Info
Re
GyG's Mailbag...
----Original Message Follows----
From: "PETER A FLAHAVIN" <peterflah@ozemail.com.au>
To: "Richard Gaines" <gunnyg@hotmail.com>
Subject: Fw: Referral
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 17:17:19 +1100
Dear Richard,
another battlefield preserved.......!
all the best,
Peter
----- Original Message -----
From: James M Piske <James.M.Piske@chi.frb.org>
To: PETER A FLAHAVIN <peterflah@ozemail.com.au>
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 1:33 AM
Subject: Re: Referral
> Peter -
>
> As always, thanks for keeping me in mind. I am taking the liberty of
forwarding
> to you the e-mail your colleague Stan recently sent to me. He did confirm
my
> worst fears, although instead of the landing beach alone being turned into
a
> garbage, the whole Islet of Betio has been. I feel this is truly
unfortunate.
> Although I was even more stunned when I sent the write up Stan had sent me
to
> Leatherneck Magazine and received a response from a young Lance Corporal
> inquiring what battle took place on Betio. He had no knowledge of his own
> "beloved Corp's" history. I cannot understand the country I live in at
times.
> Sorry to ramble on. Although on a brighter note, Stan makes it sound as
though
> much can still be found on many of the less inhabited islands of the
Central
> Pacific. Fascinating stuff! Thanks again Peter - take care! Jp
> ---------------------- Forwarded by James M Piske/SR/CHI/FRB07 on
02/24/2000
> 08:25 AM ---------------------------
>
>
> "StanGajda" <stangajda@mail.fm> on 02/23/2000 04:42:31 PM
>
> To: James M Piske/SR/CHI/FRB07
> cc:
>
> Subject: Re: Referral
>
>
>
>
> Hello James,
>
> Peter Flahavin is right when he says the locals in Tarawa have turned
Betio
> into a junkpile. I first went there in February 1984 and I used to go
there
> every year on vacation until I landed a job in Kiribati with the
government
> in 1989. I was working in the country until the end of 1992 but I was on
the
> outer islands most of the time. I did take every opportunity to go to
Tarawa
> and explore about the place. I had a rented house on Betio near the two 8"
> guns of which one had the barrel blown off. This was at Takaronga point.
> There is a causeway there now that joins Bairiki to Betio and that area is
> very busy these days. In 1984 you had to catch a ferry to go to Betio and
> Takaronga was deserted and there was a lot of war junk lying around. These
> days the beach at Red 2 below the seawall is a vast rubbish heap. This has
> developed since I started going to Kiribati. In 1984 one could walk along
> the below the sea wall near the base of the old jetty at low tide and pick
> up stuff like 75mm cases, various ammo, the odd GI helmet and other gear.
> Once I picked a complete .50 cal machine gun minus the barrel there.
Another
> time a kid next to me pulled out a complete 81mm mortar round still in the
> cardboard tube. Now this area is filled to about 40 yds off the sea wall
> with household refuse, car and bus bodies etc and is an appalling mess.
