P-MAN XII Progress Report #06 - Interview; Japanese vs. English; barracks area revealed
22-23 February 2010

Lessons Learned:
1. Much easier to identify an engine if you open your eyes.
2. Split ops has a side benefit: more room in the van.
3. Cell phones really don't like salt water.

22 February

We needed to do a split op day. Pat had an executive summary to write for the Palauan Government and had been too tired at night to get it done. So, being the responsible man he is, he took the morning off to get this done. That left the rest of us to 'get 'er done' without adult supervision.

Pat about to be the responsible person.

We had some errands to do. First up, pick up Joe. So I guess we really did have adult supervision. The kids were not on their own. Then we went to replace the cell phone. Seems on the boat yesterday, the responsible cell phone adult let it get dunked in salt water. Luckily, with the sim card not being shorted out, we just needed a new phone and a recharge.

Then we headed up to Ngatpang to see if we could find someone to talk to who might know anything about an airplane crash in the area. We have hiked this terrain looking for this one Corsair for four years. We obviously need a little more intel. We went to the Ngatpang State office and they made a few suggestions as to who to talk with. One elder was out of town, but the oldest elder was still there. We just had to wait until he was awake. So wait we did.

Paul documenting Mike’s first betel nut.

Down at the pier.

The Pier.

We headed up the hill to our first interview of the trip. One of the most rewarding parts of a P-MAN trip is interviewing the elders who lived through the war. Pat used to do them all and we would film, watch, and maybe add a question. A few years ago, he started switching the interviewer so everyone could do it. It’s become a favorite part of the process for most of us. Everyone gets to run the question session their own way, and everyone else gets to ask questions that they want answered at the end of the session.

Our first interviewee.

This elder told us that he used to hunt the area, hasn’t seen a thing, and as a family during the war, they used to hide every time the Americans came through on the attack missions. So, he never saw an airplane go down. He also said that he is the last of his group of friends and only the young hunters are available to talk with. He suggested we visit with Wilson, who took us into this area a few years ago.
But before we went to Wilson’s, we picked up Pat back in town. Pat was done with his adult. We did a few edits on his document over lunch and then headed back out. First stop, that engine from a few days ago.

Okay, this is a little embarrassing. Not only is the engine we found a few days ago not an Avenger engine, it’s not even American. You would have thought we would have seen the sign on it, but in our delight to find something we missed a few data tags on the engine.

Way too obvious a sign.

Not a normal American marking.

The mangrove below where this engine was resting are really horrible. So the good news is we do not have to go in there.

Then we went back to Police Hill. Some hunters did a burn in the area we’ve been looking in and it revealed some of the texture of the area we were investigating. Before the burn, you could walk all over the area and never touch the ground due to all the vegitation.

Specifically, we think we really do have the barracks area identified where the priests and missionaries were housed. We found some concrete building parts still there and the obvious flatness of the building sites was apparent. And the roadway up between the barracks area was obvious as well. Mark Swank put together a mission plan last year based on War Crime Trials transcripts and documents. He said if we went here, we would find this. And if we found this, and went that a way, we would find that. Well we did find this and that and it lead us to the area where we think the missionaries, some U.S. Servicemen and a British national were all executed. This barracks area just adds more credence to Mark’s theories.

Burned out area.

Former binjo room?

Still kinda thick in areas.

We headed to Wilson’s place, and he was there. He remembered us and was happy to chat with us. No, he hasn’t seen any airplane wreckage in the areas he hunts. But since we were last with him, he did see some aluminum in the jungle. About the size of a dinner plate. Seems like some questions have to be asked in a slightly different way.

Paul interviewing Wilson with Pat filming.

And Wilson said he’d be willing to take us out tomorrow and show us. That’s always a good thing.

We headed back to town, with an appointment for 9am with Wilson in our calendars. But what to do. We have a boat scheduled for the next day and we do want to get some more sss work in. Hmmmmm. Split ops day again! This time though, it would be Paul and Pat up in the hills and Rick, Mike and Me on the boat. Perfect.

Out to a Japanese restaurant where we ate an eclectic mix of foods, with lots of veggies.

Got home and all of us turned in early.

23 February

Pat and Paul went up to see Wilson, and got stood up. So they spent a few hours up on Police Hill figuring out how to give the President a tour. The President of Palau expressed enough interest in what we do to schedule a time to hike with us up on Police Hill. He is especially interested in the story of the missionaries.

After that, Pat worked on more paperwork for various government offices here in Palau.

The rest of us, Me, Mike, Rick and Joe went for a boat ride. We were going to look for the reported airplane up north and on the east side of Babelthuap. However, it was too rough so we turned south to another site. Hennie, who works for Neco Yamaha said he knows exactly where a wing is located. It’s on a reef in about 80 feet of water. He said he would take us to it, but not until tomorrow. So we decided to see if we could find it. We found a yellow submerged buoy, a gray submerged buoy and a lot of fish. No wings. I think waiting for Hennie is a better idea.

Rick and I did play with the manta boards and I got down to 32 feet and we did not use all of the line that we had available.

Went to calmer waters for lunch. Then worked a couple of hours of SSS. It’s amazing how much better this equipment is compared to what we had last year. This donation from Marine Sonic really is a game changer for us. And Jack from Marine Sonic is coming out tonight and tomorrow the real learning begins.

We gave Mike some manta board training and threw him over the side. After a few minutes, I could not resist. I joined him.

Promptly at 3 p.m. we headed in. Stowed the gear, cleaned up and headed out. It’s spaghetti night at Kraemer’s.

Paul is heading to the airport to pick up Jack Herbert. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.

- Flip
 

Return to Progress Reports Index