# WWII Stolen Gold Buried In Philippines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950 "2005-01-09T23:54:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/1 "2005-01-09T23:54:36Z")
I just saw a good show on the History Channel-“Yamashita’s Gold” it was about the cottage industry in the Philippines, of people searching (unsuccessfully) for the alleged hundreds of bilions$ in gold stashed by the retreating Japanese in WWII. In brief, the story goes like this: during the early years of WEWII, the Japanese Army looted palaces, temples, and churches in Burma, Indochna, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. This gold was melted down and cast into bars, and shipped to the Philippines, where it was hidden in tunnels, caves, etc. Supposedly, the japanese intended to reclaim it after the war, and several maps have been found which show the location of the treasure hordes. Well, 60 years later, millions have been spend trying to find the loot…and old men claiming to know have been leading treasure hunters on wild goose chases all over the islands. The concensus seems to be that whatever “treasure” was hidden during the war, has long since disappeared. Anyway, the question I have is this: years ago I read that about $350 million in silver bullion was dumped into Corregeidor Bay by the retreating USA and Philippine Army units in 1941 (to keep the bullion out of the hands of the Japanese). Has anyone found this horde? And, has anyone in Japan ever claimed any of the so-called Philippine gold? Given that anyone alive during these events (in 1941-45) is now getting quite elderly, what are the chances of anything about this coming to light? Any Philippine Dopers here to help us out? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/2 "2005-01-10T00:26:32Z")
There’s quite an industry in Scotland persuading tourists that the Loch Ness Monster exists. However there is no actual evidence of the beastie. Was this program about the actual gold, or just about the rumours? In any case: - why would the Japanese hide the treasure abroad? - has any senior Japanese army officer ever stated the rumours are true? - when do people begin to doubt the rumours? (60 years later and millions spent -for nothing!) As for dumping all this silver in the sea, how did they expect to recover it? If it’s on a ship, why not take it with you? Finally if you were in your twenties during 1941, even assuming you’d survived the war, you’d be well over 80 now. I think we can safely assume nothing will ever come of this. Sorry not to be more romantic! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/3 "2005-01-10T00:52:19Z")
You are quite right, evidence for this treasure is pretty slim. The show was pretty well done-they interviewed people who had searched for some of these sites, and also survivors of people who claimed to know where the gold was hidden. One linchepin of the pro-treasure side is the following: -General Yamashita was executed for war crimes in 1945-he left no word about the whereabouts of any of this gold. -the late Ferdinand Marcos somehow got hold of a huge amount of gold in the 1970’s-whether this was part of a japanese hoard (or simply stolen from the PI national bank) is impossible to say. -some clues do exist, but there is no direct evidence from what I saw Yes, survivors of the Japanese invasion are getting very old-I doubt here will be anyone left alive 10 years from now. As I say, I have seen no refernce to the silver (allegedly dumped in 1941). Just wondering if anyone ever heard of this. As far as why? I would say the reasoning is sound-shipping anything to Japan after 1943 was pretty dicey-the US Navy submarines were sinky pretty much any japanese merchant ships in the Philippine Seas at that time. I can see a few generals stashing the loot, and planning to go back for it once things cooled off! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/4 "2005-01-10T01:11:30Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Anyway, the question I have is this: years ago I read that about $350 million in silver bullion was dumped into Corregeidor Bay by the retreating USA and Philippine Army units in 1941 (to keep the bullion out of the hands of the Japanese). Has anyone found this horde? I think it was more like 8 million in silver. I could be wrong. And, yes, the Allies retrieved most of it in 1945. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/5 "2005-01-10T01:52:08Z")
This hidden gold is a big part of the plot of Neal Stephenson’s novel _Cryptonomicon_. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/6 "2005-01-10T01:58:19Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > This hidden gold is a big part of the plot of Neal Stephenson’s novel _Cryptonomicon_. And as a shameless hijack, in GQ even, how was that book? I almost bought it the other day, but it was so long that I didn’t feel like investing the time unless I knew it would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/7 "2005-01-10T02:04:19Z")
I finally read _Cryptonomicon_ just a few months ago. It’s excellent, except I was a bit disappointed with the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/8 "2005-01-10T03:07:50Z")
Yes, it’s truly excellent, if a bit eccentric. It also has flaws almost as large and varied as the text itself. The ending is one, Stehpenson’s inability to write female characters another, his monomania for detail a third, his warped sense of plot yet a fourth. For all that it’s still excellent. He brilliantly brings his worlds to life\*, his individual sentences are always fascinating and never clichéd, and his mastery of his craft is awesome. Just about everything of his shares the same faults and virtues and is all worth reading. \*I wrote a story set in a historical place he sets a chapter. I know enough about the mechanics of writing to tell that I did more research on the place than he did. Yet he still did a better job in some ways in making the reader visualize the place than I ever could. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/9 "2005-01-10T13:37:24Z")
Small Anime note–Yamashita’s gold figures in a plotline of a full-length Anime film in the _Lupin the 3rd_ series. ---
**Author:** ![blackfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blackfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackfire)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/10 "2010-06-19T21:16:01Z")
I have found a stash of this gold along with it are chests of gems. The problem facing is that the Philippine government will try and take it if I try transporting. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/11 "2010-06-19T21:20:09Z")
Welcome to the Dope, **blackfire**. How are things in Nigeria? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/12 "2010-06-19T21:28:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Yes, it’s truly excellent, if a bit eccentric. It also has flaws almost as large and varied as the text itself. The ending is one, Stehpenson’s inability to write female characters another, his monomania for detail a third, his warped sense of plot yet a fourth. For all that it’s still excellent. He brilliantly brings his worlds to life\*, his individual sentences are always fascinating and never clichéd, and his mastery of his craft is awesome. Just about everything of his shares the same faults and virtues and is all worth reading. I’d agree with these criticisms, and add that when he wrote Cryptonomicon Stephenson clearly didn’t have much of an understanding of economics. However, few people are going to pick up on those kinds of problems. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/13 "2010-06-19T21:43:30Z")
\*Cryptonomican \*is like a Tom Clancy novel gone horribly right. Also: Zombieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/14 "2010-06-20T09:26:53Z")
In February 1942, 20 tons of gold was shipped out of the Phillipines aboard the US Navy submarine USS Trout. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/15 "2010-06-20T11:33:00Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > In February 1942, 20 tons of gold was shipped out of the Phillipines aboard the US Navy submarine USS Trout. That gold was evacuated from Phillippine banks before the occupation by the Japanese. The Japanese were not defeated in the Phillipines until 1945. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/16 "2010-06-20T15:18:17Z")
Didn’t Ferdinand Marcos claim that he got rich from treasure hunting and not, you know, embezzling from government coffers? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/17 "2010-06-20T22:11:46Z")
This was the plot premise of the 1969 movie, _Impasse_, with Burt Reynolds, which many people will vaguely recall having caught on late-night TV (which is where it belongs); that some of the gold of the Commonwealth of the Philippines was not evacuated in 1942 but walled up in the tunnels under Corregidor. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-stolen-gold-buried-in-philippines/283950/18 "2010-06-20T23:31:15Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Didn’t Ferdinand Marcos claim that he got rich from treasure hunting and not, you know, embezzling from government coffers? It certainly sounds like something that someone embezzling from government coffers _would_ say.