Author Topic: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***  (Read 1395 times)

Offline TASSER

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Hi everyone!

My brother will be studying abroad in Australia this fall, and I'm absolutely planning to visit him. I live on the east coast of the US, so any trip to Australia is a major effort. I figure I can maximize some of this travel time by visiting some WWII significant sites on my way out!

I am a scuba diver and would love to spend some time underwater, which is convenient given the geography of the Pacific battleground :) So far I've considered Truk & Bikini atolls for some super serious diving. I'm leaning away from that now, since most of the wrecks there are deeper than 130 feet, putting them outside the limits of an amateur diver like myself. For good combined sea/land touristing I'm thinking about the Solomons, or Palau.

Anyone toured the any WWII Pacific sites before? Any suggestions?
« Last Edit: 18-01-2016, 01:01:17 by TASSER »
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Offline TASSER

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific
« Reply #1 on: 08-07-2015, 04:07:45 »
Womp. Well not much of a response on this thread haha.

So I decided I'll visit Palau. There's some of the best scuba diving in the world there and a bunch of WWII significance! I plan to do some 'sploring around the island, check out any bunkers that may be there (still in the middle of my research), explore Peleliu, dive some of the shipwreck and airplane wrecks etc.

I'll keep everyone updated as I plan more out!
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Offline Slayer

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific
« Reply #2 on: 08-07-2015, 14:07:45 »
Womp. Well not much of a response on this thread haha.
I guess it's because what you're gonna do is quite exceptional :)

I'll keep everyone updated as I plan more out!
Looking forward to it, pls post pics afterwards  :D

Offline TASSER

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - Video!!!
« Reply #3 on: 18-01-2016, 01:01:06 »
RESURRECTED!!!  ;D

So! My dear and esteemed colleagues of the FH world, this past November I spent 8 days in the Palau islands scuba diving and exploring the WWII history of that gorgeous part of the world. I want to share the experience with fellow folks who enjoy their history.

For those unfamiliar, the Palau islands are about 600 miles east of the Philippines. In September of 1944 the US invaded Peleliu and Anguar, which are in the southern part of the chain. Peleliu is considered to be "the first of the worst" of the US campaigns at the latter stage of the war. Okinawa and Iwo Jima were to follow. In all three of those battles the Japanese strategy was to inflict the most damage and death to the invading Americans as possible. Entire garrisons fighting to the last man...


Blah blah blah, I bet many of you know more about the history of this than I do, I want to show you guys what I was fortunate enough to see. I brought a GoPro with me and recorded the following footage.

***Check this out***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KuJUUq64k
***Check this out***

Highlights include:
  • Some pretty damn amazing scuba diving (not bragging, the underwater landscape and life was stunning).
  • B-24 Liberator wing in shallow water (Comes in around 4:38 if the diving doesn't interest you).
  • Japanese bunkers in Northern Palau
  • Sunken Japanese "Maru" with depth charges and aircraft engines in the hold. (Her actual name is unknown). Sunk by US Carrier Aircraft in March of 1944.
  • 450 foot sunken Japanese Fleet Oiler, the IJN Iro. MASSIVE. Complete with torpedo damage to the bow where she took a fish from a US Submarine en route to Palau. She reached the anchorage before being sunk by US Carrier Planes in the same attack as the Maru listed above.
  • PELELIU. Too much to even talk about... Just watch the video. If you only have a minute, skip to 8:33.

Let me know what you think guys and let me know if you have any questions! I could write for hours... Would rather just comment on stuff people are interested in.

Enjoy!
TASSER
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Offline LuckyOne

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #4 on: 18-01-2016, 08:01:43 »
Wow, you got some pretty amazing shots there!

I liked the shark, and it's amazing how much recognizable stuff is still in the shipwrecks.

I wonder how that Sherman got turned upside down though... Artillery?  ???

The Jap tunnels seem a pretty scary place to explore, considering their habit of booby-trapping everything!

Seems you had some great fun during your trip!
This sentence is intentionally left unfinished...

Offline Stubbfan

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #5 on: 18-01-2016, 08:01:00 »
Awesome! I am not jealous at all.. nope.


Offline Ivancic1941

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #6 on: 18-01-2016, 10:01:42 »
WOW!

For me,the best part is when you found actualy ww2 video of that specific B25 plane shot down and then you explore it and found underwater! Amazing!!
Floppy Wardisc or Floppy Wierdbear

Offline Jimi Hendrix

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #7 on: 18-01-2016, 10:01:52 »
 Very cool Tasser!



Offline Zoologic

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #8 on: 18-01-2016, 13:01:53 »
I watched Peleliu from The Pacific series.

My curiosity with exploring war sites has always been: did you find any corpse (e.g. human remains like skeletons, bones)?

