Bulldozer Question

[Alan Nicholas]

I was up in the Ramu Valley with my father in early December 2005. He was 7th division 2nd/25th infantry battalion and had fought up in the Markim and Ramu valleys. He showed mum and myself where he had fought – main battle/skirmish being at the site of Kesawai village. We also went to Kiapit and a distant look at Shaggy Ridge.
While up in that area we stayed at the Ramu Sugar complex. We got talking to the local expatts, which wasn’t hard as they were impressed that someone of Dad’s age(82) had come to visit and pay his respects.
Anyhow it was mentioned that they had in the process of developing a new cane field came across a couple of buried little dozers that where used to develop the military airfields in WW2. Apparently a lot of equipment was buried after the Japs where driven out of Papua New Guinea. The theory being that while the war was going the allies way, they may have ended up back in PNG still having to fight. So if that was the case they would need some gear, so they buried catches of equipment just in case. That is what I was told by the expatts anyway! I don’t know as to the condition of these dozers or what happened to them. I assume that it is true due to the amount of ex-military equipment being dug up or that was left lying around and can still be seen today.
Apparently they have a hell of a time digging up Marsden matting when they develop new cane/oil palm fields. Here’s a link for those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Matting
Just to the North West of this town is the Ramu Sugar township / complex for those who are interested.
"Kaigulan" lat=-5.979949, lon=145.905197 Copy and Paste into Google earth.
I thought this might be of interest to the discussuion.

Regards
Alan Nicholas

[Lang]

Derek,

Always interested in Clarkairs. I have only ever seen one in Australia - well restored - at a tractor show a few years back. I have always wanted to own one. Just drove across USA and saw two in the mid-west on poles advertising earth moving companies.

lang@st.net.au

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Lang

Derek,

Always interested in Clarkairs. I have only ever seen one in Australia - well restored - at a tractor show a few years back. I have always wanted to own one. Just drove across USA and saw two in the mid-west on poles advertising earth moving companies.

lang@st.net.au

Lang, by any chance do you remember which cities those ClarkAirs were in? Even better, any chance of remembering the names of the businesses? Thanks, Derek.

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by alnich

I was up in the Ramu Valley with my father in early December 2005. He was 7th division 2nd/25th infantry battalion and had fought up in the Markim and Ramu valleys. He showed mum and myself where he had fought – main battle/skirmish being at the site of Kesawai village. We also went to Kiapit and a distant look at Shaggy Ridge.
While up in that area we stayed at the Ramu Sugar complex. We got talking to the local expatts, which wasn’t hard as they were impressed that someone of Dad’s age(82) had come to visit and pay his respects.
Anyhow it was mentioned that they had in the process of developing a new cane field came across a couple of buried little dozers that where used to develop the military airfields in WW2. Apparently a lot of equipment was buried after the Japs where driven out of Papua New Guinea. The theory being that while the war was going the allies way, they may have ended up back in PNG still having to fight. So if that was the case they would need some gear, so they buried catches of equipment just in case. That is what I was told by the expatts anyway! I don’t know as to the condition of these dozers or what happened to them. I assume that it is true due to the amount of ex-military equipment being dug up or that was left lying around and can still be seen today.
Apparently they have a hell of a time digging up Marsden matting when they develop new cane/oil palm fields. Here’s a link for those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Matting
Just to the North West of this town is the Ramu Sugar township / complex for those who are interested.
"Kaigulan" lat=-5.979949, lon=145.905197 Copy and Paste into Google earth.
I thought this might be of interest to the discussuion.

Regards
Alan Nicholas

Matting is always of interest to any discussion, well, if you're an Engineer anyway! I'll be posting a story soon of Canada's role in developing expedient runway coverings.

Interesting story you have told of buried equipment in PNG and one that is so oft repeated around the world that there must be much truth to it. In British Columbia stories abound of equipment found along the Alaska Highway and in the Chilcotin training area. When you consider how remote much of Papua New Guinea is, and how quickly the jungle retakes cleared land, I imagine there is much to be found yet. No surprise that they're spending a lot of time digging up Marsden matting (PSP) as there was 2,000,000 tons of the stuff made during WW II. Derek.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by sapper740

In British Columbia stories abound of equipment found along the Alaska Highway and in the Chilcotin training area.

I admit I didn't do anything close to a full survey of the Chilcotin area, but I didn't find a single object of interest when I was there 1991 (except dinner and my tent/sleeping bag). GB

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

I admit I didn't do anything close to a full survey of the Chilcotin area, but I didn't find a single object of interest when I was there 1991 (except dinner and my tent/sleeping bag). GB

Which doesn't surprise me Grant as personally, I think most of the stories start with a small grain of truth and then are grossly exaggerated. Case-in-point: There was a news report decades ago that members of a Chilcotin Indian Band found live, small arms ammunition laying about in the area. This report was true and verified by reporters from the Vancouver Sun. The C.F. went in and investigated and apparently didn't find much...spent cases, a few live rounds...not much else. Now I've hunted throughout B.C. and spent a lot of time around and in the Chilcotin. It wasn't long before I was hearing stories in logging camps, hunting camps, and truck stops of tanks, trucks, and bulldozers buried there. Anybody who has served with the C.F. knows how anal they are, not just about live ammo, but spent cases, stripper clips, and ammo boxes. We've all had to stand at attention and declare, "I have no ammo, spent cases, or any other ordnance in my possession SIR!" before leaving the range, so the idea of the C.F. leaving stuff laying about is unlikely. Derek.