JF Ptak Science Books Post 2678
This is a compact, concise, and detailed evaluation and history of the reconstruction of the harbor following the tremendous destruction and decimation of the population following the Battle of Manila (February 3-March 3 1945). According to the cover letter a request was sent by Civil Engineering for an article on the harbor on 5 July 1945 and Lt. Gross produced the response about five weeks later.
I can't speak at all to the accuracy of the article, but it seems to me to have the bones and muscle of a good report. Also, I cannot determine if this article was published (checking about 15 sources) though I am not finding any paper trail. I'm reproducing it here as it may be of some interest to a few people.
"Reconstruction and Development of Manila Harbor", by 2nd Lt. Martin M. Gross, Corps of Engineers. The manuscript cover is dated 26 August 1945, and sent from the "Headquarters, United States Army Forces Western Pacific, Public Relations Office" and was sent to the associate editor Don P. Reynold (ASCE, 1915-2002) of the journal Civil Engineering. This is an original typescript with manuscript corrections throughout the document: 11x8.5", 19 leaves, cover letter, plus one original spec drawing, one original map of Manila harbor (in pencil), and a photograph of the rendered version of the map. The cover letter calls for three photographs, though just the one is present (that said there is no mention of the other two drawings...) Provenance: David Katcher (1913-2002), editor at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory before World War II and later executive secretary of a theoretical physics division of the Institute for Defense Analysis, founding editor (in 1947) of the journal Physics Today, and a senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology policy during the Carter administration. During WWII David Katcher was Lt. Katcher, serving as a correspondent/writer in the public relations office of the U.S. Army Headquarters of the Western Pacific (GHQ USAFPAC), and served as Public Relations Assistant to High Commissioner Paul McNutt in Manila.
There is of course legions of background material on the (second major) battle for Manila, so I don't need to go into it here. One good, quick source on the reconstruction in the harbor facilities there is: "Engineers of the Southwest Pacific, 1941-1945, Volume 6: Reports of Airfield and Base Development ...,1951, pp 350-360.
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