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Upcoming Missing Air Crew Project Trip, July 18-28, 2010
We are only a few short weeks away from leaving for our next Yap Island search trip. Throughout the trip my twenty-one-year-old daughter, Genna, will be posting a comprehensive daily blog about all the activities within the group. Please watch the www.missingaircrew.com and Facebook site for daily updates from July 18-28th. We are very excited about the upcoming trip. This trip is more than a typical search trip. It will include the following exciting events and activities:
• We will be joined by two team members from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who will be using their expertise and advanced deep water search equipment (Sonar and remote underwater vehicles) to help us locate my uncle’s missing B-24 bomber off the SE coast of Yap. The Woods Hole team can also use re-breather diving to dive to 400-500 ft once we locate targets to review.
• While the professional deep water team is searching for my uncle’s plane we will be searching the waters around the island for other missing F6F Hellcat fighters and B-24 bombers that we can reach at diving depths for normal divers without advanced search equipment.
• We will be searching the land and mangroves on the island for an F6F Hellcat that we located a piece of last year as well as for the sites of a TBM Avenger and Helldiver.
• On Tuesday, July 27th we will hold a memorial dedication ceremony for the Ens. Joseph Cox memorial that we have setup with the Yap Visitor’s Bureau (YVB) over the last few years. Attending the dedication will be the U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Yap Governor and members from the Ens. Cox and Ens. Holding families (both pilots were shot down on September 6, 1944). The memorial dedication will be held from 2-4 pm and will be followed by a farewell dance by the Village of Ngariy.
Throughout the trip I will continue my work with the YVB and the Yap tourism industry to provide a series of WWII history training sessions to help them promote their WWII history. Although we will be hard at work throughout the trip with the events and activities listed above, we always look forward to winding down each evening with our old friends on Yap and meeting new friends from around the world. Some of my fondness memories over the years are of sitting out under the stars in Micronesia having a good time with an interesting collection of new and old friends.
Please watch the sites for updates throughout our trip!
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