The Foreign Service Journal, December 2013

24 OCTOBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL its descent over the entrance to Manila Bay, directly above Corregidor, scene of one of the most humiliating surrenders in American history. To the north is the Bataan Peninsula, crowned by the craggy 4,554-foot Mariveles Volcano that tow- ers over Corregidor. Looking south out of the right window, one sees Cavite province, where the Japanese began their bombard- ment of U.S. forces on the island on Feb. 8, 1942. During the final approach into Manila, I can clearly see the World War II American Military Cemetery, a circular 152-acre park containing 36,285 American dead, one of our largest overseas military graveyards. Most of the casualties occurred during the New Guinea, Philippine, China, Burma and India campaigns. Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, after Lt. General Wain- wright’s radio message to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared: “There is a limit of human endurance, and that point has been long passed.” Through the invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese were able to isolate the archipelago from resupply and gain important airfields for operational thrusts throughout the Pacific. On to Guam After an exchange of classified diplomatic pouches with embassy personnel on the tarmac at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino Airport, a complex change of aircraft for the subsequent journey to Guam takes place. As a result of increased security at airports worldwide, signing for classified material, chang- ing airlines, paying excess baggage and moving the diplomatic pouches from one plane to another are never easy. Only Embassy Manila’s excellent support at the airport makes this transit possible. Three hours later, on the approach into Guam, I can see the sawgrass hills of the island fringed by reefs in a single glance. Because Guam is American territory, the security at the airport is tighter than elsewhere in the region. The diplomatic courier is not allowed to descend planeside at Won Pat International Airport to retrieve our classified material, so a second courier is sent from Bangkok ahead of time to act as a cleared escort. Merely securing an airport badge ahead of time isn’t enough to access the tarmac, however; the escort has to be joined by a U.S. Transportation Security Administration employee planeside. After a successful exchange of classified diplomatic pouches with another government agency, the remaining material is driven 30 minutes north to Andersen Air Base for secure overnight storage along a flight line crowded with B-52s. The interagency cooperation between the Diplomatic Courier Service and the U.S. Air Force on Guam is seamless. This Japanese gun emplacement on Tumon Beach in Guam is a World War II relic. A favorite contemporary image of Guam is the Japanese pillbox under towering hotels on Tumon Beach. Jiro Waters