Chris Cowx - Gizo

This is an absolutely beautiful and picturesque little colonial town. It consists of a main street along the waterfront and many businesses. There is the main dock with the Gizo Hotel and the market itself. There is also a variety of businesses such as cafes, post office, telekom office, and several rest houses. There are several places that do dive and fishing charters. An excellent place to go is to Danny and Kennedy's shop. They are located across from the "PT 109" restaurant and guest house. Contact them at DiveGizo.com. They will take care of you well and they seem to know everyone and everything about the area. They are especially helpful because they are historians in their own right. During the war Gizo was a Japanese barge repair facility and way station for the so called "Rat Patrols" of barges that the Japanese used to reinforce their garrison on Guadalcanal. There are very few reminders of the war days in the town itself, but that can be deceiving.

Toa Maru 2
7,000 ton Toa Maru 2 sunk on January 31, 1943 she was on her way from Kolombangara Island to Vila Harbor, known locally as Disappointment Cove, where the Japanese maintained a supply depot for the Tokyo Express. A Coastwatcher spotted the Toa Maru 2 and informed the US commander in Guadalcanal. She was attacked by 12 SDB Dauntless dive-bombers escorted by Wildcat fighters from Henderson Field.

A6M2 Zero
There is a A6M2 Zero sunk in about 30' or so of water just off the shore at the market. It appears to be largely intact including the cockpit framing etc. Amazing to see it so close to shore and still so intact. I have no idea of the story of how it got there but I suspect that it likely was a cripple that was returning from Guadalcanal and decided to ditch near friendly forces. The pilot likely simply stepped from the wing to shore!

F6F Hellcat
Next I was shown the wreck of an F6F Hellcat 25839 in about 25' of water. Perhaps "wreck" is not the right word to use as it is still shiny in spots. It is complete down to the glass in the canopy, some guns, all flight surfaces, and the flaps are still extended for landing.

It has begun to have some coral growing over the wing roots but it is in excellent shape. Interestingly enough the Kennedy's have dug out the old combat reports and the man who shot it down was actually Gregory Boyington! Apparently he was a bit trigger happy and he hit it with one or two .50 cal rounds through the engine. Fortunately the pilot was able to glide it down from 20,000 feet and ditch it, obviously very intact. He was picked up by the natives and survived the war. As an interesting side note his widow has since been contacted by the Kennedy's. Overall Gizo is a great place to base yourself for a few days and make both a holiday out of it and also to see some excellent war sites.

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