Tarac Ridge Poems - Of Equal Importance
Nick
Armbrister
Of
Equal Importance
What
happened at Tarac Ridge
Is
just as important as
What
happened at Castleshaw Moor
Bang!
In
they went...
Tarac
(for Stone and Kurosawa)
We busted our balls
To get up there
Over a kilometre high
Where the warplanes live
And die a violent death
Meeting their end up above
On towering lonely slopes
As did Lt Stone and Sgt Kurosawa
On the same day seventy six years ago
To the day we went there
As others before had
For we had a job to do
The missing answer to find
To locate the remains of a lost pilot
Named Stone from America
Who flew a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
In mortal battle with his nemesis
Kurosawa from Japan
With his Nakajima Ki-27 Nate
Both died that day
February 9 1942
And both haunt those inclines
One is angry and lost
One found wants to go home
One likes Hello Kitty
But not the one you think
For my drink tumbler fell
And the guide missed it
It stopped where Stone said
And there we dug dug dug
And found his airplane
Or what was once his warplane
In pieces that were scrap
But had meaning to our group
For it was this plane
That brought us here
Many hours of climbing
Swearing and sweating
To touch the clouds
And be where both hit
At what cost?
Two planes smashed
Two pilots dead
The American protecting Villamor
The Philippines' best pilot
Who flew his biplane
A Boeing Stearman
On a recon mission
The same type that flies today
With sexy English wing walkers
From Clark in Bataan
The same field Kurosawa flew from
Yes synchronicity is here
Eagle Has Landed style
What does this mean now?
In 2018 right now
Is it the pilots' ghosts
Or God or fate or karma
That brought me here
To Tarac Ridge to look
To try to find Stone's bones?
When so many have looked
And failed to find him
Did we really find Lt Stone?
So he's no longer MIA
And captive here
This beautiful mountain side
Where the sky and sea become one
Where Bataan and Corregidor
Are visible
The old battlefields
Where hell occurred
Where there are more MIAs
From both sides
Both pilots hunted here
And both became the prey
Paying the ultimate cost
Bent metal and broken bones
Telling a story
Their story
If you listen
You will hear it...
Girl
Love Stars (for Kurosawa's wife)
Beauty
Gal
Stars
Plane
Wife
Sky
Love
Mountain
Nate
Sex
Together
Apart
Wait
Soon
Separated
As
one
My
Hayabusa girl
Japan
Pilot
Plane
Air
force
Philippines
America
War
sky fight on till my end!
Hold
my hand
Love
my heart
Gal
stars wife dear
I
love you always
Always
always always
Stay
close
Till
we meet again
Gal
with the stars
Happy
thoughts
Hearts
day dear wife
My
end darkness
Never
see my star girl
Again
again again
I
want to go home…
Dreamstate
It
was the emotions within the dream
A
prisoner to the situation
Images
within his sleeping mind
Never
to be released to the world
Like
the pilots returning home
The
feelings in his head
Mixed
up with facts were there
But
upon waking are lost
Like
both aircraft were
Along
with their crews
Forgotten
on the high mountain side
By
all but a few
He
does his best to remember
And
find answers
But
this is hard
So
he says
Let
the evidence speak for itself
And
then we will have the answers
But
will they be the ones we need?
If
the bone he briefly held was real
Then
the American pilot would no longer be MIA
And
answers provided
But
for one person
The
answers are too late
Lt
Stone’s brother died
And
left this world
Wes
never did know the fate of his brother
At
least not in this world
Are
they together now
On
the other side?
I
actually believe so…
Warhawk
and Nate
The
Warhawks took off and flew upwards
Like
angry hornets looking for trouble
Covering
the frail old biplane
A
flying camera with brave crew
Tasked
to look for enemy locations
Flying
here and there warplanes they were
American
flown Curtiss fighters
Guarding
the Filipino crewed Stearman
On
a mission of war in the second global war
The
Japs were ready and scrambled planes
Nates
took off and headed for battle
Each
side had skilled determined pilots
Men
would die today and planes be wrecked
Like
something from Hollywood they clashed
Vicious
little snappers reeling about the sky
Rolling
turning diving climbing shooting dodging
The
battle went till fuel and ammo was gone
Two
planes and pilots never made it back
Both
fought like demons and paid the price
Each
side lost a pilot and plane
They
both came to grief on the same mountain
And
left comrades and loved ones behind
Bits
of broken airplanes on the mountain
Lost
forgotten unwanted for decades
Till
the wrecks were eventually found
Some
answers revealed more questions posed
Only
the pilots' ghosts and God knew the truth
In
this Tarac Ridge battle February 9 1942
The
day Stone and Kurosawa died...
