|
|
- P-MAN stands for Palau - Marine, Army
Air Force, Navy. XII means
this is the twelfth expedition since
we started numbering them (in 1999).
- While the team was in the field, they sent Progress
Reports that
were posted almost daily.
- The P-MAN XII final
report is now complete. Here's where you can view the complete
final report.
Click
here to read the regular progress reports that were posted during this year's
expedition.
Click here to read the complete P-MAN XII Final Report.
The team returned from the 2009 Expedition
in mid-March. As usual, they brought back a long list of things to research.
Team member Mark
Swank, who had spent huge amounts of time over about a 3-year period
at the College Park, Maryland research facility of the National Archives
and
Records
Administration
(NARA), finally made his first trip
to Palau in 2009, and during that trip he led the team in our continued attempts
to locate the execution and burial sites of some of the POWs whom we have
been
seeking.
We believe that this year the team finally located the likely execution and
burial site of several American AAF and UDT members and several missionaries
who were POWs in Palau. Upon completion of the 2009 trip, Mark began compiling
a detailed
report
about
that investigation
for
submission
to JPAC,
with the hope that at some point JPAC will be able to devote resources to
a recovery mission to this jungle location. Here's
where you can read portions of Mark's POW report.
Team members
This year's team members were be:
- Pat Scannon, Team Leader
- Flip Colmer, Mission Coordinator
- Rick Smith, Water Leader
- Paul Schwimmer, Land Leader
- Warren Bruce, Land Navigator
- Derek Abbey, late-arriving wrestling coach
- Mike Raible, FNG
- Jack Herbert, visiting Side-Scan Sonar guru
Objectives
- Land-based searches for the crash site of a Corsair in Ngatpang state,
southwest of Ngeremeduu Bay (Ngatpang Bay). This effort will be led by Paul
Schwimmer.
- Water-based searches for the crash site of the fourth and final
B-24 that was shot down near Koror. This effort will be led by Rick Smith.
Progress
Reports from P-MAN XII (2010)
In Palau, the current time (GMT +9) is:
And the weather there is
While the 2010 expedition is under
way (18 February - 12 March), we plan to post progress reports more-or-less
daily (see below). Over the past several years many of you have
become
regular,
eager, enthusiastic
readers of the progress reports. Thanks for your interest and support! And
thanks for being understanding on those occasions when we've gotten behind
by a day or so - there are times when there just aren't enough hours in the
day,
and
we fall asleep before we can finish documenting the day's efforts.
This year's reports will mostly be contributed by Flip Colmer.
2010 Expedition Progress Reports
Rpt # - Date - Topic
- 01 -
January 11 - Prologue
- 02 - January
21 - Side-scan sonar training
- 03 - February
18 - The first wave arrives in Palau
- 04 - February
19 - Checking in with The President
- 05 - February
20-21 - Jungle, sonar, and manta boards
- 06 - February
22-23 - Interview; Japaness vs. English; barracks area revealed
- 07 - February
24 - Nuts and bats;
strong current; Flip covets a yacht
- 08 - February
25-26 - Miscellany; P-MAN-interruptus; Semper Gumby
- 09 - February
27 - Sharks; trail blazing; Archaeology 101
- 10 - February
28 - There's the tsunami! No, wait - maybe THAT's it...
- 11 - March
01 - Hikes & hitchhikers
- 12 - March
02 - Departures; arrivals; Semper
Fi
- 13 - March
03-04 - Sonar operator's motto: "Beam 'til you scream"; visit
to the Japanese embassy; ghosts still inhabit Hell Island
- 14 - March
05 - Butterflies and AIRCRAFT PARTS IN THE JUNGLE!
- 15 - March
06 - More metal in the jungle. Lots more.
- 16 - March
07 - Presidential party tours Police Hill; Flip heads home
- 17 - March
08 - The report-writing torch is passed to Derek; important
parts are found at a crash site; more help from the CAT
- 18F - March
08 - Flip's home; he shares some other people's photos
- 19 - March
09 - A junkyard can also be a reference library
- 20 - March
10 - The side-scan sonar gets a caretaker; winding down
- 21 - March
8-10 - Paul Schwimmer shares some thoughts
- 22 - March
11 - Reid waxes nostalgic
- 23 - March
12 - Lotions, storyboards, lectures, diplomacy, and goodbyes.
|
