When Corregidor finally fell at 12 Noon
 
 on May 6, 1942, the formal surrender 
 
came as a surprise to almost none of the seven
 
 thousand Americans and five thousand Filipinos on 
 
The Rock, particularly those of us who had served
 
 as staff officers. The surrender was a logical 
 
climax to a series of disasters which had been 
 
highlighted by the evacuation of Manila and the 
 
Cavite Naval Base on Christmas Eve, the heavy
 
 aerial bombing of Corregidor on December 29, 
 
1941, the departure of high United States and 
 
Filippine officials in February, and the withdrawal 
 
to Australia of General MacArthur and members 
 
of his staff in March.
 
          Then on May 9, 1942, came the surrender 
 
of Bataan.  There were approximately 
 
four times as many men on Bataan, only four miles
 
 away, as we had on Corregidor. We knew that 
 
The Rock was next. The Japs were hitting us
 
 with everything they had. It was only a matter of 
 
time.
 
         As the time for the surrender drew near, 
one of us (McCoy) was in the tunnel 
 
occupied by the Navy and the other (Mellnick)
 
 was stationed in the Headquarters Tunnel 
 
occupied by the Army. We were not quartered
 
 together in the same prison until
 
some weeks after our capture. Thus, each of
 
 us saw different phases of the same event; and in 
 
telling the story of what happened while we
 
 were official military prisoners of the Japanese in the 
 
Philippines, each has elected to tell the part with
 
 which he is most familiar.
 
     
 Commander McCoy 
--------------------------
        
  Even in the depths of the solid rock tunnels of Corregidor
 
we could feel the vibrations of the almost constant Japanese
 
 barrage.