Friends
It
does not matter who shot each other down first
Oh
how people argue this silly fact
A
pissing contest to be won won won!
Who
hit who and won or lost is mute
Only
God and the pilots know
Who
got the 'kill' that day
The
day both were killed
And
2 planes wrecked
Warhawk
and Nate
2
pilots dead
Stone
and Kurosawa
Nudging
a mountain
It
doesn't matter who won or lost
The
result is the same
Tarac
Ridge is a silent witness
Or
maybe it was a mid-air?
With
angles...
Tarac
Ridge Warplane crashes February 8-10 2018 write up by Nick Armbrister
(edit
this as appropriate)
I
have had an interest in aeroplanes and history ever since my dad got me into
planes back in 1980. He took me up to air crashes on the Pennines/Peak
District/Manchester/Yorkshire/Lancashire area of England in the early 80s.
There are over fifty crashes alone here ranging from the war years and later.
We also went to wrecks in the Lake District and Wales.
I
moved to the Philippines in 2014. I Googled Bataan warplane crashes and found
out about the LT Stone P-40 Warhawk and Sgt Kurosawa Ki-27 Nate dog fight and
subsequent crashes. This read like something from a Battle or Warlord comic.
Over
the coming weeks I put together an expedition there. I talked to Kevin Hamdorf
who was one of the group who found the P-40 wreck. He gave me much info and
introduced me to the guide, Noel. Without his help the trip wouldn’t have been
possible.
We
went to the crash area at Tarac Ridge on February 8-10 2018. This was the 76th
anniversary of it. We went to the P-40 on Feb 9 and the Ki-27 on the 10th.
The
crashes are over a kilometer up altitude wise. We had to hike many hours
through the forest/jungle and mountain to the area. We camped at the lower
campsite. There is an easier site at the top of the mountain near Kurosawa’s
Nate which is less than a hundred feet below the area. Because we never camped
there we had to ascend the final hour to the summit each day.
The
Warhawk site of Stone is hundreds of feet below Kurosawa’s in the forest on the
mountain side. Little remains today but bits of alloy, Perspex, glass and other
small fragments. We found these. We wanted to find a piece of bone to solve the
case of Lt Stone being MIA Missing In Action. One of our group, Mike who
searches for MIAs, found an alleged bit of bone. It needs to be analyzed. We
took hundreds of photos of the area and of our search.
I
ventured up to the Nate site of Sgt Kurosawa on the last day of our three day
stay. It was at the summit. We had to go through thick brush/jungle to the
location. Kurosawa hit a rock face and his plane was fragmented. The engine
used to be there but has since been removed. There is less at this site than at
Stone’s P-40. We found bits of metal, Perspex and bits. Looking at the
closeness to the summit, I realized that Kurosawa almost made it.
Nobody
but God and the pilots know who shot down whom and who was on the other’s tail
that day. The result is the same: two warplanes wrecked and two pilots dead.
Maybe more answers will be found on future expeditions. It was a great
experience to go there to Tarac Ridge, Mariveles, Bataan. In time I hope to
return. This was my first international warplane trip. I want to go to a
Grumman F-6F Hellcat at Capas next.
Tarac
Ridge Warplane crashes February 8-10 2018 write up by Nick Armbrister
(edited)
I
have had an interest in aeroplanes and history ever since my dad got me into
planes back in 1980. He took me up to air crashes on the Pennines/Peak
District/Manchester/Yorkshire/Lancashire area of England in the early 80s.
There are over fifty crashes alone here ranging from the war years and later.
We also went to wrecks in the Lake District and Wales.
In
2014 in the Philippines I went to more wrecks. I Googled Bataan warplane
crashes and found out about the LT Stone P-40 Warhawk and Sgt Kurosawa Ki-27
Nate dog fight and subsequent crashes. This read like something from a Battle
or Warlord comic.
Over
the coming weeks I put together an expedition there. I talked to Kevin Hamdorf
who was one of the group who found the P-40 wreck. He gave me much info and introduced
me to the guide, Noel. Without his help the trip wouldn’t have been possible.
