All photographs taken by Paul Sodemann, November 1999. The rest of the pictures are cropped and very low
resolution to save space. If you would like any of them I´ll
send them to you full size, just let me know. I may have mislabeled
some of the Henderson Field area pictures. Our guide was not an
authority on the subject.
Henderson1: self explanatory, Edson´s Ridge
in the foreground on the right.
Henderson2: self explanatory
Matanikau: self explanatory
Mt. Austen: self explanatory
Alligator C: taken from the bridge, view is inland
Kukunda: the airstrip on Kolombangara
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|
 |
| Hells Point I believe this is the same spot as the famous picture
of the Japanese dead half buried in the sand after the charge. |
Seghe Airfield the almost intact P-38 is
in the water just off the far end.
|
Gatokae Airport at Sombiro village, there
are still two deep bomb craters in the village. According to Pastor
Ghemu the bombs were dropped by TBF´s. |
Pastor Ghemu
He was a Solomon Scout, lying in the brush
just a few feet from the path when he counted some 200 Japanese
passing. He then ran to his dugout and paddled all the way to Seghe
(20 miles+) to report to a coastwatcher. Two interesting details
he told me were that the scouts could tell the approximate time
a Japanese patrol had passed down the path by the amount of cobwebs
on it. There´d be none if they had passed through very recently.
He also said that you could get very close to the Japanese when
they were marching down a path as they only looked straight ahead
(as opposed to the Americans who kept a 360´ scan going).
Solomon Scout Alisi "Alfred" A. Bisili
Alisi "Alfred" A. Bisili was a Solomon scout with coastwatcher Donald G. Kennedy who lived Munda and a local authority about the Pacific War. He can show you wrecks,
equipment and the very impressive private museum owned by a friend
of his in Munda. Alfred is the scout pictured shaking hands with
Martin Clemens in Ballard´s book The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal.
B-24D "Bundles For Japan" 41-23969
The wreck is located literally three feet from waters edge near
Tibara lodge on the northern tip of the island of Gatukai in
the
southeastern part of Marovo Lagoon. Most parts are
easily recognizable, except for the tail which is crumpled up.
What amazed me is that the tires in the wheel wells are nearly
intact.
Guns and instruments have been removed. According to the locals there is also a wreck underwater
a short distance north of the B-24, but they weren't able to
find it when I was there.
D3A1 Model 11 Val Manufacture Number 3122 Tail 33-212
There is also a wreck of a Japanese plane [DA31 Val 3122] on the
eastern part of the island near Ropiko Lodge, but it´s in
very bad shape. I could not identify the type, and the locals don't
know much about it.
The rest of the pictures are cropped and very low
resolution to save space.
If you would like any of them I´ll send them to you full size,
just let me
know. I may have mislabeled some of the Henderson Field area pictures.
Our
guide was not an authority on the subject.
Henderson1: self explanatory, Edson´s Ridge
in the forground on the right.
Henderson2: self explanatory
Matanikau: self explanatory
Mt. Austen: self explanatory
Alligator C: taken from the bridge, view is inland
Kukunda Airport on Kolombangara Island.
Gatokae: the airstrip at Sombiro village, there
are still two deep bomb craters in the village. According to Pastor Ghemu the bombs were
dropped by TBF´s.
Pastor Ghemu: He was a scout, lying in the brush
just a few feet from the
path when he counted some 200 japanese passing. He then ran to his
dugout
and paddled all the way to Seghe (20 miles+) to report to a coastwatcher.
Two interesting details he told me were that the scouts could tell
the
approximate time a japanese patrol had passed down the path by the
amount of
cobwebs on it. There´d be none if they had passed through
very recently. He
also said that you could get very close to the japanese when they
were
marching down a path as they only looked straight ahead (as opposed
to the
Americans who kept a 360´ scan going).
Alisi: or ¨Alfred¨ A. Bisili, a scout living
in Munda and a local authority on the war. He can show you wrecks, equipment and the very impressive private museum owned by a friend of his in Munda. Alfred is the
scout pictured shaking hands with Martin Clemens in Ballard´s book
¨The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal¨.
Sorry about the quality of the pix and lack of
detailed info, my interest in the wrecks and history didn't really pick up untill after
my trip.
