Mariannas Section Office (MARSEC) ~1973
Mariannas Section Office (MARSEC) ~1973 + 10sec!
The view flying south toward Angaur from Guam
Just north of Angaur in the Palau chain, heading south
Initial glimpse of Angaur from the cockpit of a C-130
Angaur from the north
Angaur from the NW, the LORAN station is the clear patch of land to the left of the beach in the foreground.
Another view of Angaur from the NW at ~1000' altitude.
Northwest Corner of Angaur, looking south
The reef off Father John's Beach, looking northeast
South end of Angaur (note 7,000' runway)
East coast of Angaur
C-130 approaching north end of runway on Angaur
C-130 touching down on Angaur heading south
C-130 taxiing north on Angaur with fire crew ready
Runway shelter for fire equipment circa 1972 at the about the middle of the runway.
C-130 on Angaur apron for crew rest stop & re-supply
Change of Command detail on Angaur
Inbound CO with no idea he's just landed in paradise...
Air Force C-130 supply drop enroute stateside (from Viet Nahm) for repairs!
Supplies loaded on pallets from MARSEC
Sometimes to save time & fuel, supplies were air dropped.
Even if the mail contained crushed & broken items, and the wind pushed it down the runway, the supply drops were worth chasing down! (XO Kipkowski, SN Johnson, Setsuo Telei & SN Manzano giving chase).
Supply run complete and C-130 at south end of runway ready to head back to Guam...
Supply run airborne & gone for another month or so!
Supply run headed for Guam w/vapor trails marking high humidity as she climbs out (humidity runs ~90% during the day)!
Galley and garage buildings looking northwest as you come up the road from the airstrip.
Galley/barracks building looking northeast toward runway.
Signal/Power Building with comms & Loran antennas and fuel tank farm in the distant background.
View looking east with original '53 station foundation in foreground, 1960 cisterns on left, and the "empty" small boat "carport" on the right next to the chain fence.
Antenna field looking east w/signal power bldg and cisterns off to the right.
Recreation (Boonie Hut) bldg with new ham radio antenna & tower brought down from LORSTA Saipan.
Station Ford tractor for mowing antenna field & grounds.
Garage/machine shop and station Dodge Powerwagons
The three official station vehicles (the parts-locker, cannibalized third one is in the background between these two running models in the foreground.
Signal power bldg (RM Reynolds headed for galley)
Quarter million $ fuel tank farm? (10,000 gal each tank)
Looking east with office on left & crew's quarters on right.
CO Moore climbed up the flagpole to fix a busted halyard when we couldn't get rusted, frozen pins out of the ground tackle supports...should have taken a camera as the view was good enough to see all the way down town.
CO's quarters & station office building with a giant clamshell & some glass Japanese fishing floats as decorative additions.
Got some fabric from home to make new curtains in the CO's room...station phone on wall, no long distance!
Inside view of galley with pass-through on right to the mess deck.
Station entrance way leading into the Mess Deck (looking south) with some WWII artifacts dragged back from the local surrounding jungle.
The CQ wall in our Ham Shack...our call was KC6SP (or King Charlie Six Salty Peanuts) and frequented the Confusion Net out of SoCal with phone patches home.
Our Swan 350 Transceiver in the Ham Shack (a converted space in the Boonie Hut/Rec Bldg).
Desk & bookcases in one of the crew's rooms (are those 8-track tapes lined up over the desk light?).
The mess deck with pass-through to the galley on the left, a "new" ice machine (critical item) & water fountain in the middle, and the well-worn pool table on the right.
RM2 Wayne Reynolds relaxing on the lanai outside the mess deck.
Crew early 1972 {courtesy Ben Manzano} [L-R standing] Anderson?, Manzano, Thompson, Roth, CO Moore, Cook Moses, XO ?, Barnes, Johnson, Callahan; [L-R kneeling] Rodriguez, Mac?, Hillary, Gruber? (mascots Ralph & ? sitting).
Crew summer '72 [L-R standing] ?, Ricker, Pamplano, Moore, Kipkowski, Reynolds, Bober [L-R front row] ?, Setsuo, Danny, Gabey, Hokanson, ?, ?, Jones (8-ball was an old fuel tank retrieved from the WWII jungle relics).
(L-R) XO Kipkowski, SN Johnson, SN Manzano & SN/FN Callahan.
A CWO Ed somebody? from MarSec who came down to help us with some construction issues...?
Average size barracuda taken off Father John's Reef (just outside boat basin).
The working end of a barracuda!
Taken some time after I departed (we had no operating small boat during my tour, despite my frequent vocal & written protests); nice to see something good happened & there were some decent fishermen in the crew!
The locals had a saying "Sela Bobee" or something like that which roughly translated to "shame on you, you pig"? I can't recall this pet's name (but he loved Olympia beer) or how the XO got his nose busted, but I'm sure there is a story there!
