Just to start this off, on a short story, I know many members here must have incredible life experiences that other members would like hear. I have read about Roody’s time working with at least 2 great bands and Jack P restoring pipe organs and church bells in the Philippines and Europe, just to name two. So to start off, here is one of mine. I always wanted an adventure, so I started out in San Diego then San Francisco then to Hawaii in 1982, Still no adventure. So it took me 10 years in Hawaii to start my life’s dream. Not knowing what would happen, but I bought a 30 foot sail boat, stocked it up with 6 month of food and my step dad, we took off with $140 in our pockets and a promise of money from a business that I sold. (never came) Then the adventure started. Our first landing was in the Marshall Islands. I went exploring and probably not very people would believe what I discovered. I found a WW2 Japanese airfield with un exploded bombs everywhere on an un-inhabited coral atoll. There were 3 Zeros still sitting in the collapsed hanger and spare propellers leaning against the wall. Then I fell in a 60 something year old booby trap! Lucky no injury. Then I was shown an American P39 aircraft that was shot down and several crashed Japanese planes. Now this was a coral spit in the middle of the Pacific and the adventure went on and on, and too many things to post here, but the one incredible finding was. While trekking through the jungle, I ran across the remains of a plane that had not been identified. I recognized it as a P39. Then found someone’s dog tag Id. I contacted the American embassy. They sent a forensic team to check it out. They recovered the remains and a positive Id for the downed flyer. And after all those years the family had him back. Now my PI family adventure! What’s yours? Ron
Now we still want to hear your PI family adventure! What about it? Go on Go on Go on... (Still love to hear more about your well-written and vivid stories!)
Ron, nice thread and very interesting story. I was thinking about starting a similar thread, more to Josephine's point, about how guys met their wives. Then I thought that may be too personal and intrusive so decided not to pursue. But I have a PI story I will share. In the 60's I came to Subic Bay for jungle survival training. After some training, I was awarded with a weekend USO trip to Manila (we were not allowed overnight liberty in Subic), staying at the colonial Manila Hotel. My buddy and I got bombed out on 151 rum at the hotel, then had a cab take us to a bar. After paying the taxi, I put the wad of change and bills back in my front pocket then the the cabbie puts his hand in my pocket and grabbed the money (not my d__K). I felt it so gave the buy a big b*tch slap. He ran into the bar and the next thing I know 7-10 filipino guys with knives come running after us. We took off running and a cab pulled up out of no where. I hopped in the front and my buddy in the back. After a few minutes I am talking about what happened but got no answer from my friend. I looked in the back and he is making out with a girl. I thought lucky guy. Taxi dropped me off at the hotel, there was a pretty girl near the entrance so of course I took her to the room with me, had a quickie, and sent her on her way. Next day was check out, no friend. He finally shows up and said he was drugged and rolled, no money, no military id. Somehow the hotel let pay short and we left. Welcome to the Philippines :-).
I have been very lucky in my life..... it has been almost one long adventure One of my favorite episodes was in Mexico.... I am an on again; off again treasure hunter I had heard a story about a young Indian boy finding a tunnel complex filled with "boxes and things"..... I decided to check it out .... the 12 year old boy turned out to be a 90 year old Sari Indian.... it took awhile to gain his trust but finally he took me to the site..... The area had once been under a 60 foot deep lava flow.... the canyons were worn out by years of erosion....the walls were vertical.....as a boy he had gained access by way of a natural crack in the face of a cliff.... sadly I was just to "fat" to get back to the tunnel or even see it..... but I thought I felt a breeze coming OUT of the crevasse ... crawling out of the cliff I resigned myself to another empty treasure "hole".... my friend knew no English but motioned for me to follow him..... the top of the cliff was flat ....He pointed down at the rock and there was a square cut hole about three foot across .... it was blocked by debris.... Somebody had taken the time to chisel out a tunnel through hard basalt rock..... basalt is good for construction but is not mined by tunneling.... How the mystery... Who did this tunnel?.... in the 1500's stone masons working for the church carved irrigation canal out of solid rock in the nearby valleys...??? Why did they do this? There were no minerals in the basalt rock.... no gold ; no silver....nothing....A little research revealed a possible explanation...early in Mexico's history the King of Spain thought the priests were using Indians as slave labor and mining gold and silver...that was OK but he was not getting his cut.... not too far from this site is one of the largest still active gold mines in Mexico.... The King of Spain had all the priests arrested and imprisoned..... most died.... I do not know what is inside that mountain....but something important obviously is I will be going back..... If you doubt my story; talk to Paul Caldwell who hangs out at McDonalds....he was with me
Some other adventures.... I worked for the Shah of Iran training agents to infiltrate Iraq.... warned him in 1971 he had a revolution brewing Did archeological work in Grenada....dug an old Arawak indian site.....I also ran my own spy ring..... my contact was the beautiful daughter of the second biggest crook on the island Hired on as a crewman....Caribbean sail boat.... visited most of the islands ( The Valdivia....Cpt Janzan... later the ship sank off Antigua) Independentistas in Puerto Rico ambushed my boss ( Col Tucker).... they botched the ambush.... I did not care for Col Tucker so I posted a notice on the university bulletin board offering free classes on HOW to conduct a proper ambush.... Col Tucker did not think it was funny....later the same rebels shot up a Navy bus in Sabana Seca.....killed nine I worked eight years as a bouncer in an all black night club...I was the ONLY white employee....we had people shot....stabbed....slashed with a razor.... even had one get his lip bit off and spit on the floor.... wild times but I never got hurt....even during the riot I received a medal for heroism....saving a man's life....but between you and me I do not think I earned it ....I just did what you would have done had you been there....