We
went to the crash area at Tarac Ridge on February 8-10 2018. This was the 76th
anniversary of it. We went to the P-40 on Feb 9 and the Ki-27 on the 10th.
The
crashes are over a kilometer up altitude wise. We had to hike many hours
through the forest/jungle and mountain to the area. We camped at the lower
campsite. There is an easier site at the top of the mountain near Kurosawa’s
Nate which is less than a hundred feet below the area. Because we never camped
there we had to ascend the final hour to the summit each day.
The
Warhawk site of Stone is hundreds of feet below Kurosawa’s in the forest on the
mountain side. Little remains today but bits of alloy, Perspex, glass and other
small fragments. We found these. Lt Stone is still listed as MIA Missing In
Action. One of our group, Mike, searches for MIAs. We took hundreds of photos
of the area and of our search.
I
ventured up to the Nate site of Sgt Kurosawa on the last day of our three day
stay. It was at the summit. We had to go through thick brush/jungle to the
location. Kurosawa hit a rock face and his plane was fragmented. The engine
used to be there but has since been removed. There is less at this site than at
Stone’s P-40. We found bits of metal, Perspex and bits. Looking at the
closeness to the summit, I realized that Kurosawa almost made it.
Nobody
but God and the pilots know who shot down whom and who was on the other’s tail
that day. The result is the same: two warplanes wrecked and two pilots dead.
Maybe more answers will be found on future expeditions. It was a great
experience to go there to Tarac Ridge, Mariveles, Bataan. In time I hope to
return. This was my first international warplane trip. I want to go to a
Grumman F-6F Hellcat at Capas next.
concepcion
...my
beginning
interest
from father
...all
that flies
higher
influence
...bigger
than myself
google
(bataan) plane crashes
...out
of curiosity
found
out of dog fight
...it's
meant to be
idea
of trip
...i'm
going there
trip/look
for pilot
...he's
still mia
alleged
bone find
...did
we really?
examine
alleged bone
...wait
wait wait
yes
...mystery
solved
end
of
...start
of more
we
will succeed
unconcepcion
...my
beginning
interest
from father
...all
that flies
higher
influence
...bigger
than myself
google
(bataan) plane crashes
...out
of curiosity
found
out of dog fight
...it's
meant to be
idea
of trip
...i'm
going there
trip/look
for pilot
...he's
still mia
alleged
bone find
...did
we really?
examine
alleged bone
...wait
wait wait
no
...we
keep looking
mystery
unsolved
no
end yet...
...so
much more
Bridge
Building
We
dug in the mud we used sticks
When
we found bits of wreckage I was happy
When
I heard the soldiers talk of ghosts I was in disbelief
When
I realized I was here by fate I was fine
When
I knew my Goddess guided me I was chilled
When
my Hello Kitty tumbler fell I knew
When
we knew this was the spot I cried
When
we found a bit of bone I was elated
When
I knew we had succeeded I was a girl
When
I knew the big wigs had failed I smirked
When
I hear it’s true what we found I’ll believe
When
I hear that we found Lt Stone I’ll drink
When
I drink in memory of Stone I’ll invite him
When
I drink with Stone I’ll invite Kurosawa
When
we all drink together we will all smile
And
say how silly mad bad sad war is
But
how cool aeroplanes are
Then
we will all be fine
And
laugh and enjoy our destiny
For
we have all lived
And
walked this green land
And
flown in its blue skies
iron
we
fought against the japs
but
they won in the end
we
went inland
away
from the coast
do
you see the mountain there?
we
gotta climb that!
up
we went
we
found a crashed american plane
and
the pilot
we
buried him by the wreck near a big tree
we
found his wallet with a calling card
we
were the last to see him for decades
his
location became a mystery
the
lost american air ace
who
defended bataan from the japs
so
many looked for him and his plane
over
a dozen teams and expeditions
they
found his nemesis first
the
smashed jap plane and pilot
rations
one
expedition found a key
from
one of our iron rations
this
was real evidence
it
showed we were there
why
would a fly boy eat our chow?
they
ate in hotels
from
bone china
and
silver cutlery
served
by waiters
those
were army iron rations
eaten
by us in the trenches
but
food aside
we
had one thing in common
we
all hated the japs
and
had killed many
before
our time was up
small nate was so high/huge cost is
what it was then/lose death race crash fight
