P-MAN VIII Update #10
23 February 2006

This morning we continued our work on the diplomatic front by returning to the office of the President to further explore ways in which we might establish a cooperative relationship with the Japanese government. The Japanese, like the Americans, have an interest in identification, recovery, and repatriation of the remains of their soldiers who died in Palau during the war. We're hopeful that we might, through the Palauan government, work out a way in which we can share information with the Japanese. We might be able to help each other in location of sites where our people have lain undiscovered for the past 60 years.

We also had an extraordinary meeting with Elias Camsek Chin, the Vice President of the Republic of Palau. The Vice President is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, and our mission to span 60 years of time and connect families with their long-lost loved ones clearly resonates at a deeply personal level with him. He was very gracious and supportive of our efforts, and we expect and hope that our paths will cross in the future. We presented Mr. Chin with a BentProp coin, and he returned the favor by presenting each of us with one of the Vice President's coins. The inscription on the back of his coin is especially meaningful, reflecting quite beautifully the kind of relationship that we hope exists between the BentProp team and the Palauan people - summed up in six words: Pride, Tradition, Progress, People, Trust, and Loyalty.

Tonight, Don, Jane, and Sarah arrived; we picked them up at the airport and brought them back into town.

We're planning to take a boat down to Peleliu tomorrow (Friday) morning, and will most likely be out of Internet range until we return to Koror early next week. So please don't worry when the progress reports are off the air for a bit. When we return, I'll try to catch you up on the Peleliu adventure, and resume more regular reports from here in Koror.

- Reid