Stories
Your stories - and stories
from the Fletcher archives
A Project with Skeletons in the Basement.
Guadalcanal has numerous installations, museums, memorials, and battle fields that testify to the ferocity of land, sea and air battles during the Second World War. Project manager Euan Gaw relates that site personnel on the Central Bank of Solomon Islands project received a graphic reminder of the conflict following a “Bone bilong man� call during basement excavation from Barnabas Inomae and Festus Kasilea.
Museum staff were called by the police and after marking out a half metre square area and photographing it, they borrowed a spade, some brick laying trowels, a bucket and sheet of polythene from the site, and began to dig. At a depth of one metre, the level basement wall, the two museum staff borrowed a paint brush to dust off what had been exposed so that it could be photographed. They had uncovered mess kit, rounds of live rifle ammunition, boot soles and some bone fragments.
One of the site workers offered to assist with the lifting out of the polythene sheet that held the spoil. Unfortunately he dropped his end and reburied everything. Next day the size of the dig was doubled, taken down to the level previously achieved and re-photographed. Work continued and pieces of webbing and bone were found. It was determined that the remains were Japanese and a mess kit revealed a name which was the equivalent of Brown or Jones.
Museum staff did not return for nearly three weeks, and the site labour fossicked in the dig out side working hours looking for items such as mess tins, water bottles, helmets and ammunition to sell at the market or to cruise ships when they call at Honiara. Following an approach to the Museum for permission to cover the dig, their staff returned and in a concentrated effort over the next two days found a further skeleton, a set of two dog tags and loose ammunition. The dig reached a final depth of 1.5 metres which indicated that it had been the site of a foxhole, and the position of the skeletons suggested that it had received a direct hit.
At this stage the museum staff informed the company that the dig had been completed. The following Saturday the site watchman was found playing with a live hand grenade and a clip of loose ammunition he had found loose at the bottom of the dig. He was promptly told to replace them. When work resumed the following week the grenade had been retrieved and was being rolled along a shutter. The police were called in to remove the grenade and ammunition. They forgot the clip of ammunition but it was quickly delivered to them.
The site labour at last decided that the dig had been thoroughly searched, and the numerous interested expatriates also returned to more normal pursuits.
Mike has a brush with El Nino and lives to tell the tale.
The Overseas Division’s chief estimator, Mike Taylor, had a close encounter with El Nino – The Child – during the summer and feared he was about to meet his Maker.
In any event, his supposedly straight forward journey to Bora Bora island, north-west of Tahiti, to check the site of a proposed international hotel, proved anything but.
Mike flew from Papeete to Bora Bora one quiet Saturday armed with an overnight bag for the intended one day visit. The skies were clear and he had no warning of the approach of Cyclone Lisa, a result of the phenomenon known as El Nino, a nickname for a hotting-up of the Pacific that starts off the Peruvian-Ecuador coast causing freak weather usually around Christmas.
Landing on the lee side of an outer island on the reef surrounding Bora Bora Mike waited for the boat to take and five other passengers back to the mainland.
The 6m-long craft arrived, two hours late, in heavy chop and with the wind building as darkness fell. Out in the open sea they were like corks in a bathtub, the floor of the boat was soon awash and the passengers had to grip their baggage.Mike, usually a poor sailor, was so scared he forgot to be sick as the 40 minute trip stretched to four hours.
On its second attempt at approaching the wharf a wave picked the boat up and left its occupants staring at the deck nearly two metres below. Eventually they berthed successfully and Mike has never seen a boat abandoned so fast.
On the trip by truck-cum-bus to the Hotel Bora Bora, fallen trees littered the road. A package was to be delivered to the airways cargo building but this was flagging away as its roof had blown off.
At the hotel Mike was shown to his detached, fale-style bungalow made of matting wall, insect mesh windows and grass roof – ideal in hot weather but like a wind tunnel in a storm. Mike drifted off to sleep, the curtains horizontal in the jetstream whistling above his head. About 2am he woke. The bedside lamp was on the floor and he and the bed were drenched in seawater, sand and leaves. The coconut tree came crashing through the roof.
