazing that these guys were able to do the damage they did, given the awful nature of the torpedoes available then.
@@LesSharp brave men. they deserved better. it was some capt. at the naval yard who wouldn't allow testing cause the torpedos cost 7k . then they said the crews were blaming the torpedos for there lincompetense
I don't think PTs used the same model torpedo. Early PTs were launched using a gun powder charge. Which exposed their location at night. Not good, later change to roll off launch. No bright flash.
Yes, terrible incompetence there. And, it got worse! th-cam.com/video/eQ5Ru7Zu_1I/w-d-xo.html
👍
Good stuff.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Twin V 16 Packard supercharged engine's in those plywood death traps.
Three V-12s was the normal build-out in the ELCO 77' boats. Still insane power in what amounts to a souped-up wooden speedboat with machine guns and torpedoes tacked on!
3 engines
Everyone knows MacArthur pulled his forces out too late, he got out, 20,000 left behind to suffer in Japanese marches and death camps. That's why i liked the navy , command goes down with his ship.
Tb is common in the pi.
Sadly, it is, even now.
Liked and subbed. 👍
Thanks for subbing
You British or ex-U.S. Navy with funny accent?
Limey, with funny accent. I haven't lived in the UK since 1986.
****** Star
Cor-reg-a-dor
The island was named by the Spanish, so I go with their pronunciation.
THIS IS THE SAME EXACT STORY THAT JOHN WAYNE THE ACTOR PLAYED IN THEY WERE EXPENDABLE WAS THE NAME OF THIS MOVIE THE EXACT SAME THING AND THE EXACT SAME NUMBER OF BOATS AND THE BOAT NUMBERS THE PROBLEM AND THE ISSUES THAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY OF TRANSPORTING THE GENERAL THE WHOLE THING WAS PLAYED OUT EXACTLY WARD BOND WAS IN IT AND ACTOR CALLED MONTGOMERY LAID IN IT AND MANY OTHER ACTORS THE SAME TRAVEL AND ROUTE OF THE PASSENGERS IN THE GENERAL MACARTHUR THE SAME ROUTE AND EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE TRAVELS HOW AMAZING....
Thanks for stopping by. I love the movie, as you clearly do. The director had a limited run time, and of course was trying to make as cheerful a movie as practical, given the circumstances (by which I mean losing the Philippines). "They Were Expendable" doesn't mention President Manuel Quezon, probably due to lack of time, which is the loss of an interesting chapter in the story. They did not cover mishaps like the loss of the fuel drums at night, mistaking one another and almost starting a shooting match with VIP pax on board, or almost blowing up PT-41 when a torpedo starting running itself red hot on deck while Quezon and his family was aboard. The movie shows a great deal of heroism displayed by this unit and was in some places very true to reality, but there was more that went unsung. My video is an attempt to highlight some of the things that didn't go right on that mission. To my mind that makes them more heroic than depicted, not less.
Next week I'll have another video up showing the exact locations of all six boat losses and how exactly they occurred, the information coming directly from Bulkeley himself and the official Squadron reports, and I can tell you those losses are not the way they were painted in the movie. So, if you didn't like this video, you definitely won't enjoy that one!
Actually, Robert Montgomery is the one who received the top billing in the movie credits. He was a much bigger name and had been a leading man for years in alot of movies.
Corridor?????? CORRIDOR??????
Really?
Corrigador.
That is how my Filipina partner pronounced it, but sure, go ahead and spout about places you've never been to. Do you have a newsletter I can subscribe to?
Why such a misleading "Title" ?
The title refers to the flight of President Manuel Quezon, who basically only decided to leave the Philippines while here on this island, Negros. I'd be open to changing the title if you have a better one to suggest.
@@LesSharp The PT Boats as small and under-developed at the time were crucial in evacuating McArthur & Quezon. I missed the name of the Island. The documentary covers the situation, but only 43 Comments with almost 80,600 Views. McArthur and Quezon Evacuated by Swift PT Boats. Content was Great.
