I had always heard from the folks who were there
during the war that somehow or another the Americans had a spy on the
islands, but no one knew a thing. On the 4th of July, 1979 or 1980 (
I recall the date as there were no taxis available-they were all at
the celebration, which is how I came by this info) Meg and I were walking
(no taxi) down to Neauo site of the sea plane base on Moen Island at Truk Lagoon to spend the time around the Contenental Hotel beachside.
Well, lo and
behold, here came this American couple walking toward us. We introduced ourselves (their last name was Meisner, from Washington) and they asked
how come no taxis? We explained and they related they were staying in
a village a few miles away, and were on their way from Hawaii to Guam
via Micronesia. We offered to walk the distance with them, and I asked
what they thot of Truk, etc.
Well, it's different than I remember, he started: "I
flew over here during the war in a B-24. We flew over here one night during
the war and parachuted (Japanese rakasang) a spy onto that island over there (indicating Dublon Island).
We came from the Phillipines. He was a Filipino, and was scared
to death to jump out. He would not go on his own, and so when we came around
to the drop site for pass number two, we bodily threw him out into the
night. Never did hear if he made it or not. He made it for sure I said.
I then related the following to him."
Well, Meisner was interested to know one of the outcomes.
All the Trukese I met said the spy was never captured, and when you think
about it, Truk is less than 1000 miles east of the PI and the flora/fauna
is the same. Being small and dark, he would be easily hidden, and there's
lotsa places where there was no need to go look around--like Guam until
today. Meisner went on to Guam to meet his son Mark. I note 60 Meisners in the Washington white pages. The
Mark listed there is not the Mark Meisner son of this aviator (?) I
told you about.
Nisko Mailo, wife of Conrad and sis in law of the great
chief of Truk, Petrus Mailo, told me this story in 1970 or 1971 prior
to my meeting Meisner. One day during the war, she said, a big group
of Japanese fighters (Japanese sentoki) arrived
in the late afternoon, landing at the Moen airfield (kasoro). I was near when they came
off the field and noticed how many young ones there were. The next morning,
when they were at breakfast over there (indicating a place across the
road at the base of Mt Tonachau), here came a bunch of American fighters!
The shot everything in sight, and them bombed the airfield and got the
restaurant and other buildings too. I was not far away and ran for cover
into a cave-shelter (pokungo).
I never made it. A bomb (pakutang) exploded nearby and I was wounded in the head
and was later found and taken to the hospital. Here she bowed down her
head, parted her hair and showed me a scar on the top of her head about
an inch and a half long. I was later released and went home. The next
day, I came to see what had happened. There were lots of dead Japanese
floating in the water and on the shoreline in the water. They looked
like this-here she bared her teeth in a grimmace, held her hands up
to her shoulders and made claws outta them.
When Nisko went to the hospital (Japanese pioing) they
washed her wounds with all they had --the most sanitary liquid you can
imagine. They also transfused it to serve as a vechicle for blood when
there was nothing else. You can wash wounds with it, ferment it and
drink it straight. What is it? Coconut milk. Perfectly sanitary, sealed
hermetically and the younger nut has clear liquid that later becomes
"milk".
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