Planes, Grenades, and Auto-Machine-guns (7 min read)

Today I’d like to share some stories from my travels through Papua New Guinea; these tales are more examples of why it’s called The Land Of The Unexpected!

The Plane Under The Sand

Two 1919 Machine-guns Protruding From the Black Sand

I was traveling along the coast of the Gulf Province with a team doing village assessments and spending time with the people. The coast’s black sand beaches are lined with coconut trees, small fishing huts, and the occasional village. We were traveling by foot from Iokea to a small village named Sepoi, which is right at the border of Central Province. The walk there was only a few hours, all on the beaches and in the sun, and we were only planning on staying one night so we packed light and left early in the morning. This village is the home of a close friend of mine who was visited by the medical ship some years ago, and he requested that I travel back to his village. It was an honor to visit his people and be welcomed into his childhood home. We had a feast that night and shared with them what we were doing and the information we wanted to gather from them.

The next morning we said our farewells and headed back towards Iokea, and this time the walk was a little bit more eventful. As we were walking I had fallen a bit behind in the group. Some people wanted to get back quickly, but I was enjoying the scenery and smelling the flowers. It was then that I stumbled upon something that I CAN’T believe I missed the first time. Everyone had walked past it twice now, yet no one batted an eye. Just on the beach, not too far from where the tide would come up, there were two mounted machine guns sticking out of the sand! My first thought, of course, was to dig one up and take it with me. I didn’t know where I would bring it but I knew it was from World War II and should be in a museum, not sitting in the sand.

I ran off into the bush, cut off a hefty branch with my machete, and started digging. There were two machine guns next to each other in perfect alignment, as if they were positioned there. As I started to clear away some of the black sand with my newly fashioned shovel, I found that the guns were still mounted to the wing of a plane. Now, surprisingly or unsurprisingly (I’m not sure what is more fitting), on every trip I’ve taken to PNG I have found a WW2 plane! I quickly caught up to my group and asked if anyone noticed the guns, and they all had missed them, so a few walked back with me to check them out. Later on, when I got to the village I asked some of the locals about it, and they told me that the entire plane has been covered by the sands and tides over the years, but no one has tried to retrieve it.

Just another day in the Land of the Unexpected.

Mysterious Crashed Plane Hidden in the Hills

I was travelling from Lae to Menyamya to accomplish one of the hardest feats I have attempted to date: the Black Cat Trail. This trail was used in WWII, and runs from around Lae on the North Coast and ends near Kerema on the South Coast of Papua New Guinea. We had just arrived in the small town of Wau, a town built on panning for gold in the rivers, where it is still common to find scales in homes and often see people panning. We were told of a US WW2 Bomber that was in relatively good condition nearby, so we decided to take a look! We were driven by a kid who was no older than 16, on some very treacherous roads, all seated in the back of a pick-up… This wasn't the worst transport situation we had encountered on this trip, so I wasn’t too upset. I think one of my favorite memories about this particular excursion though, is that one of the village ladies just let us take one of her young children along for the adventure! He was very intrigued with my hair and pale skin, and you can see him riding the shoulders of my friend to the left. After navigating the mountain roads, we hopped off the truck and proceeded into the dense jungle and further into the hills. We trekked for about 45 minutes, sliding along muddy trails and crossing some large streams. When we reached a clearing, it was very clear to us where the plane was; it was pretty hard to miss. Crash landed, rather gracefully, was a B-17 Bomber named the “Grey Ghost.” The reason it earned this nickname, and why it is such a mysterious wreck, has to do with its markings. After the plane began to age and was affected by the elements, RAAF serial numbers and logos began to show underneath the US Air Force Paint. These intriguing markings and the circumstances surrounding the crash lead people to believe the plane could have been used for covert operations… Who knows! Either way it was an awesome find!

We spent an hour or so climbing through the wreckage and taking photos, marveling at this piece of history hidden away in the jungle. On the walk home I was ahead of the group with some local village boys. I tried talking to them in English, introducing myself and asking their names. English is taught in all PNG schools, but not all kids get an education, and some are just shy and would tell you they understand. After a few minutes though, one of them started singing John Denver's classic 'Country Roads.' I turned around, shocked, as the others started to join in, singing each word perfectly. I, of course, joined in and we spent the hike back singing John Denver and Bob Marley. I still never got their names, but it's a memory I'll treasure.

Just another day in the Land of the Unexpected!

Kokoda’s Remnants Of War

I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for this… but thankfully not from any grenades! All jokes aside, this activity is VERY DANGEROUS and is not a wise decision. Any explosive device needs to be disposed of properly and should not be played with, even if they're very old. They can be very unstable and could go off at any moment.

Certain areas of Papua New Guinea are littered with artifacts from World War II and these artifacts come in all shapes and sizes. I’ve personally found a few unfired bullets along the Kokoda trail, as well as helmets, rifles, and even a sword. A lot of pieces have ended up as decoration inside or around locals huts as well. Such as grenades sitting on your front porch, or maybe even a couple of mortars. In the photos below, I was hiking through a section of Kokoda track that is made up of moss covered trees and leech covered moss. It was a very long and frustrating hike, with 5 hours of rain and lots of leeches, so my entire crew was feeling pretty over it. My guide suggested a quick rest and told me he had a surprise for us: there was a large cache of Japanese bombs in the dense jungle nearby! He asked if I wanted to see it, and of course I did, so we took a quick detour and what we found amazed me. There were 4 piles of 50 grenades or more, and next to them were rows of mortar rounds, artillery shells, and the rusted remnants of a few rifles. Whilst I was living young and reckless on this adventure, it was a dangerous situation to be in. I knew better than to touch or mess with any of these items, as they can be very dangerous - especially when you are hiking in the jungle, miles from any hospital. It was amazing to see this piece of history, and this was a very cool find! But also quite scary, knowing that there are probably many more caches like this throughout the region of Kokoda.

Another crazy day in the Land of the Unexpected.