On February 16, 1945, during the Pacific War, the Battle of Corregidor Island in Manila Bay, Philippines, broke out. About 2,050 American paratroopers descended and landed in the center of the island. The bodies of numerous Japanese soldiers killed on the beach were autopsied by American soldiers as they scouted for corpses.

   On February 16, 1945, during the Pacific War, the Battle of Corregidor (Corregidor Island) in Manila Bay, Philippines, broke out. About 2,050 U.S. paratroopers, the 503rd Airborne, descended and landed almost in the center of Corregidor Island. The Japanese were caught completely by surprise and split into east and west, and the battle ended during February 26. The bodies of many slain Japanese soldiers were scattered on the beaches of Corregidor Island. American soldiers scouted the bodies and performed autopsies. The surviving Japanese troops then turned to guerrilla warfare.

　Corregidor Island was a key point in the defense of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Against the approximately 4,500 Japanese soldiers defending Corregidor Island, the U.S. forces invaded simultaneously from the air and sea on February 16. The fortresses where the Japanese troops were holed up were dropped about 3128 tons over an area of about 2.59 square kilometers in a ferocious air raid on Corregidor Island.

    The U.S. military's descent on Corregidor Island began at 8:30 a.m. on February 16, 1945. Eighty-two aircraft of the 54th Troop Transport Squadron (C-47) carried approximately 2,050 men of the 503rd from Mindoro Island in two transports. The first drop was made from an altitude of about 198 meters and was lowered to about 152 meters or lower shortly after. The U.S. paratroopers faced the defense of an estimated 850 (later determined to be more than 5,000) Japanese soldiers in heavily fortified positions. The paratroopers' air raids completely overwhelmed the Japanese garrison and quickly took their first objective; by the end of the day on February 16, American forces had overrun the main terrain in the Beachhead area. Reinforced U.S. forces landed on San José Beach on the morning of February 16 and secured the hillside after suffering casualties from beach mines.

　During the two American assaults on February 16, many Japanese survivors temporarily hid in the Malinta Tunnel. The 426-meter-long tunnel, dug deep into the center of Corregidor Island, was a former U.S. supply depot. The Japanese garrison ignited a nearby ammunition dump in order to commit mass suicide. The explosion killed most of the Japanese soldiers, and about 52 American soldiers were also killed in the blast. The Japanese who survived the explosion were driven out into the open and annihilated by the U.S. By February 27, the Americans had killed about 4,500 Japanese soldiers and captured about 19 others. By March 2, when U.S. forces officially took control of Corregidor Island, they had suffered more than 1,000 casualties, including about 210 dead.