P-MAN II - 9 
19 October turned out to be a pivotal day with many
findings. Surangel Whipps, former Speaker of the Palauan House of Representatives,
met us for breakfast; Chip, Pam and I had known him since 1993 during
our Bush wreck expedition and had stayed in his home. This voting season,
he was running for Senate (he later won his seat) and he took time out
of his campaigning to listen about our searches. When I mentioned the
VMF-121 story of the blond aviator, Surangel, as a chief of Ngatpang,
insisted on introducing Chip and me to the Executive Director of the Ngatpang
State, Mr. Gilbert Demei. Gilbert, upon hearing our story, said a certain
elder chief may know of such a story, as well as how to find the general
area, located at the former jungle headquarters (HQ) of the Japanese Army
on Babeldaob. He called the jungle HQ something that to us sounded like
"Seran Serae", which would become important later. Gilbert invited
us back the next day to meet with the chiefs in his office during their
weekly meeting.
