Ocean Side
On the ocean side of Betio when the
US cleaned up the island after the battle, they dumped vast quantities
of ammunition just over the reef. From the reef itself and out to the
drop off can be found hundreds of complete rounds of 75mm and 127mm
ammo. Stan Gaja Reports: "There is a lot of the 8" from the
coastal guns and 25mm ammo and fuses etc. Even aircraft bombs and a
friend has found complete torpedoes (I have seen engines) Diving around
Betio can be a lot of fun for the WWII enthusiast. Lagoon diving is
filthy though. Because I used to live there and have a boat and hookah
gear I could go out when conditions were perfect and spend hours on
the bottom exploring."
Main Jetty (Communications Jetty)
Stan Gajda reports:
"The communications jetty they talk
about was the main jetty that existed in Tarawa in WWII, and further
to the
east
but
before
the
site
of the
giant command bunker was the smaller Burns Philp wharf. There was no
boat harbour then. The main jetty was maybe about 500-600 yds long and
was a rock walled filled with reef and coral material. At the
end it had a fork like a 'Y' but the left arm was straight on from the
main jetty line and the right arm was the one that forked (to the east)
These arms were each about 30 yds long. and I think they were wooden
piles and the forked part of this jetty was wood decked.
The jetty was a useful place to take cover when the marines had to
wade in to the beach but many were hit in this area and a lot of material
was lost all around the 'Y' area. Also the boats were coming in to
the same place and unloading everything and anything during the battle.
In the end the jetty forks were piled high with crates etc. Even conveyor
rollers were used to unload quickly but a lot of stuff was dropped
or fell over the side into the water and left there.
in about 1988 looked just like an abandoned battlefield
with every kind of war object lying on the bottom. There were many
helmets, many gas masks with eye pieces and canisters, M1 carbines,
M1 Garands, even a 03 Springfield once and another time an Arisaka.
Ammo by the cases, there were thousands of rounds of 30-06 loose,
in charger clips and in Garand clips. There were boxes of 30-06 belted
and un-belted. There were many thousands of .50 cal ammo, much of
it belted, hundreds of 60mm mortars, still in cardboard cylinders
all fuzed and ready, hundreds of 81mm mortars and occasionally the
long 81mm Brandt rounds. I found three wooden cases of US pine-apple
grenades, each grenade in its own tin can with the peel-off strip
at the top of each, inside the grenades looked just great. I found
a case of 37mm rounds once and another time a triangular wooden box
containing three complete 75mm howitzer rounds, I have the cases
right here still. I picked up a complete 60mm mortar another time
and I have seen unfuzed land mines in the same area. Of course there
are also hundreds of various Jap beer bottles off the end of the
jetty. Also water bottles, the 1918 models and the stainless two-piece
models. Once I even found a GI boot which was dark red leather and
was dated inside 1943. I have a compass here from that place and
I once picked up a set of headphones from a radio set which I gave
to John Brown in Betio. In fact I gave John a whole pile of stuff when
I was in Tarawa last to clean out my container a bit. Also in amongst
that stuff was a set of unloading rollers, just as described in '72
Hours'. Another time just a little bit further out from the forks I
found three model 1919 Browning 30-06 machine guns with a spare barrel
wrapped in canvas all held together with straps and brass buckles.
Also there was a Garand and a BAR with a wooden stock.
I used to recover some of my finds but once they dried out these things
would tend to fall apart, no treatment seemed to work. Electrolysis
treatment is required to preserve these items and in the absence of
this knowledge in the early days I lost a few pretty good items. It
was expensive for various chemicals and the equipment to do this work
properly and it was time consuming. There is a lot of other stuff
in the lagoon of course and on the ocean side of Betio on the
reef drop-off, aircraft bombs, torpedos and full 127mm and 210mm rounds
etc.