Stand Corrected: Ship's name was the Princess of Negros. After the Island. Maybe I'm a "Sick Bastard" but I expected a story about Pacific Islanders, descendants of Africans, escaping Japanese Occupation and Slavery via US PT Boats. Oh well, watched a second time anyways.
Sorry it took so long to reply. Our island was named by the Spanish for the skin color of the inhabitants. Welcome to the 1800's! The ferry ship you refer to was bought very second-hand and put into service between Iloilo, Guimares Island and Bacolod thereafter.
@@LesSharp That's OK. Sometimes I've made comments and then studied the Subject Matter. I have gotten responses to comments six months to year plus later. ?. Skipped through the first viewing. Second time I paid attention. Very thorough for short presentation. Real Good. Again Thanks.
Mac Arthur, Doug the coward, false hero, escaped from the Philippines, vomited and got seasick in the boat, told his soldiers:"Fix yourself as you can". He took his family and a mattress full of gold. That was the hero.
And just where did you uncover all those bit's of history?
Because the Rolls Royce company could not keep up with the demand for their famous "MERLIN" engines, they entered a contract with the US Car manufacturer, PACKARD, to produce the MERLIN engine under license in the United States. Therefore, the engines in the PT Boats were actually Rolls Royce "MERLIN" aircraft engines built my Packard in the US.
That is correct John, in that Rolls Royce could not build enough Merlins for the war effort, and needed the help of the US to build more. But not quite correct on the engine in the PT boats. The Packard V12 engine in the PT boat was a unit that has it's ancestry in the wonderful WWI Liberty bomber. It's not the Packard version of the Merlin. I had the same conception until I started researching this video! The M-2500 series of engines was a whopping 40 to 42 liters, or 2.489ci displacement with the later ones being around 2,600ci. The RR Merlin, by contrast was only around 27 liters. There's actually no connection between these two engines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_1A-2500
John J Cox lll :: Rolls Royce merlin built in America was the Packard merlin and was use in seceral different air craft like P51's in the states and mossy's and Lancaster's built in Canada. And for some spitfires replacement engines on their earlier models.
@@nethanelmasters5170 Most of the Packard Built merlins, 37,137 of them went into the Lancaster MkBIII built in England, 3,040 of them and 400 MkX Built in Canada, also 1500 Mosquitos and 1200 Hurrycanes built in Canada, the only $hitfire to get a Packard Merlin were 1020 Mk XVI (16) and that was late in 1944, They were the only 60 series 2 stage versions the Brits received, The USA received 18,000 Packard built Merlins 15,000 of those were the V1650-3/7/9 the 2 stage version, which were used only in the Mustangs, 1350 P40/F&L got the first Packard V1650-1 single stage merlin. Packard built 14,000 of the M2500 PT Boat engines that the US Navy first received in 1938, Packard built the first Merlin in Aug 1941 with production in 1942, The M2500 was a purpose designed and built engine based on the internals of Packards 1A2500 aero engines. and had NOTHING to do with the Packard built merlin. NO Merlins of any source were ever used in a US Navy PT Boat and Many M2500 were used in British MTB's & MGB's. Facts of history, see you tube video PACKARD V12 PT Boat engine. very clearly explained.
johnjcoxiii RR contracted with PACKARD in 1940 to build 9000 Merlins FOR THE BRITS as an off shore shadow factory with Packard running their first Merlin in Aug 1941 and production in 1942, The US Navy took delivery of the first M2500 PT Boat engine in 1938, so how the Hell was the PT Boat engine a Merlin ???? Merlin was only 1650 Cu in, or 27 liter, the M2500 was 2500 cu in or 42 liters !!!! Or 50% LARGER !!! See the You Tube video PACKARD PT BOAT ENGINE where it is discussed at great length and many pictures suggest you watch it and learn the truth, the M2500 had NOTHING to do with the merlin. PACKARD had been designing and building aero and Marine engines since WWI, and it was the Brits getting and using the M2500 that brought RR to PACKARD as they had seen and experienced the QUALITY pf Packards build. The Brits had even Use Packard Liberty V12 as a tank engine and even building them under license untill WWII.
That's racist
I do hope you are trying to be funny