stearmann4 wrote:
I was stationed in Guam with the Navy a few years ago. There is a Corsair that crashed on short final to the Orote Point (Naval Station) runway thats only about 400 meter walk into the jungle. It's got a well worn path, just ask any of the guys that have been on the island, it's pretty well known.
Also at Naval Station, there's a Japanese plane on floats inverted about 80' down. Still has guns in the wings, and about 150yds off shore in the harbor. It's near the Tokai Maru (sp) which was damaged and sunk in the battle for Guam.
As long as you're at Naval Station, make sure you stop by the museum, it's not Smithsonian quality, but it's got some of the best original Japanese and pacific Theater artififacts anywhere, many of which should probably be in national museums...but it is Guam after all. Hidden treasure though.
Lastly, there's also a ton of Japanese caves and "pill boxes" on Naval Station, a couple you can see from the Denny's on the water out the back gate on the beach.
I never visited Palau, but Tinian is worth the trip, as you can still stand in the pit they loaded the atomic bombs from. There's also a massive Japanese cave complex still accessible, and there used to be several aircraft wrecks still in the jungle.
Mike-
I dove on the Japanese float plane when I lived in Guam. But that was 12 years ago. Pretty cool going down to see it, though the visibility is pretty poor.