Geckos were everywhere, but most ran too fast to get close-up pictures of them; this one I caught licking the glue off the postage stamps on my desk, so I tied him up to keep him still enough for this shot I should have posted with all the criminals on the board in the post office!
MARSEC staff joined us to search for war relics in the vertical coral caves, summer 1972? (L-R standing LT Gary ?, RM2 Wayne Reynolds, ?; kneeling: "Mac?", LT Dave Moore).
What coral does to tennis shoes!
F4U Corsair just behind the CO's Quarters
According to the locals, this F4 Corsair lost power during takeoff, so the pilot put in into the dense jungle rather than ditch in the shark infested waters...and he survived!
Remains of a B-25 that didn't fare well, despite the 7000' crushed coral runway.
Boat basin @ high tide looking north toward Peliliu.
Bringing equipment from the boat basin back to the station for some planned reconstruction work (that's a flat bed trailer behind the Dodge Powerwagon loaded with the all the stuff off an LCM).
XO Kipkowski oversees MarSec personnel getting sand for station repairs from a local beach.
Station mascot "Garbage".
Skipper & a monkey one of the island kids had for a pet. When Setsuo saw me handle him, he went out and got me a younger one, "Sampson" in the next shots...
Sampson was hungry, but we found a good way to get him to eat in the next shot...
Sampson enjoyed everything from milk to papaya juice when we fed him this way!
RM2 Reynolds getting a close up of the rose coral.
RM2 Reynolds taken with available light at about 50 feet (this was on the west side of the island).
Check out the five foot white tip reef shark just above & left of center, cruising along over the rose coral...
Dorados?
Always easier to adjust a Nikonos when it is facing you! (RM2 Reynolds making sure it is set right)
Close up of the rose coral and some of the blue striped fish that were always present around it...the color is washed out in these shots, but next time I'll use a flash to fix that!
Skipper goes after an eel with a spear gun...
Banded Sea Snake (Laticauda colubrina) was slow moving, so easy to catch...but is very dangerous (venom 10x more poweful than a rattlesnake); we caught this one in fairly shallow water near the station. The Pacific Islands aren't supposed to have snakes on land, but we violated that myth on this day.
EN1 Gordon Ricker & CO Dave Moore enjoying their rides on one of the "improved" roads (OSHA safety training on riding leathers and helmets had not been offered to the station at this time)
Wayne Reynolds, Danny Moses, Dave Moore & Paul Young (L to R) {Danny was the best player, by far}
Preparations for Change-of-Command in early '73 (ET3 Bober getting haircut, XO Kipkowski & ? at table and incoming CO Paul Young walking toward camera).
Station crew Spring '73 (L-R standing) XO Chief Boatswain Russell Kipkowski, ?, Fireman Glenn Parker, Engineman Gordon Ricker, Cook Bob Pamplano, Radioman Wayne Reynolds, ?, ?, Corpsman Mark Jones, CO Dave Moore, (L-R kneeling) ?, Electronics Technician Kent Libby, Machinery Technician Bradley Hokanson, Seaman Don McGinn, Electronics Technician Dave Bober {all names and rates subject to validation!}
Change of Command April 1973 (L-R) LTjg Moore, BMC Kipkowski, ?, ?, EN1 Ricker, SC1 Pamplano, RM2 Reynolds, ?,?, HM2 Jones, LTjg Young (L-R kneeling) ?, ?, MK3 Hokanson (holding Ralph up), ?, ET3 Bober (petting Garbage)
Station looking south from about 2000 feet (~1974)
1972 shot of Angaur Island looking south with LORSTA in foreground (cleared area left of beach) & 7000 foot crushed coral runway on the left.
View looking SE of the 1953/54? Station buildings
Twin water towers @ 1953/54? Station
Daniel Moses' house & car (long time local native station cook who later moved to Yap).
Danny Moses' wife & son?
Felisa's daughter Leslie (late '72/early '73).
Vivian Pedro?
(L-R) Antina, Estellita, Ayako @ Estellita's baby shower?
CO Moore holding "Jim" w/other kids at Jesus' house (Jesus in foreground).
Jesus' son, Jim (reportedly he was later killed on Yap, by some of the locals...details unclear).
Captain Blau the Skipper of the local island boat Regina.
Danny Moses & son?
Danny Moses & son aboard the Regina, headed for Koror?
Uki & Jim? (at least Uki had a helmet and was trying to pay some attention to safety issues!); Uki was the "Skipper" of the Cape George when we turned it over to the Palauan government in 1990.
Mariek? (taken at Jesus' house)
Father John (never did get his last name), the local Catholic missionary/priest giving out dipolmas at the local school?
Father John, Brad Hokanson & wife, Steven Swords? (taken at the church on island?)
Santa Maria statue on NW corner of Angaur (believe this was erected shortly after a typhoon in 1964 to celebrate or insure future protection bestowed on the island).
Runway shelter erected by the locals (~1986) at the south end of the runway after the station closed (note the CG Diver sign on the right, put there by Brad Hokanson off the Buoy Tender Basswood in 1985).
