Location
Lat 1° 16' 60S Long 116° 49' 60E Located on the south-east coast of Borneo.

Wartime History
In mid December 1941, USN Patrol Wing 10 briefly operates from Balikpapan after retreating from Cavite. Captured by the Japanese on January 22, 1942 for its oil fields and refinery.

Missions Against Balikpapan
February 3, 1942 - July 11, 1945

Liberation
Assaulted by the Australian 19 Division on June 10, 1945.

Roc Nicholas adds:
"My father was in the Navy assigned to a barge called a YR which stands for Yard Repair. He said he had to keep some refrigerators running on the island of Balikpapan. He also told me that there was Japanese bank there. After the take over of the island he and his friend stopped a passing tank and asked the sergeant if he would do them a favor a blow a hole thru the door of the bank, he said sure why not. So he turned the turret around and blew a hole thru the door, wall and back wall of the bank he said the round went skipping across the water. After thanking the sergeant they went into the bank and found Japanese script (funny money) lots of it. He said there was no where to spend it. So he kept a lot of it and handed it out to his friends he said he thinks he still might have some laying around. He will let us know if he finds it. He also said that the locals would float old sunken boats and barges and clean the engines out crank them up then make houses out of them. He went tiger hunting on a few of them up river. He then was reassigned to another PT boat and finished out the war in the Philippines."

Manggar
Lat 1° 13' 60S Long 116° 57' 0E  Also known as Mangar, Manggarbesar. Located to the east of Balikapan and Sepiinggang.

Manggar Aerodrome
Located on the coast to the east of Balikapan. Occupied by the Japanese and liberated by Australian forces in July 1945.

P -47D "Claire-Doll III" Serial Number 42-28500
Missing over Manggar / Balikpapan area

Sepinggang Airfield
Located on the coast, east of Balikapapan

Balikpapan Harbor
Harbor at Balikpapan

Kunikawa Maru
Sunk Balikpapan Harbor at No. 5 berth during a bombing raid

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009