P-MAN XIV Update #21 - Maybe a site we've been trying to find for years, and a moonrise seance.

07 April 2012

I wrote this update completely on the 7th, with my best use of wordsmithing, and when I went to send it, this computer froze and I lost all my work. Now two days later, I'm finally able to get something out. [Editor's note: it's a Mac. I'm just sayin'...]

We woke up as empty nesters. The kids have gone home along with their adult tag-a-longs. It was a blast for all of us to work with them. And now, we have our Internet back.

For years, we have been hiking on Ngeruktabel. With six different people all saying they know where an American airplane is. And we've never seen a rivet of it. Calvin,

This is Calvin

said he knew where the Japanese airplane was. Plus, we have an accurate lat/long for it so we plugged it into our GPS. We've heard about this airplane for years. We were never interested in it because quite frankly, it's not an American MIA airplane. But Dan came up with a good idea. We should get some photos of it and put it in our interview kit. When someone says they know of an airplane on Ngeruktabel, we can show them these photos and if they say yes that's it, we can save ourselves a hike. If they say no, that's not it, well, looks like another trip to Ngeruktabel.

We traveled by boat to the island with Calvin taking us to the let in point. Then up we went:

This is the "UP" part.

The GPS said we went .15 nautical miles lateral distance from the let in point to the crash site, with an elevation of 695 feet above sea level. Someone please do the math and tell us the a) angle, b) slope and c) grade. We took a couple of side trips away from the direct path but we eventually got to the crash site. Our best determination from our field identification books are that this is a Japanese D4Y Comet. Known to us as a Judy. They made a number of versions of it and it was used for attack, recon and night fighting. So here are some photos of it.

Pieces of the canopy.

Small-caliber machine gun.

Tail wheel.

Tail section.

Small-caliber ammunition magazines.

One reason these wrecks stay hidden: camouflage.

Can you see a tail number? Have you ever taken the Ishihara Color Perception Test?

Piece

A rudder pedal

Engine, mass of fuselage behind engine with the tail section to the right of that

We can now try to be smart about hiking this island in the future. On the way back to Neco Marine, Calvin showed us a large cave that the Japanese had stored AvGas in, and took us to a spot off the old seaplane ramp where he said there was wreckage. We'll come back later to snorkel and dive it.

We got home, did a quick change and headed back out near sunset. We've been working Police Hill for a number of years searching for the executed airmen. Due to Mark Swank, we have a probable location based on his analysis of the Guam War Crime Tribunal records. But to get to that point, we've done a lot of hiking up there. One year, as we were about to exit the forest, Joe stopped and asked if any of us were wearing perfume. We all said no. Then he took a couple of more steps, stopped and asked if any of our cigarette smokers had just lit up. Again, the answer was no. He continued on. When Pat and I passed his perfume location, we both smelled Bay Rum. Very distinctive. Very un-jungle like. Bay Rum was very popular back in the 40s.

Over the years, we've heard a number of ghost stories from Palauans and expats alike. We've always joked about conducting a seance out there. This night, we will not be joking. We gathered up things we thought these men from World War Two would appreciate: fried chicken, long neck Buds and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. Off we went. Got into the jungle at sunset and watched it get dark. Then the fire flies came out. Lots of them. And interestingly, they have a fast recharge rate and flash rapidly, unlike the fire flies at my house that seem to recharge every 30 seconds or so. Then the natural luminescence of jungle detritus came to view. At night, the jungle really cools off so it was very pleasant. With the moon rise shortly after sunset, the sky as glimpsed through the jungle canopy was luminous as well.

We toasted the fallen, our current warriors and spent a couple of hours in the woods listening to the sounds of the night. Joe told us some Palauan lore and his encounter with ghosts over the years.

If we had any visitors, we did not recognize their presence. But we're pretty sure they know we're still looking for them. We hiked out, after leaving one open Bud and one closed Bud for any one who might want them. How appropriate since Friday was Passover and Sunday is Easter. We then spent some time on the ridge line enjoying the moon climbing the sky.

Moonrise seance. Photo by Derek Abbey

On the way into the parking spot, we heard a loud clang come from under our four wheel drive vehicle. A small piece of green metal was produced. A quick check underneath and we found a broken part. Although the van would still drive, we lost our 4 wheel capability. The repair shop doesn't open again until Monday. So long as we can make it off the hill, we should be okay. Except for a couple of odd sounds at speed, the van worked just fine to get us back to town. A quick light dinner back in town and that was our day. We think we'll visit a different piece of the jungle next year and have another sunset visitation. Maybe the rules of ghosting prevent those from different areas from moving around. We want to make sure that we cover all of our bases

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