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.
Inside Barney's foot locker he had personal military items that quite honestly, I was amazed at seeing.
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.
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.
Okay, now I am getting into the hardest part of the trip for me. Barney's Museum.
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.
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 count
ry 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.
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.
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.
