Evidence of mustard gas use in WW2 PNG
30 August 2010
ONE OF THE PEOPLE I
interviewed for my book about
He told me that, after Saipan had
been secured, the troops were kept on the island in anticipation of the invasion of
the Japanese home islands later in the war, an operation that never came to
pass as a result of
Roland also told me the US military was stockpiling chemical shells for their 155-mm Long Toms for possible use against the Japanese when they invaded. Ever since then, I have been curious about what happened to those shells.
Some years back, I asked the EOD [Explosive Ordnance
Demolition] man operating out of
Fast forward to this past week. I had just finished the last of my on-cruise Pacific War lectures on 25 August, when an Australian, a retired EOD from the Australian Army, approached me.
He said he had attended all my lectures, and then
proceeded to tell me some interesting things about his days in EOD in PNG, the
He said in the area where the battles of Buna and Gona
were fought in
In 1989-1990, in the
After the battle for Buna-Gona, Australian officers reported that some of the Japanese showed signs of having died from gas poisoning.
I think this is worth further investigation; just one more item to add to my list.
There is also some interesting information coming my way
about some Kiwis captured on
More recently, while looking for the missing graves of US
Marines left behind on
I hope the
And that’s it for this cruise from your nondescript-garden-variety white guy. G’day, mates, and Happy Trails.
While reading an article on safety of carageenan consumption and health I followed the trail from the author, Myra Weiner, owner of Toxpertise, LLC, to her employment with the company, FMC Corporation. In the professional networking site, Linkedin.com I learned that she had been employed for 29 years by FMC Corporation.
Curious about FMC I went to its website where I learned in a tiny blurb of its history that on November 20, 1943 they used chemicals as warfare during a "combat test at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands."
This is the link to that company which I believe did experimental testing or secret chemical bombing on the island and contributed to that high casualties and wounding of American troops.
http://www.fmc.com/en-us/aboutfmc/corporateoverview/fmchistory/1943-launchofchemicalbusiness.aspx
Posted by: Melva Melendez | 26 October 2015 at 06:58 PM
Look at 10:04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSp4RAlm2rc
chemical airdrop?
Posted by: John Dude | 01 April 2015 at 07:33 AM
Bruce - Do you have any more news on the NZ Post Office radio operators decapitated by the Japanese on Tarawa, Betio and Ocean Island in 1942?
I have the names of those murdered from the official GEIC files and no doubt you have that list too. Were the remains recovered recently on Tarawa of these men?
And does the memorial to them erected on Tarawa still exist? According to the colonial files, it originally carried the words "In the service of their country they faced death with courage undaunted".
Posted by: Martin Hadlow | 14 November 2010 at 04:14 PM
I found your wonderful web site when I was looking up information on Chemical Warfare during WWll in New Guinea.
My dad was in PNG for the two campaigns and was with the Army Corps of Engineers. Are you
planning to look further into the use of Chemicals in the Buna/Dobodura area?
One of our researchers knows a man, who was in Bulolo as an officer. He is 92 and the researcher still can't get him to divulge much information!
Thank you also for the reference to the books, "The School that fell from the Sky" and "White Ghosts and Black Shadows."
I am a teacher in Massachusetts, who does research for a military museum and who helps others find information about WWll. The
Pacificwrecks.org site has been very helpful to me too.
Thank you again for your website and the articles you include.
Posted by: Janet Burris-Wessling | 14 November 2010 at 07:13 AM
In 1975 on one of the many airstrips near Popondetta I saw a huge mountain of bombs with holes in the side. They were to trucked to Oro Bay for shipping to Japan as scrap. I was told that they were gas bombs.
Posted by: Kevin Lock | 03 September 2010 at 08:08 AM
At the fisheries base in Oro Bay there are a large number of bombs which had contained mustard gas. At some stage previously the bombs had been blown to remove the gas.
Each bomb had a hole in the side where an explosive charge had been used to release the gas inside. The story I heard was that a helicopter had flown overhead to disperse the gas while the bombs were blown open.
I last saw this stockpile at Oro Bay in 2007.
Posted by: Graham King | 31 August 2010 at 02:49 PM