Battles on Bougainville Island

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by McCoy

A funny thing though with the Raider picture is that whenever I see it is the resemblance with David Schwimmer with the foremost sittin' raider.

I never noticed it before but it is true. LOL.

[McCoy]

A strikin' resemblance ain't it?

[Jim O]

And last, for now at least:

Dive_bomber_at_Torokina_on_D-Day_morning.jpg
A Marine Dive Bomber from VMSB-144 turns gently toward the beach head area prior to peeling off in one of the prelanding airstrikes at Torokina on D-Day morning.


Antiaircraft_gunners_at_Cape_Torokina.jpg
3D Defense Battalion Antiaircraft gunners deliver trial fire in order to obtain best ballistic data for the 90mm gun which has just been set up overlooking Cape Torokina.


African-americans-wwii-015.jpg
Sgt. John C. Clark (left) and S/Sgt. Ford M. Shaw clean their rifles in bivouac area alongside the East West Trail, Bougainville. They are members of Co. E, 25th Combat Team, 93rd Division.


KandaSurrender.jpg
Masatane Kanda (left seated) surrenders Japanese forces on Bougainville to Allied commanders on September 8, 1945.

[50th]

Great stuff! I also just got a video that shows some action on Bougainville. Thanks for the overwhelming supply of information. I didn't know there was so much of it available on the internet. Love those pictures.

[Isro]

IN '69/'70, I worked on Bougainville Island. Part of my work was to take a chopper to the mouth of the Jaba River. It dumps into the niddle of Empress Augusta Bay. At cruising altitude, I could see Torokina, it was easy to pick out as it was brown against the jungle green and ocean blue. 25 years after the battle and the jungle still had not taken over.

[Jim O]

That's amazing considering how quickly trees take over even in the temperate climate where I live. I wonder what kinds of toxic residua were left in that soil.

[Geek44]

Of late (say the previous five to ten years) Bougainville has been in the news here as they've wanted to have independence from Papua New Guinea. There was a huge stink when the PNG government sought 'consultants' from Europe (read mercenaries) to help them root out the 'BRA' (Bougainville Republican Army). These 'consultants' from a company calling themselves 'Sandline' a subsidiary of a larger organization called 'Executive Outcomes' (snappy name huh?) were largely comprised of South Africans and various Europeans who had all been busy in the Balkans in the early nineties. The 'Sandline' gang had hoped to come through Australia and among the 'baggage' siezed by Aussie authorities was a Hind gunship. The BRA were armed mostly with home-made guns and they weren't defeated...rather they were enticed to the negotiating table and...Bougainville is pronounced 'Boganville'...a term many Aussies find highly amusing.
'Bogan' - noun, slang, Aussie white trash.

[Isro]

The natives on Bougainville are different to the rest of New Guinea (They are black). They got autonomy. This was all over the royalties from the mine they forced closed. They are now very poor, as the mine has not re-opened.The mine is directly inland from Torokina. There was no evidence of the war at the mine.
On the East coast is the old capital Kieta. Out from Keita are a couple of islands. The bigger one is called, on Google Earth, Pok Pok Island (pok pok means crocodile in their language). Over easter 1970, I went there and found a plane wing with a radial engine on it. It was American as the blue circle with the white star was like new. On the beach on the smaller island we dug holes in the sand to lie in and found plenty of spent bullet casings.