'Dog Tag Man' on Biak-- Part 2: Fred W. O'Connor's Dog Tag

For decades, Mr. Wakum and others have combed the Biak battlefields and nearby islands, recovering weapons, munitions and bones of soldiers.

Mr. Wakum says he has found the dog tags of 30 Americans and wears some around his neck.  He sold others years ago to help pay for his brother's education and now regrets doing so.

There is a photo accompanying the article of the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor, who survived the war, but lost it on the island.

Last year, the U.S. and Indonesian governments  agreed to establish a joint operation to find and repatriate the remains of American soldiers lost in action across the vast archipelago which is Indonesia.  Biak is a heavily forested island about he size of Maui that lies off the northwest coast of New Guinea.

He and a cousin recently explored an area of coral outcroppings where American soldiers had camped during the battle and that is where they found the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor of Schenectady, New York.  Soldiers losing their dog tags was fairly common.

The O'Connor family was notified and quite astounded by the news.  Mr. O'Connor served in the infantry in Papua, New Guinea and the Southern Philippines campaigns and participated in major assaults without ever being wounded.

He died in California in 2004 at age 83.

--GreGen

'Dog Tag Man' on the Island of Biak, Indonesia-- Part 1

Until a few weeks ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of the battle that took place here.  However, it was one of the battles the destroyer USS Russell (DD-414) took part in and there was an article in a recent World War II magazine on it.

It was part of the Western New Guinea Campaign.

From the December 2, 2021, New York Times  " 'Call Me Dog Tag Man':  Pacific island is full of relics and human remains" by Dera Menra Sijabat and  Richard C. Paddock.'

On a remote coral island in Indonesia, a history lover who keeps a collection of old bombs in his living room scours the jungle for war relics -- and sometimes finds human bones, too.

"People call me  Dog Tag Man," said Alberth Wakum, who hopes one day to open a museum showcasing his discoveries.  "I preserve evidence of history and keep it from perishing."

The island of Biak, where Mr. Wakum, 58, has spent nearly his entire life, was the scene of a fierce battle in World War II as General MacArthur campaigned to wrest the western Pacific from Japanese forces.  There were thousands of casualties on both sides.

The remains of about 150 American soldiers who died there have never been found.  They are among the 1,900 American service members believed to have been killed  in Indonesia over the course of the war whose remains have never been found.

--GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 3: A Very Busy Destroyer Indeed

Continuing with action in the Pacific.  These were some of the Russell's actions:

1943

Betio, Tarawa

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1944

Wotje

Kwajalein

Escort work along the New Guinea coast

Wakde

Padaido Islands

Biak

Toem

Noemfoor

Morotai

One Really Busy Tincan.  --GreGen