Raven wrote:
The people of New Guinea made a huge contribution to the fighting on their island. Unlike the USA (or Britain or Australia) they were never consulted, were invaded, were treated appallingly by the Japanese and in places badly by the Allies, yet helped the Allied cause, in many cases by laying down their lives.
(snip)
It wasn't their war, they were never consulted, and the Allies left their junk all over the Islands for half a century, before deciding it was valuable and worth recovering. That's a reasonable 'statute of limitations' for many.
I think everyone was treated appallingly by the Japanese during the war. And no, I really don't want to see PNG returned to the Japanese...it was just an off-color joke. I realize they fought for their island too. But without the Allies, would they have gotten rid of the Japanese?
The problem is that the people of PNG have treated the leftover war material as junk until other people have shown interest in recovering it. Then they cry that they want to preserve these items for historical reasons...while stuffing other bits in the smelters.
It wasn't quite half a century. Efforts were underway to recover planes by the early 70s...possibly earlier.
I don't want to escalate any sort of debate on the issue, since both sides have some valid points. And anything we say here probably won't change the situation any...
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