P-MAN IX Final Report
Attachment 01 NEW (PT4): Finding, partially identifying and documenting one new American crash site (a partial Corsair crash site, unknown BuNo, believed to be an FG-1A flown by a Marine aviator who remains MIA) in a mangrove swamp on the west coast of Ngeremlengui, 02MAR07; JPAC visit 08MAR07 (See JPAC Report). These missions were not flown without considerable danger: while the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy forces within Palau were increasingly short of food, they did not lack bullets and artillery shells. All three Marine squadrons suffered substantial combat and operational losses, both to anti-aircraft artillery positions and determined small arms fire.
In January 1945, a Marine Corsair aviator from VMF-121 took off from Peleliu air field on what by then was a routine search and destroy mission. While the precise circumstances leading up to his loss are unknown, this aviator was reported to have been shot down near Arumaten Point in Ngeremlengui; his remains were never recovered. The VMF-121 Reunion members years later told of stories they had heard following the war of a fair-haired young pilot (they believed to be this squadron member) who had been captured and paraded through Palauan villages by Imperial Japanese soldiers – and who was later, presumably, executed.
Perhaps that story was real but we now know it is likely that the fair-haired POW was not Lt. Perry – it is much more likely their fellow aviator never made it out of the mangrove swamp into which his stricken Corsair crashed.
Our search for this specific MIA has been an ongoing one. Even though attempts during P-MAN IV and P-MAN V into nearby swamps turned out negative, the locals continued to insist that debris was present, possibly on the east and/or west side of Arumaten Point. Without further data, we put further searches for the target on hold. Our break in this case came in 2006 when we received a map made just after the war by Japanese military in Palau. Our Japanese colleague found this map (actually within a series of interesting maps about Palau) in the Japanese Military History Department of the National Institute for Defense Studies. What was interesting about this one map was that it showed a series of red-circled numbers across Palau that purportedly showed American crash sites, as recalled by Japanese officials in Palau during the war. One of those red-circled numbers (“47”) was in Aimeliik, one ridge over from where we had previously searched. We decided to look again. After receiving permission from the Governor of Aimeliik, the P-MAN IX team initiated a search on 02MAR07 in the very dense mangroves west of the ridge containing numerous former Japanese military installations. In an incredible demonstration of his searching talent, P-MAN IX’s master guide, Joe Maldangesang, went off on his own deep into the very dense mangrove swamp (while we started a search pattern in the swamp nearer the shoreline) and after a while called on our hand-held radios and said “I think I found something you guys are going to want to see…”. We then shifted our search westward into progressively denser mangroves, sometimes crawling on hands and feet in the mud. Joe had discovered what we identified as a rusted .50 cal machine gun (“PART 2”). Approximately 10 meters to the northwest lies a second .50 cal machine gun in similar condition (“PART 4”). The team continued its search, under very strenuous circumstances (often on all fours in the mud), in an area approximately 30 meters x 155 meters. The search produced approximately 20 pieces of aircraft debris lying generally in a north-south direction with the two machine guns being the most northward pieces found. [NOTE: This area may contain more than initially found. Such searches should be done at low tide and a metal detector would likely be of help.] Most of the debris was aluminum, painted blue on one side and green on the other. Some pieces (see photos below) were lifted off the swamp floor by years of growth of the mangrove vines. Dan O’Brien found one piece which appears characteristic of a Corsair: an aluminum section (fuel hatch area) from top of the nose section just forward of the cockpit.
The P-MAN IX team took Mr. Rich Wills, JPAC anthropologist, and his search team to the crash site on 08MAR07 and reviewed all findings. Photographs and waypoints were shared with Mr. Wills and JPAC, as this is an MIA site for possible recovery of remains.
During the JPAC review, the P-MAN IX team and the JPAC search team ceased work in order to have, as is the custom for the BentProp Project, a flag ceremony, involving both American and Palauan flags in honor of the Marine Corps aviator whose aircraft we were documenting. Based on a follow-on interview with a Palauan who witnessed the crash (see below), the P-MAN IX team concluded that the aviator associated with this Corsair crash site is likely to be this missing aviator from VMF-121, with his remains somewhere within this apparently untouched debris field. With the video camera recording the ceremony in the middle of the dense and hot mangrove swamp, Bob Holler and Capt. Derek Abbey unfurled the flag. This was particularly special for Derek as he is a Marine Corps aviator from the present day extension of the same squadron, VMFA-121. Derek and Bob folded the flag and Derek took possession pending notification of the family in concert with JPAC. Bob and Joe folded the Palauan flag.
Subsequent to the JPAC site review, we briefed the Governor of Ngeremlengui and informed him that JPAC might be contacting him; he stated his ongoing support of our efforts. Finally, near the end of the P-MAN IX mission, the team met, and Derek Abbey interviewed, a Palauan elder in Ngeremlengui who reported that he saw that aircraft shot down during WWII. He said that, while hiding under the Ngeremlengui dock area, he saw the plane approach from the southwest (“from the land”) at a “high altitude” and suddenly drop and explode over the mangrove. When Dan O’Brien showed him a photo of a Corsair, he instantly identified it as the type that he saw crash. His information concerning the flight path is consistent with the debris pattern found. He also stated that he saw no parachute and that he never saw any Japanese (or anyone else) enter the mangroves for a burial because of the denseness of this particular mangrove area (which he says has never been disturbed). He was certain the site has never been explored. This interview was video recorded and reported to Mr. Wills at JPAC. Mr. Wills has filed a separate report with JPAC with his independent conclusions.
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By the time the VMF-121 squadron arrived at Peleliu airfield
in October 1944, the 500-yard bombing missions, from the Peleliu runway to
Bloody Nose Ridge,
were over. In order to protect General MacArthur’s Philippine flank,
this squadron, along with VMF-114 and VMF-122, were now tasked with suppressing
the 30,000+ Japanese military forces trapped on islands (mostly Babeldaob and
Koror) inside Palau’s mined barrier reef to the north. This garrison
duty resulted in multiple daily flights by each of these Corsair squadrons
to search and destroy key military installations, both on ground and water.
By then, all Japanese air capability within Palau lay in burned piles of debris. 
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| Page last modified 3 October 2007 | |