U.S. warships and cargo ships anchored at the harbor, Manila, Philippines, 1945

Description: 

Photograph, aerial. View of military and cargo ships anchored near the shore of the harbor of Manila. Official Caption: “Rome 8/20/45 Manila Harbor in the summer of 1945. This is an airview of the harbor area of Manila, capital of the Philippines as it appeared in the summer of 1945. Before the capital was liberated on Feb. 23, 1945, the Japanese had razed large parts of the city and damaged its port facilities. However, even before Manila was cleared of the enemy, U.S. Army Engineers and U.S. Navy Seabees (construction battalions) moved in to repair the extensive destruction. By July, 1945, all of Manila's pre-war piers had been cleared of rubble and repaired, and new ones had been built. An average of 50 ships anchored in Manila Harbor excluding the slin[not a word] warships of the U.S. 7th fleet which stood guard over the newly-liberated Philippine waters. More than 20 American Liberty Ships daily discharged at Manila’s piers vast quantities of supplies and equipment which were amassed in the area as the tempo of the war against Japan rose hour by hour. Photo serviced through U. S. I. S. Rome 43312-PME. Approved by appropriate U.S. authority (D List out).” Manila, Philippines. 20 August 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Accession Number: 
Date: 
08/20/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
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Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Manila
Latitude: 
14.617
Longitude: 
120.967
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Aerial views--Philippines
Warships--American--Philippines
Cargo ships--American--Philippines
Harbors--Philippines
Liberty ships--Philippines