At that stage there was a knock on his door and hotel staff escorted him by torchlight to the relative safety of the main building. There he and the other 30 guests snatched what sleep they could.
At daybreak it was almost calm and they were able to survey the damage. Yachts were beached with their rigging smashed, overwater bungalows were dumped into the sea while others were left roofless.
With the radio transmitter damaged and contact with the world outside lost, Mike thought he would accomplish his mission and visit the planned hotel site. But the roads were washed out and nobody would hire a car or a motorcycle. Undaunted he set off on a 12km trip by push bike over 20 fallen coconut trees just after 150 metres of road he decided to retreat.
Originally Mike was due to fly out on Sunday but with all flights cancelled he spent the day helping clear up the damage.
On Monday morning Mike and another 24 guests were jammed into the ferry for the trip back to the airport. Fortunately the sea was calm and the journey safe but once there he had to wait seven hours for the flight back to Papeete. This caused him to miss the direct connecting flight to Auckland by three hours but thankfully he was able to make a seven hour flight the next morning to Auckland via Tonga and Fiji.
With the hotel project now being retendered, Mike may yet accomplish is mission.
A picture of Mike Taylor taken the same date this article was written is in the gallery have a look to see the face behind this adventure.
Rain, hail or shine, a tender must arrive on time.
When a tender submission for a multi-million dollar contract goes astray - in this case left behind at a remote Pacific Island airport - all hell breaks loose.
This happened recently with a tender sent by courier to Western Samoa. Pacific regional manager Keith Fletcher was informed by the prospective client when the expected documents failed to materialise by closing time. A replacement copy would have to be hand delivered minutes before the only available flight was due to leave.
With the plane delayed 15 minutes, Pacific regional administrator Gavin Hunt had just enough time to drive home and collect together a few personal effects before heading to the Auckland International Airport at Mangere.
Using a credit card he was able to buy an air ticket and make his way to the Fiji-bound plane just before take-off.
On Arrival at Nandi at 8pm Gavin hired a car for the 160km, three hour drive to Suva to catch the 8am flight to Apia, via Tonga.
Confronted by heavy rain and feeling weary, Gavin had time to snatch four hours sleep before setting-off for Suva in the early hours of the morning. Although it was still raining, he made steady progress before the road became a quagmire with slips, knee deep mud, greasy concrete bridges devoid of safety railings and with the added obstacles of stray horses and cows.
Snail’s Pace
Then, on one of the steepest sections of the road, the car lights suddenly died leaving Gavin sitting helplessly in the pitch dark. He waited an hour before hearing a truck grinding its way slowly up the hill. On board were two farmers taking watermelons to market in Suva at a snail’s pace of 20 kph so the cargo wouldn’t bruise.
With his watch showing 6am, Gavin followed the crawling truck. He was still two hours from Suva and the plane was due to leave at 8am. Soon it was daylight and Gavin arrived at Lami on the out skirts of Suva. The time 7:50am and he knew only that Nausori Airport was somewhere on the other side of the city.
An old man walking along the road was persuaded to act as a guide and with him showing the way, Gavin sped for the airport, 25km out of the city. They arrived at 8:20am, Gavin rewarded the old man and dashed for the airline counter. Fortunately the plane was still on the tarmac. And using his plastic card Gavin bought a ticket and with seconds to spare climbed aboard the Apia bound plane.
Crossing the International Dateline, he arrived in Western Samoa at 1pm the previous day, two hours before the contract tenders were officially opened. With 30 minutes passing through customs and another 40 minutes by taxi on the 22km drive from Faleolo Airport into Apia, Gavin duly arrived at his destination with 50 minutes in hand.
Before lodging the tender he gave the taxi driver the credit card and asked him to obtain a ticket at the counter on the 3:15pm flight to Auckland - the last New Zealand flight for five days.
However the story did not end there. The taxi driver reappeared with the news that the tickets were unavailable at the city office and bookings had closed for the flight.
With his mission complete, Gavin returned to the Airport 15 minutes before departure time, bought a ticket at the counter with his trusty card and again dashed to the plane with seconds up his sleeve.
He arrived back in Auckland at 7:30pm to end the 27 hour marathon round trip.