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.