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many things had to fall into the right place and at the right time, including: - Jim
Kendall (307th BG(H) Reunion Group historian, in 1994 sending the after-action
report of 01 September 44 , which inspired me to start the "5 minute" search which
lasted a decade
- An Australian, Robert Kelly,
who happened to be visiting Peleliu in 1994, who first took me to Pope's Ridge
to show me what he thought was a Corsair, later thought by others to be a Helldiver
and finally team member, Dan O'Brien, breaking the
code and determining the crash site to be an Avenger
- Flip
Colmer, brought in by Dan brought in by me, finding the long missing 307th
still photographs at NARA with NARA's great assistance
- Our finding
the two photos at NARA, the last two on the roll,
with the splashes in a new location that led to finding the B-24
-
Joe Maldangesang asking the fisherman near the splash
sites in the photos if he had seen anything in the water, leading to our first
dive on '453
- Having the ever-supportive Dr.
Bill Belcher (JPAC archeologist/anthropologist) in Palau so he could verify
both the newly discovered B-24 site and the Avenger site for JPAC recovery planning
to start
- Receiving the cooperation and support of the Palauan
Office of the President, the Historical Preservation
Office and
-
RT-2 team ( JPAC and MDSU-1), through Captain Zukowsky,
Dr. Emery and Master Diver
Gove, making the B-24 recovery happen
- RT-1 team taking on
Pope's Ridge through Captain Harms and Gregory
Berg, MA, and making the Avenger recovery happen
- JPAC
granting Invitational Travel Orders permitting me the honor of escorting these
remains
- PostStar Productions sending
Clem (after getting Space-A on the flight with one week's notice) to document
all this (who got me into the C-17 flight deck...) and on and on and on.
This
does not include the million precious things that have happened in between like
meeting the Doyles, speaking with the Goulding family, Arne Schumacher, the families
of Ensign Baxter, Airman Stuart and Airman Miller, updating the 307th BG(H) Reunion
Group, diving with the two Tommys on the B-24 (Mr. Doyle and President Remengesau),
searching the hills with Jim Nelson for his father, Reid Joyce creating the web
site for communicating with the world, the supporting roles of the rest of the
team: Jennifer Powers and Val Thal to name only two, the incredibly patient and
loving families of the BentProp Project, and the amazing cooperation between BentProp
and JPAC and NHC and HPO and on and on and on. And I am only scratching the surface
of my deeply felt appreciation. And
this is just the beginning.
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