Are the sites well-preserved (not altered/robbed by prospectors)? I see that there are still ammunition there.

Just December last year, my brother obtained his Scuba diving license. He was playing FH2 with me all the times. So despite not into WW2, he can identifies pretty much most generic WW2 stuffs.

He went to dive in North coast of Bali, wreck diving. The object was a US Liberty supply ship, crippled after being hit by Japanese torpedo sometime in late 1943. The ship was ran aground by its crew, until a volcanic explosion caused a coastal landslide and send the ship sliding down into deeper sea bed. The ship was large and been looted to the last liquor bottle it supposed to carry.

Offline Slayer

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #9 on: 18-01-2016, 15:01:23 »
Great video! Very well done, the sights help a lot too, of course ;)

A scuba question: what species of fish is that around the 2 minute mark? (I mean the large group in which you can also see a guy swimming around).

Offline Zoologic

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #10 on: 18-01-2016, 16:01:25 »
Which one?

The first 2 minute mark shows a school of spearfish-like shape. Probably some sort of Barracuda, but I don't know if they exist in Pacific Ocean on Asian side. Try Sphyraena argentea.

The 2:07 fish school is also common in Indonesia, I don't know what exactly it is, but I often guess it is Albacore Tuna.

Anyway, you seem to emerge in a cave around 3:15, is it under the sea? How's the air like in that pocket?

Offline Slayer

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #11 on: 18-01-2016, 18:01:23 »
The first 2 minute mark shows a school of spearfish-like shape. Probably some sort of Barracuda, but I don't know if they exist in Pacific Ocean on Asian side. Try Sphyraena argentea.
At first I thought they were Barracudas, but the shape is a bit different. Also, it's quite a big school for a group of Barracudas, right?

Offline TASSER

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #12 on: 19-01-2016, 02:01:18 »
I wonder how that Sherman got turned upside down though... Artillery?  ???

I'm glad you asked! The gentleman who owns the property the tank is on (there are about 300 people who live on Peleliu) has a transcript from the Platoon commander of that tank unit. The tank was ordered to support the evacuation of two wounded sailors from an aviation unit. The wounded were successfully transported away, and the tank moved up to engage a couple of Japanese caves nearby. It most likely ran over an aircraft bomb that was buried as a mine. The commander of the tank was blown out of the hatch, and was the only survivor... Heavy stuff... :(

The Jap tunnels seem a pretty scary place to explore, considering their habit of booby-trapping everything!

There was a ton of live grenades, mess kits, shoes etc. everywhere. The worst part was seeing the flamethrower scorch marks at the entrance to the caves though... I'm still trying to sort out my emotions after seeing that...

WOW!

For me,the best part is when you found actualy ww2 video of that specific B25 plane shot down and then you explore it and found underwater! Amazing!!

I have to confess, at first I thought it was the plane in the newsreel, but the wing I saw underwater was actually from a different B-24. The two wrecks are very close, I'd estimate within about a half mile from each other.

The B-24 I saw: http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/44-40603.html
The B-24 in the newsreel: http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/44-42058.html

My curiosity with exploring war sites has always been: did you find any corpse (e.g. human remains like skeletons, bones)?

Are the sites well-preserved (not altered/robbed by prospectors)? I see that there are still ammunition there.

I did see some human remains. I won't go into much detail out of respect for the deceased, but needless to say it was utterly tragic to behold.

The sites themselves are extremely well preserved. With a few exceptions, imagine the war ended, and the jungle grew up. That's Peleliu. Much unexploded ordnance has been removed, but there's still a lot out there in the jungle.

Great video! Very well done, the sights help a lot too, of course ;)

A scuba question: what species of fish is that around the 2 minute mark? (I mean the large group in which you can also see a guy swimming around).

Thanks man! Unfortunately I'm not really positive what those big schools of fish were. I don't think they were barracuda though. Some other long-ish fish... I obviously need to work on my marine wildlife identification :)

Anyway, you seem to emerge in a cave around 3:15, is it under the sea? How's the air like in that pocket?

That dive was called the "Chandelier Caverns," a very well known dive in Palau. The air was at sea level, there were a few mostly submerged caverns. I got down to about 50' deep at one point on that dive. Pretty nifty though! As far as the air goes it was pretty stuffy, I preferred the air I brought with me ;)
« Last Edit: 19-01-2016, 02:01:06 by TASSER »
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Offline Pappa_bear

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #13 on: 19-01-2016, 20:01:27 »
A co worker ( Tamil from Northern Sri Lanka) told me about a WWI ship near the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. http://www.divesrilanka.com/SPAllSLWrecks.html

Looks amazing

Offline Roughbeak

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Re: WWII Tour of the Pacific - ***Tour Complete! Video!***
« Reply #14 on: 19-01-2016, 20:01:53 »
Looks like a fun trip, Tasser!