Pacific Wrecks

Missing In Action (MIA)

Prisoners Of War (POW)

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)

Chronology

Stan Gajda
Thirty Years of Wreck Hunting

In memory: Stan Gajda passed away April 5, 2022.

All my explorations were personally funded and nobody nor any organisation ever subsidised my efforts. The stuff I saved, I donated to the WAAM, AWM and Nauru Museum and was never paid. I did it because I could see the need to save some of these relics for the future. I would love to be part of expeditions today that would go out to recover items for other museums so that something remains for the future. Once you have seen old warbirds out in the bush or jungle you just can never have enough of them. I know that my involvement in warbirds and war junk has kept me perpetually broke, as I am today but having fun being broke. Being in Nauru led me on to Tarawa, the Marshall islands, Solomon islands, New Guinea, Vanuatu and now to Pohnpei.

	Western Australia Interview and background. Learn about how he got interested in WWII relics in Western Australia and how his travels lead him to the Pacific battlefields.
	Broome Target of the Japanese on March 3, 1942 several seaplane wrecks exisit still, including the rare German mande three engine Dornier Do 24 Flying Boat.
	Northern Territory Also the target of Japanese planes, there are many wrecks around Darwin, including several P-40 wrecks and Japanese A6M and G4M1.
	Ki-46 Western Australia This plane was the only Japanese plane ever shot down in combat over Western Australia. They would be seen all the time but were rarely intercepted and more rarely shot down.
	Tarawa Many interesting finds in the lagoon and on the beaches of Betio Island, site of fierce fighiting between the US Marines and Japanese defenders.
	Nauru When I heard that there were still Zeros on Nauru I took a job there. Exported to Australia for the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra two engines and a crate of airframe parts.
	Makin Remains of aircraft from the American airfield there, and Japanese seaplanes destroyed by Carson's raiders.
	Type 97 Te Ke Restoration Restoration of this complete and running Japanese light tank! Equipped with all original gear and with a working main gun.
	Taroa Airfield Only place I've been to where there are continuous overlapping bomb craters. Taroa was a major air base and was the eastern most airbase of the Japanese Empire.
	Coffin Corner October 1942 battle area, south east of Edson Ridge. Guadalcanal 1996 Trip in search of relics, history and munitions. Guadalcanal 1998 Second trip to the island exploring war history

Interviews & Oral Histories