The Munda Map from World War II. The right side of the map is where we walked with Barney to see his Museum, and where the Americans brought in, and eventually scuttled just about anything and everything used during the campaign.

The Tour Continues

Walking back to Agnes Lodge, we go through a field, one of which Barney calls the Desert. It was a high hill on the approach to the airport, and cleared by the US in 1942-43. Nothing grows there to this day. Right off the top of the hill we step into an area where familes grow sweet potatoes. There a wreckage that once again Dru climbs over and into. Fascinating. The aircraft went down on final approach. Fate of the Pilot is unknown, but an excellent view (straight line of site) to the airstrip. We must have flown over it on final approach coming in ourselves. Prior to leaving the field, Barney uncovers this exploded shell, that still lies in the area as if just dropped inadvertantly, last month, not 7 or 8 decades ago.

Personal memorablia from both sides of the war!

USMC Spoons, Class Rings, Dog Tags & Machettes

Some of the Contents

From Canteens to Shells, to Locks and hydrolics, Barney has uncovered it all.

The Footlocker

Inside Barney's foot locker he had personal military items that quite honestly, I was amazed at seeing.





Compass and whistles.






Brass Knuckle Knives
McNary Knuckle Knife(1918)














Part of his collection.













Practice grenades (painted yellow)

The Back of Palatini's Dog Tag

PhotoShop again. I must have been shaking more than I remembered. This is one of his finger prints on the back side of the Dog Tag pictured below.

Peter Joseph Palatini

Using PhotoShop, I have enhanced this image. I held the camera with my right hand, and took the shot of his dogtag in my left hand. Neither hands were steady at this point.

Barney had a "foot locker" type chest that his most cherished finds were stored, these dog tags were on top. I will post several more pictures of what he had in the chest.

Of course the outdoor museum, exposed to the elements, will get equal time on the blog as well.

One Mans Tribute: A forgotten Place & Time.

Okay, now I am getting into the hardest part of the trip for me. Barney's Museum.

To begin with, Barney Paulson is a humble man. He evidently uses an ancestral guide to help him locate items in the jungles of Munda. One such item was a dog tag. To my astonishment, a round tag, with a finger print on the back side. I held this dog tag (picture to follow) along with others. I can't tell you how foreboding the feeling is/was. [in retrospect only the Viet Nam wall has drawn me to such reflection] To hold a young mans dog tags, that for whatever reason was separated from him, possibly in combat, or in desperation, or even accidentally. But I held his and others with my tears of reverence and respect for these and the other un-hailed thousands that lived, fought, and died either physically or emotionally on this island.

And for Barney to name his Museum, which in Smithsonian standards was just a shack in the woods, but to me, and my sons, a spectacular shrine to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps men and women that were on this island, was an undeniable tribute to all the Americans that campaigned against the Japanese in 1942-1943.

I present to you, the Peter Joseph [Palatini] Museum on Munda Island, the Solomon Islands.

Barney's Mothers' Garden

The flowers were lower, but I chose to take this picture instead. A tribute to the unspoken children that disappeared and/or died in the Tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands. It did not get CNN coverage. But it affected the islands tremendously.

But it got worse.

Later, Barney walks us to this jungle bone yard. Here, amongst jeep motors, axles, scoop loaders, are which seemed hundreds of Landing Craft that the Americans, using torches, cut in half so that they were no longer serviceable, and stacked these American Made tools of war thirty to fifty feet high in an incredible pile of iron and steel. There were aircarft engines, props, naval craft, landing craft, vehicles, some with a scant amount of rubber tires attached to them, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of war scrap, left to disolve on the island of Muda.

Barney went on to tell us that this was only one of two majors dumps left by the Americans. We did not see the other, but he said that to this day, the locals go to the fuel dump and get oil for their chain saws. According to Barney, "thousands" of barrels were left with Petrol, Diesel, and various oils, in drums of course. The locals pump out of them, but if they attempt to move them, the rust wins, and the contents eventually just drain out of the drums. Seems a bit, well, bad for the environment, wouldn't you think?

At the end was this "Bunker" locked of course.

Dru was able to reach inside, and got a few pictures with the camera of the contents. Someone has the key, but we got the jest of what was now stored in the "Bunker". Seems salvaged American helmets, weapons and mess gear were amongst items we were able to identify from the pictures he took. Several of the locals had built there homes near the concrete slabs, and kids were playing at the edges, but for all the years and weather, the American concrete has lasted 70 plus years, and some of the artifacts remain in somewhat "healthy" condition. The locals think the Americans and their country are "rich" since our spoilage seemed so inconsequential to us, just to bring it to the Pacific, and then to dump it back into the ocean. Seems the war did not just cost us untold lives, but the raw materials that we "left" were phenomenal.

The waste of War

Seems that once the Japanese were driven out of the Solomon Islands, the Americans decided to turn the islands back over to British rule. Seems we had stockpiles of equipment, fuel, and ammunition's on the islands that we offered at a discount rate to the Brits. But they were not willing to buy what we left behind, so a "mop-up" operation was put into action where everything that was military was gathered up, at a location close to the shore, and stored until enough could be gathered to dispose of it.

Pictured first was the foundation for the concrete slab we walked on, where the Americans filled 55 gallon drums with sand, and poured the concrete slab on top, forming the platform, where Quonset Huts stored the items for disposal. The next picture shows one of the many bays, minus of course the Quonset Hut. Barney reported that row upon row of storage was brought there, and landing craft were then dispatched to take jeeps, weapons, medical and food out into Iron Bottom Sound, and dumped. Barney further reports that natives went out and were able to salvage food in cans for years afterward.

Barney Paulson - our Munda Guide

Munda was a pleasant, and unexpected surprise when it came to WWII relics. Here our guide that was set up for us at the last minute, is showing off a japanese machine gun a local had recovered and left in their yard. Several such "spots" exist around the area, and the next few posts will show them off, culminating with Barney's own museum that was fascinating and solemn at the same time. Barney was a father of 4 if I recall, and partly local native, part Scandinavian. But he smelled local. His awareness and "guided" ability to find war relics was quite keen. I could have spent an entire day at his museum, and regret that I did not.

Going Bananas

Literally right out the Security Gate of the Agnes Lodge was the Munda Landing, where the outlying islanders attempt to sell their (food) products to others. Sweet Potatoes, Clams, various vegetables, and a prolifera of Bettlenut! Amongst these we discovered bananas. Mom (Florence, now 99 years young) told me that they were safe to eat, and so we selected several types, from small, lemony tasting ones, to the longer, more familiar tasting ones we were a bit more accustomed to. $5 Solomon, or about 50 cents US, gets you a bunch and we ate them for a few days. Ripe on the tree, they taste different than the "imported green" ones we get at Safeway.

The Unknown Warrior - Skyline Ridge

The US Memorial atop Skyline Ridge, bearing a detailed description of the battles fought during the Guadalcanal Campaign. Let me say that the panoramic view of the island and the western battle sites from this vantage point was well chosen. The Guadalcanal Solomon Islands War Memorial Foundation built this site and "the building housing the Dept of Interior" or something like that, according to our Guide Chris Maelaua. Whomever was in charge, did one hell of a job. Sites pointed out were Tulagi, Gavutu -Tanambogo, and the Florida Islands. Also, oriented to Savo Island, "Iron Bottom Sound" (Where the US Navy suffered it's most devastating defeat of any war): as well as key terrain features ashore. This plaque as mentioned earlier, was placed before they DID identify the remains and returned them to the states. This was the best "site" for history, and reverence.