I once gave my wife's 5 year old niece mouth to mouth when she fell out of a tree. She lost wind, stopped breathing, passed out and the family stood around screaming and crying. Apparently, they don't teach anything in the way of first aid in this area.
Back in 1978, I made a low budget road trip cross country with a dude named George Hennard. It was epic.
Just as I thought, there are a lot of interesting stories around. I would say anyone that lives here and made that decision, must have at least some adventure in their blood. One of my other stops was in Papua New Guinea. While sailing the beautiful Solomon Islands. (and catching a mild form of Maleria) A old man told me about a cannibal cave in PNG, where he heard was cave with a pile of human bones. He gave me the island name and wala! it was on the chart. The Islands were there but, the underwater was never surveyed except the main channel. Ok off we went to find a cannibal cave. Knowing that we could not get a visa, all our cash was in food supplies and until we could get to an atm in Australia, no money, but who cares we were going anyway.. After 7 days at sea with squall after squall (Powerful but short lived mini storms) There it is we can see the island, next to it was a long skinny island that we would sail along to reach our destination. Behind us was a big black looking squall, I thought oooh well I've seen lots of you! Holy sh*t what a mistake!!! The wind started screaming, that calm channel turned into Monster wave surf boiling thrashing scary terrifying soaking wet mess! There was one big submerged rock on the chart that I absolutely had to avoid at all costs especially going that fast! You got it - a huge wave knocked us right into the monster rock's path... Then the next wave just at the right time came in, lifted the boat just high enough to go right over the top! Right about at that point I was thinking about things like lost in Papua New guinea no money, no visa and no boat and who knows what is next. Well as I turned around the bottom of the long island hoping hide from the wind there, suddenly a wave went all the way over the boat and my Dad yelled (not what I expected) "THAT'S THE LAST WAVE" He was right, just in front was calm crystal clear water and a beautiful white sand beach. From pure terror to paradise in less than 1 minute!!! Dropped the anchor, composed myself a little then looked up at the mountain in front of us with parrots flying through the trees, while the squall was blowing like stink on both sides of us. Wow what can I say now? ' A couple of hours later the weather was good again, so we headed over to the island we were waiting to see. Good now? Maby not??? Just as we set the anchor we saw an official looking boat with several people and a PNG flag on the bow, suddenly the no visa thing popped into my head again~~ooohh sh*t~~As they came closer I realized it was a boat full of kids and young boys~~~ Looking better~~l To my great relief they greeted us with big smiles and said welcome. They explained that they were fishing for sea slugs and tending the garden on the island, they went on to say that the chief had recently died and out of fear and respect everyone had to leave for a year, and they only went there for the garden. they said they would come back the next day and visit. The island is a beautiful small round island with a dead volcano right in the middle. The next morning here they come all smiles again, I invited them on board and decided to ask about the cave. The oldest one said only the old men could go there, But as long as the village was deserted, who would know and they were curious to see it too. I knew it might not be the best idea to p*ss off the elders, especially considering my situation. I had gone too far not to push my luck once again. We jumped in their boat and off we went. As we started climbing, their excitement was obvious, first calling us over to a cave, but before we got there they came out disappointed....Wrong cave no bones. So we climbed higher straight up a 30 foot cliff to a hole about 5 feet across. Inside there was a round room, wall's smoke black and a The top had a round opening where the sun was shining in. The only sound was hermit crabs crackling around on the floor. Then the guys went silent except for a sssssh, one of the younger guys pointed to a dug out hole in the side of the cave. As I approached, human skulls started appearing, then more and more bones. I, trying to be respectful (or stupid) asked if this was a burial site? He said no that's the bone pile, after they were eaten!! Then the oldest guy with a hard look on his face, put his hand on my shoulder and said "You are alright, the last cooking was 6 years ago? Wow that's good news!! Then the laughter erupted as loud as the volcano we were in must have been. Then we were on our way back to the boat so they could smoke all our cigarettes and ice cold juice. What a blast those guys were. The next day they came to point out a sailing canoe that was sailing around, they warned, he was not a nice guy and we should get away from him. So up went the sails and we were out of Dodge headed for Thursday island Australia. Hope you enjoy. Ron
Dear James, Next time we meet I would like to discuss your time with the late Palavi..... Been involved in some affairs myself.... General Shahab of the army and Prime minister Mosaddegg is very familiar to me, coup d'etat.... Met Farah Diba... still an interesting subject to talk about.... history. Benjamin
