57th Inf PS on the way to Longoskawayan

[mish]

"Four tough Philippine Scouts from the 57th Infantry move out to help in the battle for Longoskawayan Point (Melville Jacoby/courtesy of estate of Annalee Jacoby Fadiman)" Young, Battle of Bataan, 2nd ed, p. 92

[VeeVee]

I don't know... I think this has been miscaptioned. The 57th had steel helmets and garand rifles.

[mish]

When I got to the page my first reaction to the photo was something along the lines of "...whoa...makeover?" and "...ookkay this is something the reenactor community can definitely chew on...new look!"

I've no vested interest nor loyalty to the author in defending the pic, but here's
some armchairizing anyway:

1) By the time of the Battle of the Points, these guys might already have lost their
dishpans - thus the "non-standard" combat/field headgear. Also, IIRC, when the 57th was called
upon to help, they were bivouacked somewhere near the service area. If we go by the caption,
the pic captured the detail while on the way - maybe they just didn't have them on just yet? Lastly, and this is a bit of a stretch, maybe for that particular action, or maybe for
specific details/detachments, wearing the "service cap" was some sort of an ad-hoc order?

2) Are those Springfields? Or Enfields? I can't tell. Young notes though, that after issue of the Garands, not a few Scouts were a bit uncomfortable with the new rifle, given their years
of training and experience with the 03's, and readily swapped them with others to get their old
Springfields back. Among the Americans, however, the reverse was true; the book has an anecdote
about two sailors (or Marines, not sure ATM. I'll doublecheck) purposely "journeying" to a point
near the lines, precisely for the purpose of swapping their Springfields for the Scouts' new Garands
after hearing about the Scouts' willingness to do so. The pair ran into an eneny patrol, so there
went that plan. They hurried back to the rear. No swap for the two.

Just theorizing.

./end armchair mode

[VeeVee]

I think it was a case of either Melville Jacoby seeing Filipino soldiers and not knowing exactly which are Scouts vs. others... or the editors of the book not knowing which is which. Because this is what they looked like with the correct caption. Notice the M1 in the back and even though they were not totally uniform, still retained that similar "field gear" look.




If I were to guess... the picture in the first post was of Phil. Constabulary, who were also involved in the Battle of the Points.

[oklahoma]

Hey Vic....I gotta think you are "right on" as to the individuals in the first pic, probably, being Constabulary troops. The tough looking hombres in the last photo are, obviously, "RA", Regular Army, to the core. I would want them on my side in any kind of fight, whether it be actual military combat or a back alley brawl on "Payday Night". Cheers.

[VeeVee]

The soldiers in the first posting have "police" hats so I'm thinking they were constabulary.