Hi Rising Sun*,
let me try again to say something… Are these men part of the 2/6th Independent Company (Australian Commando unit) that took action behind Japanese lines, before the battle of Kaiapit?
@ Wingsofwrath : My friend, I believe you’re correct about USS Halibut.
Having taken a couple days to review what dad said, Halibut makes a better fit.
Kind and Respectful Regards my friend, Uyraell.
Aha, found it!
In short, the story behind the picture: in 1944 an US B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down over Borneo and the survivors parachuted into the jungle. Pursued by the Japanese, the airmen were rescued by the Dayak tribe -the so-called “wild men of Borneo”- who, for unknown reasons, decided to help rather than keep their heads as a souvenir, as they usually did. Some months later, their village was visited by a British Major named Tom Harrisson, who commanded a small Australian unit and was in the area setting up guerilla operations against the Japanese. He then devised a rather audacious plan to airlift the Americans out of Borneo, by building an improvised airstrip out of bamboo sturdy enough to allow the landing of an Aeronca L3…
Of course, the whole thing ended well, the airmen were rescued and the photograph shows Tom Harrisson with some of his commandos and members of the Dayak on the afore mentioned airstrip in June 1945. The head belonged to a Japanese official and was a gift to the good Major from the headhunters.
100% correct.
More here, including photo source. http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/nov/09/secrets-dead-airmen-and-headhunters/
Your turn.
I think they were quite thoughtful in their choice of a gift…:mrgreen:
I was about to make some clever and, by my puerile standards, funny comments about getting ahead etc, when the very rarely heard good angel on my right shoulder whispered “Would you say that about an Australian / American / British soldier decapitated by the Japanese and held as a trophy by them and think it was funny?”.
My good angel is a pain in the arse. She usually appears to me only after the event to judge me rather than preventing me from performing it (okay, so she may have tried to discourage me beforehand, but anyone who listens to voices in their head, let alone angels, is nuts), but once again I’ve been guilty of being flippant about something I should have treated more seriously, being whatever the terrible event was for the poor Japanese bastard who lost his head.
When it’s brought back to the personal level, such as my son wanting to serve in Afghanistan and being killed or injured there by people quite reasonably defending their homeland against him, it’s not funny.
If everybody listened to their good angel, none of this pointless misery called war would happen.
I am not above making an occasional inconsiderate comment, but in my own defense, I would say that it was meant by way of satire, hence Mr Green.
Think of it form another angle - what would you do if you were presented with such a “gift” from a well wishing but rather clueless ally? If you refuse to take it, it would probably anger them, but if you accept it, you can’t really mount it above the fireplace in the living room…
As for the poor Japanese chap, being dead, I’m sure he didn’t care much either way - I for one wouldn’t give a rat’s hind quarters if some people started to goof off with my head after I died…
In any case, here’s the next enigma, something that will probably prove quite easy to guess:
I wasn’t criticising your comment, which followed on in similar vein from my earlier lack of respect for the dead with my ‘head not attached to the owner’ comment.
I was rebuking myself.
Which is a refreshing change from Bruce rebuking me.
Who is Bruce, I hear you ask?
Mrs RS*. From Bruce Lee = Enter the Dragon film
The picture is of HMS Thetis, which sank in Liverpool Bay on 1 June 1939 on diving trials. It’s the subject of a fairly recent book, which has the same picture on the cover. http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=1757
Thetis was salvaged and repaired and recommissioned as HMS Thunderbolt, which was later sunk for the second and final time. http://www.angelfire.com/co3/submarinethetis/thetishome.htm
You are absolutely right.
I harboured little doubt that my riddle will be solved right away, since it’s such a well known incident, but the photograph was just too good to pass up.
I didn’t know about the book, but I had a sort of morbid fascination with the Thetis case (and it’s American counterpart, the sinking of the USS Squalus) ever since I was little.
Your turn at the helm, Mr. Rising Sun. Please proceed.
Also USS Thresher http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/ships/ussthresher.htm
And HMS Affray http://www.hmsaffray.co.uk/portrait_of_a_disaster.htm
Now, for the mystery photo.
Is the answer “Guam, 1944”, by any chance? I know the USMC used about 350 specially trained dogs during that particular campaign.
It should be a dog from the 21st Marine Dog Battailon, during the Battle of Guam, July 21th, 1944.
wingsofwrath & skorzeny57
Right idea, but wrong time and place.
Found it. The dog is a Doberman Pinscher named “Scout IV” of the 3rd War Dog Platoon, part of the USMC 3rd division on the island of Guadalcanal in January 1943.
Correct!
Your turn.
In parallel to HMS Thetis, as has been mentioned, is USS Squalus.
The author Peter Maas, in “The Terrible Hours” draws many parallels between the Thetis and Squalus disasters.
The book is well worth the reading, and teaches much.
In Memory of the Submariners, of whichever Nation.
With Much Respect, Uyraell.
This has nothing to do with your answer being correct, but something nagged at me about your answer and it’s finally dawned on me. Being the reference to the 3rd Marine Division.
All I had on the photo was a caption saying “Doberman Pinscher Scout IV Guadalcanal WWII Photo”. I assumed this related to the Guadalcanal campaign in the second half of 1942 to January 1943. Which makes it the 1st Marine Division. Which in turn made me think that some of the gyrenes then would have been envious of the treatment the dog got. Although I couldn’t recall hearing of any references to dogs in that campaign.
But the 3rd Marine Division, which wasn’t anywhere near Guadalcanal until long after the 1st Div beat the Japanese there, was stationed on Guadalcanal later. So your information is probably correct, apart from the date being too early, and my assumption was probably wrong.
@Rising Sun: You are absolutely correct about the 3rd Marine Division arriving in Guadalcanal after the battle.
As usual, I reviewed a number of sources before I posted my answer and some of them mention the date of January 1943 - which is, of course, false, as the 3rd USMC Division was stationed in New Zealand at the time- while others that of June 1943, which sounds a lot more plausible.
Initially I went with the first one, because they mentioned the dog had been injured by shrapnel from a Japanese grenade and thus assumed had been in combat, which could only have happened prior to the Japanese withdrawal of February 7.
This way, it sounds more like an accident during training, unless there were some Japanese holdouts hiding on the island after the retreat…
@Uyraell: The people in Silent Service are indeed most worthy of praise, since the depths of the oceans are among the most extreme and perilous environments known to mankind, on par with outer space.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the next enigma -as usual, time (month, year) and place (city, country):
