More pics...

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"Orange Beach"...site of the landings for the 5th Marine Division.

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"Orange Beach" that fateful morning...

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Another view of an invasion beach.

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After an hour break for lunch at the southern tip of the island, we began our trek back north. The sky turned black, the heavens opened, and the rain came down in sheets. We stopped at the wreckage of a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter. It may look blurry, but it's actually the rain coming down very hard. Funny enough, only the F/O and I got out of the bus and stood in the rain to see the aging bones of the famed Zero. Pilots...go figure.

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A view into the cockpit of the Zero. You can see the left rudder pedal in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

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Can you see the shape of the machine? Tail toward the left (gone actually), cockpit, engine mounts and wing spar facing right. If you look closely, you can see the landing gear extended.

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Rolling the tour bus down the runway. I told you it was coming down like (as we say in Texas) "a cow pissing on a flat rock"....lol.

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An LTV (A) with the 75mm gun turret.

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A "stock" LTV "Alligator".

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Another LTV... they seemed to be littered around the airfield by the dozens.

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At the site of a Japanese gun emplacement, and LTV (A)1. It has the 37mm gun turret installed off of an M3 Stuart tank.

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In the middle right of the picture, is that a hole from an anti-tank round?

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Just up the ridge from the LTV (A)1 was this Japanese howitzer located in a "cave". Apparently, most all of the Japanese "big" guns were set up like this. The guide said it was 105mm, but I have no idea about the caliber.

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We entered a cave entrance behind the gun to the left, and this is a view of the gun from within that cave.

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Down the ridge line, we came to this site. It was a cave that was sealed by Marine (or Army) bulldozers, and it entombed approximately 400 Japanese soldiers. The guide said that the government in Japan is attempting to have their bones exhumed and returned to a final resting place there.

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Another view of the cave entrance.

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Next up....

...."Bloody Nose Ridge". (link to Pt 3: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3400416/Peleliu_Pt_3.html#Post3400416 )


BBall

It's amazing how much equipment is still on these WWII island battle fields.


Wheels

go figure...

great pics.

Great pics , hard to believe of so much death and destruction in such a beautiful place.Entombed..shudder.