The following account comes from the POST COURIER's WEEKENDER:
http://www.thenational.com.pg/072106/w1.htm
A tale of grit and gratitude
Fred Hargesheimer, an American World War II pilot on his 15th visit to PNG tells MARGARET DAURE why he keeps coming back
Fred Hargesheimer turned 90 on May 7 this year.
He's rapidly losing his sight to macular degeneration of the eyes and he's a little hard of hearing.
But in the old boys' memory, the sights and sounds of an ordeal 63 years ago that bonds him with a part of Papua New Guinea, will remain vividly loud and clear forever.
"I still remember everything, like it all just happened yesterday, I will never forget. I am not a war hero, the real heroes are the people of Nantabu who saved my life back then," Fred told The National Weekender at the Airways Motel last week.
Fred was en route to Nantabu village in West New Britain province, having flown 10,000 miles from his home in Grassland, California.
It's a trip he has made 14 times before, the first time in 1942 during World War II as a Lieutenant in the 8th Photo Squadron of the United States Army.
This is his 15th visit back to the place and people that he says he owes his life to.
"They found me and took care of me, they hid me from the Japanese, it's because of what they did that I had to come back. It's why I keep coming back,"
"Every man, woman and child in Nantabu put their lives on the line to save me. They saved my life, shared their food and guarded me from the enemy. Who can ever repay such a debt?"
The Nantabu villagers that Fred speaks so admirably about are the people that kept him a well guarded secret for five months after his P38 fighter plane was shot out of the sky by a Japanese fighter plane on June 5,1943.
Fred then aged 27 parachuted out of the plane into the jungles of Japanese-occupied West New Britain.
With an emergency kit and two chocolate bars to eat, Fred survived for 31 days alone in the jungle, eating roasted snails, before he was found by a group of people from Ae Ae village, now known as Nantabu.
The group led by Joseph Gabu took him to their village and for five months they fed, clothed, nursed him back to health from near death and hid him from Japanese soldiers who were camped less than eight miles away at the Ulamona mission and made frequent patrols through the village.
The villagers delivered Fred safely to an Australian coastwatcher group in the mountains. He stayed with them for another three months before he was taken down to the coast from where an American submarine US Gato took him to Finschaffen in Morobe province in February 1944. From there he flew back to America via Sydney.
"After the war, living in the safe comforts of my home back in the States, I thought often about the Nantabu people who saved my life. Had they survived the war or were they found out, tortured and killed. I was haunted by the memories, I had to come back and find out.
And came back he did. In 1960, sixteen years after the war, to see his saviours again and repay a debt to them.
Out of that trip was borne the idea for the Airmen's Memorial Foundation of PNG dedicated to the education, health and welfare of the West New Britain people.
After his first trip back, Fred started telling his story in the US. Many people gave generously to the Foundation, a total of US$15,000 was raised to build a school.
The details of his experience in Nantabu became a book titled "The school that fell from the sky," first published in a private small-run edition in the United States in 2002.
The book gives vivid and honest details about Fred's eight months on the run in New Britain and how the Nantabu villagers managed to keep him safe from the enemy.
When material for the school was acquired Fred and his son Richard were there to help clear the land and build the classrooms.
The school called the Airmen's Memorial School was opened in 1964 with four classrooms and 40 students.
It was built at Ewasse, 50 km west of Nantabu. Fred said the decision to build the school there, was because Nantabu at that time was small and isolated with only 13 children in the village.
From the Airmen's Memorial Foundation of PNG and labours of so many people came among other things an aid post at Ulamona, a teachers house and generator at Noau village.
During one of his trips back in 1969, Fred and his wife Dorothy (now deceased) ended up staying for five years to help administer the school.
His trip to West New Britain this time was for two important reasons, firstly to open and dedicate another of the Foundations projects, the Ae Ae Memorial Library at Bialla on June 16 and secondly to pass on the control and management of the Foundation to a Papua New Guinean.
Speaking at the dedication Fred said, "It is my fond hope that the Ae Ae Memorial Library will nurture minds and souls, provide space for people to come together as a community and nourish for generations to come the dreams of young and old alike."
The library was the result of the hard work of the local community with assistance from Hargy Oil Palm General Manager David Mather who organized his staff to build the library, and funds from Fred Archer Foundation and Paul Bluett of Islands Petroleum.
Fred then announced his retirement as Chair of the Foundation to "pass the torch" on to another generation of people committed to the education, health and well being of the West New Britain people.
Mrs Garua Peni, one of the earliest graduates of the Airmen's Memorial school with the blessing of the Board of Trustees now heads the Foundation.
After high school, Garua acquired a Diploma in Secondary Teaching from the Goroka Teachers College and went in to earn a Masters degree in Linguistics from the University of Sydney. She now teaches at the University of PNG.
Garua has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for more than 10 years winning the respect and trust of all around her.
"She has my complete trust, respect and love. I hand over to her the responsibility of leading the Foundation with full confidence that it will have a great future," Fred said.
"My friends we have now come full circle," Fred said after handing the Foundation reins to Garua.
"The best part of my life began here. What happened to me so many years ago, on this amazing island, was the birth of a greater gratitude.
"Here over 60 years ago I learned that a meal can become a feast, a thatched hut can become a home, a stranger can become a life long friend."
The group of men that first found him have all passed on but the gratitude Fred has for them and the villagers that saved him will live on through their descendants that benefit from the education and health facilities that Fred has established there through the Airmen's Memorial Foundation of PNG.
Yes indeed the old boy has come full circle.
Now at the ripe old age of 90 Fred says this could well be his last trip back.
"I said that every other time I was here, but I kept coming back. It's the beautiful people of this land, they're like a magnet, they keep drawing me back," he smiles.
As for repaying his debt to the people, well, 42 years on and the school at Ewasse has graduated hundreds of students, many going on to become successful people in all walks of life.
The new library opens the way for young and old to broaden their horizons.
And Fred has come back, not once but 15 times since the war to show his gratitude and dirty his hands to ensure that his dreams for the people who saved him became reality.
All this despite problems caused by the sheer distance and communication problems between the United States and West New Britain.
Yes I'd say the old boy has repaid his debt, in full, many times over.
But ask him if he thinks he has repaid his debt.
His eyes will go misty, he'll shake his head and say, "I don't think I can ever pay for my life."