MIA Hunters founder Bryan Moon met with New Guinea villagers during his search group's mission to find World War II jungle plane crash sites.
Searchers and guides gather around a military aircraft downed in New Guinea in World War II. Of the more than 90 crash sites identified on the South Pacific island, more than 50 are considered to be the MIA resting places of about 250 lost airmen.
Marjorie Ploeger’s description of boiled python?
“The taste is between chicken and alligator,” said the 23-year-old spring graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato, who has returned from the South Pacific island of New Guinea with a heightened appreciation for those who died serving their country in World War II.
Ploeger was part of the largest-ever civilian search for MIAs — servicepeople missing in action.
The 32-member search group — Ploeger was one of four women — included 25 Minnesotans.
Ages ranged from 82-year-old mission leader Bryan Moon to Ploeger’s 21-year-old brother Eric. New Ulm resident Tom Berg, 70, also made the trip.
Their two-week foray into steamy, dangerous, mountain jungles led to the identification of 92 plane crash sites plus a burial mound of innumerable American, Australian and Japanese soldiers.
Ploeger, a history buff, said she wanted in on the mission because she’s always been moved by that war’s saga and the horrific loss of life.
“I had no idea that there are still over 70,000 MIAs from World War II, and that’s extremely unacceptable.”
Ploeger began physical preparations for the experience months ago by running up Stadium Road hill near the Minnesota State Mankato campus.
Group members pre-flight received more than a dozen inoculations to stave off disease, but Ploeger was unprepared for the jungle poison ivy she encountered.
“It literally made my skin boil. I still have scars.”
She also broke two toes climbing mountainous terrain eight hours a day, and another group member was attacked by a dog.
For the complete Free Press story, click on http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x1703944084/MSU-grad-New-Ulm-man-become-MIA-Hunters?mailingdate=201006300600
For more Free Press News, go to http://mankatofreepress.com.
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