Wow! Where did January go? I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking that but at the same time I am looking forward to February and March. I had originally planned to return to Truk Lagoon (Chuuk) this month for the anniversary of Operation Hailstone but unfortunately the efforts of my fellow researchers currently on…
Day Two in the Archives
So today I completed an effort to go back over my tracks to see if I had left anything under all the stones I have looked under. It seems that I was pretty thorough in my first two approaches however I now had the chance to look under the smaller stones that were still on…
Still On The Hunt
For over a month I have been going back to PAA archives and the archives of others just for small details I might have missed and today found a doooosey. The famed “Hospital Foundation” lost to a remote jungle just became real because I have found the roll of film it was originally a part…
So, what’s next? Good question.
Well there is a title I never thought I would use on this blog. Around this time in 2011 I was preparing for my second trip to Micronesia during a blizzard. I felt fully prepared as I assembled my new arsenal of research tools to include: a ground penetrating radar kit (HUGE Kudos to GSSI…
Pearl Harbor Memorial
Today we mark the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. I offer a moment of silence to remember the souls of men and women who were lost for no fault of their own. A war was given the breath of life months earlier in Japan and it became a reality in the…
Mark Anderson Walker pt. II
Mark A. Walker is shown here stepping up and out of the cockpit of a Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 flying boat sometime in 1936/37. I am including this image for a few reasons today to share the sheer joy I have in receiving it. For a very long time, any sort of imagery of this…
Looking Through a Straw for a Needle in a Haystack…
So there, I said it, but let me translate that into Japanese so that they can appreciate it as much as you will: 干し草の山の中から針のためのストローを通して見る. Whew! Glad that’s off my chest… I have spent the past few weeks painstakingly looking at one areal photo after another of the Operation Hailstone ( トラック島空襲 Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit. “the airstrike on…
Sorry for the Delay…
A fond greeting to you all. First let me apologize for the delay in keeping you all informed of my progress on the search and recovery of the passengers and crew of the missing Hawaii Clipper. Rest assured it is not due to anything negative, actually, quite the opposite. Over the past two months, I…
Brigadier General Robert Blake taking operational control of Truk Lagoon
Three days before the surrender date, Brigadier General Robert Blake was designated Prospective Island Commander, Truk, a designation which was changed on 27 September to Prospective Commanding General, Occupation Forces, Truk and Central Carolines. The mission of his command was to occupy and develop Truk “as a fleet anchorage with facilities ashore limited to recreational…
Full article of Aviation History Magazine
Aviation Magazine articles for those of you not able to find it in print. Thanks John for doing this.
Hawaii Clipper story carried in National Magazine
Good news! The story of the Hawaii Clipper has been carried in this months Aviation History Magazine, a must read source for aviation enthusiasts. Check out: http://www.HistoryNet.com/aviation-history for more details. This particular article entitled “Vanished” starts on page 30 and covers six pages of interviews and details covering the mysterious loss. My thanks to writer…
Found!
Well here is a lucky find today! I just received an original postcard of a restaurant called the China Clipper from either the late 1930s or early 1940s. According to my research, Wah Sun (Watson) Choy, a passenger on the Hawaii Clipper caring a very large some of money to his brother Frank in China,…
The Lost Clipper - The mission to bring 15 forgotten Americans home 