#3400437 - 09/29/11 11:58 PM
Peleliu (Pt 4)
|
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
BBall
Member
|
Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
Dresser, WI, USA
|
Last installment (thanks for hanging with me this long)... ========== After leaving Bloody Nose Ridge, we drove to a trail that was as moving as it was disturbing. As you can see by the sign, this part of the jungle has only been cleared ON THE PATH THAT'S MARKED. The guide told us that of the 600 or so residents of Peleliu, every few months someone is injured from ordnance still on the island. ========== You can clearly see the markers for the path. White means "you probably won't lose a foot", red means "good luck...we're all counting on you!" ========== Occasionally you would see colored sticks off of the trail. The guide said that the colored sticks are where live ordnance has been detected but not dug up...we came over a rise and saw this. ========== Many times along the trail, you would see something like this. This is a magazine from a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle....my Dad carried one in Korea) with the rounds still in the mag! At one point, one of my companions looked down by my feet (we were squarely ON the trail) and said, "Bill, what's that?" I reached down and picked up an unknown object and began to clean the mud off of it. She asked, "Is it part of a Jeep or something?" I said "no...hang on...", then it hit me like ton of bricks. I was holding the top part of a "pineapple" hand grenade (where the spoon and pin are attached)! It was merely the top (with some sort of object protruding down from it....the detonator?), but I got rid of it post haste! ========== The top to a pick axe. ========== The remains of a canteen cup and a helmet. ========== The F/O reached down and found this on the trail. It looks to me like a bayonet scabbard. We laid it on a rock and kept walking... ========== The remains of a helmet, some motor rounds (60mm it looks to me), and a canteen cup. These were placed just off of the trail, and I'm guessing it was done by the locales. ========== At the end of the trail, we came upon this Japanese gun emplacement (20mm?). It was a "interesting" walk through the jungle....alternately harrowing and fascinating all at the same time. ========== Riding back to Babelthuap Island with us was this gentleman. Tsuchida Kitokaze...one of the VERY few Japanese POWs from the battle. He's 94 years young, and when I shook his hand, the first thing he did was whip off his USMC cap and show it to me. It was signed by many Marines (most of which he's outlived I would guess), and he seemed genuinely very proud of it. I bowed to him as a sign of respect and asked the young lady to ask him if he would allow me to take his picture. He obviously consented. He was there as it was the 67th anniversary of the invasion (there was no fan-fare at all that I could see), and he seemed to have a general sense of profound sadness to him.... ========== No words are necessary. ========== And finally... As we rode north on the boat in the on-again, off-again rain, I tried to reflect on what I had just done. It was almost overwhelming, and would take more than a few days to sink in. I found myself tired in a way that I had not been in a very long time...and I snapped this pic hoping the sun peeking through the clouds would somehow help it all make sense... It failed. ========== Thanks for sharing this journey with me. Have a great day, BBall
Last edited by BBall; 09/30/11 12:02 AM.
|
|
#3400451 - 09/30/11 12:24 AM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 655
Jaz
Member
|
Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 655
Dordrecht, the Netherlands
|
Very impressive. Peleliu is a bit of a forgotten battle of WWII, despite the cost in lives. I had never heard of it until I saw The Pacific. I never imagined there would be so much left on the surface.
Thanks for sharing.
Jaz
Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself - Confucius
|
|
#3400577 - 09/30/11 05:11 AM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 612
AWL_Spinner
Member
|
Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 612
Vancouver, Canada
|
Thanks so much for posting these, a great read and very interesting photographs.
I've just finished reading "With the Old Breed".
Cheers, Spinner
Antec P183/CP-850|i5-750|Asus P7P55D|Asus ENGTS250-1Gb|4Gb G.SKILL DDR3 PC1600|OCZ Vertex|WD Caviar Black|HP LP2475W|Windows 7 Pro x64
|
|
#3400758 - 09/30/11 02:08 PM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
BBall
Member
|
Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
Dresser, WI, USA
|
Thanks guys for the kind words.