They
> have done the same at Temakin point where there are two 8" guns, one on an
> elevated mounting. And they have also placed hundreds of tons of similar
> rubbish fill along the base of the present jetty on the eastern side. I
used
> to be on a committee with the government that was concerned with the rapid
> growth of refuse on Tarawa and we made various recommendations, one of
which
> was the need to control the population numbers on Betio and the need to
keep
> that place clean and tidy for the tourists. The local authorities
apparently
> did the exact opposite and the island of Betio is now one of the worst
slums
> in the world. I have heard that it now has one of the highest population
> densities in the world as well. When I ceased working in Kiribati, I built
a
> modest house at Bikenibeu which is near the present airfield. I continued
to
> live there on and off until quite recently. I am married to a Kiribati
girl
> who I met in Nauru in 1983 but these days she lives in Perth Western
> Australia with my son and I live and work in Pohnpei. Hawkins Field on
Betio
> ceased being used as an airfield at the wars end. Parts of it are still
> discernable along the island and the main roads follow the airfield
> perimeter. The surface is like concrete and people putting up a house or
> whatever have to work hard to dig through it. Most of the fighting was
along
> the northern side of the airfield up to the lagoons edge and beyond. Today
> the best relics still lying around are in the lagoon in the areas that
were
> raked by Japanese gunfire. What I last saw two years ago but never picked
up
> were helmets, gas masks, 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds, cases of 37mm tank
> rounds, cases of grenades, thousands of loose rounds of .50 and .30 ammo,
> many Jap bottles, other Jap relics like rifle frames, lots of small
personal
> items, one complete 37mm anti-tank gun. I used to recover this kind of
gear
> but it is time consuming and quite expensive for materials to treat these
> relics properly to preserve them. When I was in Nauru from 1993 to 98 it
got
> expensive air freighting the stuff to Nauru so that I could work on this
> material and eventually I stopped recovering further items. I would enjoy
a
> snorkeling outing in the area and dive down and look at stuff and then put
> it back. The last items I recovered were two complete Garand rifles I
picked
> up in early 1997. I spent a lot of time treating these things and
> stabilising them with an electrolysis method. They are still junk to look
at
> because the wood is badly worm eaten and the steel is largely converted
> oxide. When I had one in a hot wax bath to seal and finish the job, a
round
> in the chamber cooked off and split the barrel, blew off most off the wood
> and made a hell of a mess of the room where I was working. I did not cook
> the second one and so it is not properly preserved. I have these guns here
> in Pohnpei. I have found many Garands and M1 carbines in the lagoon off
> Red2. Other guns I have recovered were two '03 Springfields, several
> Arisakas, a BAR 30 06, three M1919 Browning .30 mgs, a 60mm mortar
complete,
> two bayonets and of course many rounds of ammunition. I used to defuse the
> 75mm howitzer rounds. They are packed in a 3-round clover arrangement and
> then packed in a triangular wooden crate. Sometimes I used to find them
> loose singly. They are always in cardboard tubes which peel off the reveal
> nice brass cases and fused projectiles. I also used to defuse the 60mm
> mortars but I have ceased this kind of activity having realised that I am
> lucky to still have both hands and all my fingers. The largest item I ever
> defused was a 65 kilo Japanese aerial bomb which kept giving out little
> puffs of smoke as I worked on it and I kept bathing the whole thing with
> water. I was petrified of the whole thing going up and after this was over
I
> restored the bomb and it is still in the Nauru museum and I stopped
defusing
> ordnance. Other guns I have recovered and restored in Kiribati are a nice
> 20mm Jap flexible gun out of a Mavis seaplane and a .303 Jap Lewis machine
> gun also from another Mavis. The latter is from the plane the Raiders shot
> down at Makin on the 20th August 1942. I found it on 20th August 1992!. I
> have restored both guns and I have fired both. I still have them right
here
> in Pohnpei. Another gun I have is the Jap type 97 .30 tank machine gun
which
> I took out of a Jap tank in Betio in 1984. Although badly affected by
> corrosion, I have restored this one and it has a Parkerised finish. The
> action cycles and I once fired one round only through it. Here in Pohnpei
I
> am restoring a Jap type 97 tankette which was armed with only one of these
> mgs. The restoration has progressed to the point where I have now mounted
> this gun in the tank and it can be swiveled and operated from inside the
> turret. Anyway, I really must finish this off for now. I will be happy to
> answer any further queries you may have regarding the Pacific
battlefields.
> If you went to Betio today, you would have to work hard to find anything
> worthwhile and you would need a knowledgeable guide, which are rare. The
> best place to go is Makin which is really called Butaritari and go diving
in
> the lagoon. There are sunken planes and boats and ships and it is a bit
like
> Truuk lagoon. And it is clean and unspoiled.
>
> Regards,
>
> Stan Gajda at stangajta@mail.fm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Semper Fidelis and....
Take Care,
Dick Gaines
GySgt USMC Ret.
(1952-1972)
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