Pacific Wrecks - Nouméa, South Province (Province Sud) New Caledonia

Missing In Action (MIA)

Prisoners Of War (POW)

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)

Chronology

Nouméa South Province (Province Sud) New Caledonia

USN 1944

Michael Claringbould 2008

Tranape 2002

C Thomas 2001

Location
Lat 22° 16' 0S Long 166° 26' 60E Nouméa is located in the South Province in New Caledonia. Borders Nouméa Harbor. Today, Nouméa is the national capital of New Caledonia and provincial capital of South Province. Also known as Noumea.

Wartime History
During World War II, Nouméa was occupied by the U.S. Navy (USN). Code named "EPIC" and "POPPY".

Nouméa Harbor
Harbor located at Nouméa, Nickel Docks

Nouméa Harbor Seaplane Base
Harbor used as a seaplane landing area early in the war

US Memorial at Nouméa
The inscription reads: "In Honor of the US Forces who by their presence during the Pacific war from March 1942 to February 1946 insured the freedom of New Caledonia her people are deeply grateful. 13 Aout 1992".

Naval Guns
Located at Anse-Vata on Ouen-Toro Mount are the old naval guns, which protected the maritime access to Nouméa's Harbor.

Nouméa Town Hall
Former town hall has wartime relics on display, including the engine from P-39K 42-4393.

Magenta Airfield
Built during the war, two miles northeast of town. Still in use today

Tontouta Airfield (La Tontouta)
Located 23 miles northwest of Nouméa, prewar airfield used during the war by Americans.

Discharged Munitions
Nicolas Duprey reports:
"There are a lot of US dumps around Noumea, often in the water. In a ground discharge I have found a metal quarter with the inscriptions J W Bacon, SAVANNAH, a USN food board, a USN spoon, an other passionate said to us that he discovered 5 dog tags in it! In the water dumps there are trucks, jeeps and other. Sometimes I do scuba diving, and during my last dive I saw ten 155mm shells! But in all of these dumps all the interesting equipment was stolen and the rest isn't in good state or interesting."

Ousassio Hill (Kimball Hill, Mount Kimball)
Feature near Tontouta Airfield named Kimball Hill after the crash of R4D-1 Dakota 01981 on October 9, 1942

Mount Mou
Overlooks the Mount Mou Valley, Tontouta Lagoon and a moss forest.

Amieu Pass
Located near Noumea.

GMC Truck
A buried ten wheels GMC was found by a forester in the back country mountains. They dug up this truck when they made a platform for water tanks below this road. Event the six cylinder is well intact. This photo was taken the last week of June, during heavy rain; at the saw mill of Amieu Pass, one of the four mountain roads crossing New Caledonia from West to East. The forester said that it may have been buried when they had built upwards in the hill road to reach trees (maybe in the 1960's). Thanks to Christophe Thomas for this report.

Sea Bee Chapel
Built probably by the US Navy Construction Battalion "Sea Bees" during the Pacific War. This chapel is situated on the U.S. Army camp built at "Plum" by the first soldiers that arrived at Nouméa. The tale said that they found some plum tree on the beach, and this place had no name so they call it "plum". And today, it is still know as Plum in the Mont Dore county, in the far south of Nouméa. Thanks to Christophe Thomas for this report.

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Last Updated
March 12, 2021

USN 1943

Map
Fallingrain

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