 Harlyn Turner |
Dubuquer prepares to return to 1948 landing site
 David Keck |
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H.
G. Turner Dubuquer prepares to return to 1948 landing site |
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In the fall of 1948, Harlyn Turner left tropical, primitive Fais Island, never expecting to return.
More than a half-century later, the 77-year-old Air Force veteran from Dubuque prepares to return to a site he associates with survival, thanks to an e-mailed response to his grandson's Web site.
"I'm nervous about it," Turner said. "I don't know what to expect."
In the fall of 1948, Harlyn Turner left tropical, primitive Fais Island, never expecting to return.
More than a half-century later, the 77-year-old Air Force veteran from Dubuque prepares to return to a site he associates with survival, thanks to an e-mailed response to his grandson's Web site.
"I'm nervous about it," Turner said. "I don't know what to expect."
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On Nov. 12, 1948, an American B-29 with Turner on board ditched in the seas just off the island, nothing more than a small atoll 500 miles southwest of Guam.
"When we first saw the natives, we didn't know if they were friendly or not," Turner said. "We thought they might be cannibals." The knife-wielding natives were accommodating - after a gift of Christmas candy placated the island's king - and 48 hours later a Navy sea plane rescued Turner and the nine other crew members.
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"When we first saw the natives, we didn't know if they were friendly or not," Turner said. "We thought they might be cannibals."
The knife-wielding natives were accommodating - after a gift of Christmas candy placated the island's king - and 48 hours later a Navy sea plane rescued Turner and the nine other crew members.
They left their plane behind.
Two years ago, Dave Keck, of Dubuque, posted his grandfather's memoirs on his Web site - www.angelfire.com/ia2/hgturner .
One link directs visitors to the story of the ditched plane and Turner's harrowing account of the initial aftermath of the watery crash-landing.
"Our co-pilot was the first to make it to shore," Turner wrote. "Two warriors with large bolo knives captured him and pulled him down the beach."
Keck hoped his grandfather's stories might elicit a response from old military buddies.
"I never dreamed we'd hear from somebody from that primitive island," Keck said.
In May, Keck received an e-mail with a subject line reading: "Greetings to you and your grandfather from Fais Island."
"I thought it was a big hoax," Turner said.
How could anybody make it off that primitive island and onto the Internet, he thought.
Keck continued corresponding with the e-mail's sender, Jesse Raglmar-Subolmar.
In his first e-mail, Raglmar-Subolmar wrote that the plane "is part of an important history of our island and symbolizes to the people then and to us today the important liberation of our islands from totalitarian Japanese rule."
The former Fais Islander's photos and descriptions of his homeland in subsequent e-mails convinced Keck and Turner the messages were legitimate.
"It just totally floored me," Keck said.
Raglmar-Subolmar is a descendant of the king, or paramount chief, who ruled the island during Turner's first, unplanned visit.
Born two years after the B-29 incident, Raglmar-Subolmar is also the nephew of the present paramount chief and serves as a tourism official on Yap Island, another in the Caroline chain located about 150 miles southwest of Fais.
Eventually, Raglmar-Subolmar invited Turner and Keck to visit Fais and the pair jumped at the chance.
"I look at this trip as sort of a goodwill mission," Keck said.
Turner once only dreamed of returning.
"I always thought it would be quite a trip," Turner said.
With the reality of the trip setting in, Turner is preparing a list of questions for his hosts.
"I'm going to ask them how many were there to see us go down," he said, "and whatever happened to the plane."
Raglmar-Subolmar told Keck part of the plane still exists.
The islanders used plane components, turning metal into knives and tires into sandals.
Turner also wants to know what became of the emergency transmitter used to signal their rescuers.
"There's so many questions I've got," he said.
Turner is prepared to answer a few questions, too.
"I know they're going to want to talk to us about what we're feeling," he said.
The crew split up shortly after the rescue and Turner has not heard from them since.
"I never kept track of any of them," he said.
As the return trip to Fais Island approaches, Keck has tried to track down crew members - to no avail.
So, Turner and Keck will venture to the island alone. They will fly from Chicago to Guam (an approximately 17-hour flight), spend a few days on Yap and charter a plane to Fais (now serviced by a 3,000-foot airstrip down the center of the island).
Raglmar-Subolmar has offered to serve as translator and guide.
"He said some things have changed on the island, while others remain the same," Keck said. "It sounds like its still pretty primitive."
Turner and Keck will bring gifts for the present paramount king as well as an intense curiosity about the island and the ways of its people.
"Every time I got to thinking about it, I wondered how advanced it became," Turner said. "When I was there they told time by the moon."
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