AFA Wheel's comment about all the paraphernalia still littering these battlefields, let me just say that this is the only place I've seen this. Again, I've toured Saipan high and low, and it's all been sterilized in terms of that. The only other place I've seen with warning signs was on Tinian. As I rode my scooter up the eastern road headed toward the old "North Field" B-29 base (btw, I once read that in the summer of 1945, the airbase on Tinian was the BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD!....amazing), I noticed a chain link fence walling off the beach. It read "Warning Unexploded Ordnance...Do Not Cross".
Side note. When I was a 10 year old "Army brat", living in Munich in 1966, I remember a wooded area behind our housing complex. There were large fences around these woods and we were told to stay out of them due to the fact that they had not been totally cleared since the war. This, of course, was the same as challenging my brother and myself to jump said fence and go exploring. We did, and I remember finding some broken dinner china (in a ruined farmhouse) that had the Nazi eagle and swastika stamped on the bottom. That's all we found, but we didn't make many sorties over that fence.
Again, thanks for the kind words. After (re)reading "Helmet For My Pillow", and "With The Old Breed" (both incredible), and watching the HBO series "The Pacific", this opportunity was not to be missed. Also knowing that history paints this battle with a controversial brush (Halsey said to by-pass the island and let it "die on the vine", but MacArthur and Nimitz wanted it taken to protect the right flank of the Philippine invasion force), meant that this "island of death" was probably even more of a waste of young lives than normal in war time. Almost 30,000 casualties. Young men whose lives either ended here, or were forever changed by those days...
Hallowed ground to be sure.
Thanks again for coming with me.
BBall
Last edited by BBall; 09/30/11 02:12 PM.
|
|
#3400844 - 09/30/11 04:38 PM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 419
2Lt_Joch
Member
|
Member
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 419
Montreal, Canada.
|
amazing photos, thanks for sharing.
Intel Q9550, Gyga P35-DS3R, XFX 6950 XXX, 27" widescreen, 8 g. DDR2 @800, 2xWDRaptor 36g HD @ RAID 0, 1tb WD Caviar black HD, X-Fi Fatal1ty, win 7 64bit ultimate, Cougar/FSSB/HS1, Tir4.
|
|
#3400948 - 09/30/11 07:06 PM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,116
Chucky
Veteran
|
Veteran
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,116
UK
|
An excellent set of pictures and notes BBall. I am always fascinated by the 'then and now' pictures. It looks a very harrowing place to have had to fight (and die). So sad.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
|
|
#3401173 - 10/01/11 01:41 AM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: wheelsup_cavu]
|
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
BBall
Member
|
Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
Dresser, WI, USA
|
Iwo Jima still has a lot of artifacts in caves and such if the "going back" series on the Military channel is correct. Someone else went to one of the island battlefields ( Guadalcanal ? ) recently and they were still finding ordnance on that island. There was also a F4F that had been abandoned and was being kept outside at the local museum.
Thanks again for sharing your experience with us BBall. Since my odds of going to these locations is nil I really do appreciate the pictures.
Wheels Speaking of Iwo....(forgot I had these)... http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3401168/Pics_of_Iwo_Jima.html#Post3401168BBall
|
|
#3402390 - 10/03/11 11:29 AM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: BBall]
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 11,076
semmern
Veteran
|
Veteran
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 11,076
Oslo, Norway
|
Wow. Just wow. What a time capsule that island is. Apart from all the rust it's almost as if the battle ended yesterday. Thanks, BBall, and good to see you around here! How's the 757 flying?
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
|
|
#3403579 - 10/04/11 10:36 PM
Re: Peleliu (Pt 4)
[Re: semmern]
|
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
BBall
Member
|
Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 203
Dresser, WI, USA
|
Thanks, BBall, and good to see you around here! How's the 757 flying? Hey my brother! Yeah, I "lurk" here most days....lol. The flying is great. Since the merger with Delta a few years ago, we do a fair amount of 767-300ER flying over here too (in addition to the 757). Lovely machine, reminds me a bit of the DC-10. I'm still mainly flying the 11 to 13 day trips over here in the Orient (my home away from home). How are things with you? Have a great day all, and thanks for the kind words regarding my pics. BBall
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exodus
by RedOneAlpha. 04/18/24 05:46 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|