Pacific War; 2 December 1944; Baliem Valley: I FLEW AS LOW AS SEVENTY-FIVE FEET, AND NATURALLY THE NATIVES WERE TERRORIZED BY THE SIZE OF THE AIRPLANE AND THE NOISE OF THE PROPELLERS AND ENGINES. SOME TRIED TO HIDE, WHILE OTHERS RAN AT TOP SPEED AS IF TO ESCAPE FROM THIS ROARING AIRBORNE BEHEMOTH. IT WAS EVIDENT THAT FEW IF ANY HAD EVER SEEN AN AIRPLANE BEFORE (Rhoades, Flying MacArthur to victory) — [THEY] INDULGED IN BUZZ JOBS. SHELTON REMEMBERS ONE PILOT WHO FLEW A B-24 SO LOW IN NEW GUINEA THAT HE INADVERTENTLY BOUNCED IT OFF A BEACH, RETURNING TO BASE WITH CRUMPLED
REAR-BOMBBAY DOORS AND SAND IN THE BACK OF THE AIRCRAFT. ANOTHER PILOT LANDED WITH SHREDS OF PALM FONDS LODGED INSIDE FROM A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH A COCONUT TREE (Sheenan)

THEN WE LOOKED UP AND SAW IT WAS IN THE SKY AND WE SAID “IT’S A KIND OF WITHCHCRAFT (kum)” […] SOME SAID IT WAS A THUNDERCLAP GONE MAD AND COME DOWN FROM THE SKY (Ongka) — WE JUST DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED. SOME PEOPLE SEARCHED THE GROUND WHILE OTHERS LEFT EVERYTHING AND RAN FOR THEIR LIVES (Nopornga Mare in Connolly & Anderson) — STRANGE NOISE CAME FROM THE SKY — THERE WAS A BIG SOMETHING (Berndt) — IN TERROR THEY FELL TO THE GROUND UNTIL IT HAD PASSED, NOT DARING TO LOOK UP AGAIN (Berndt) — SUDDENLY IT CAME FASTER LOUDER! WHEN IT CAME CLOSER, IT LOOKED HUGE, AND WE FELL TO THE GROUND AND HID OUR FACES. WE WETTED AND FOULED OURSELVES IN FEAR AND CONFUSION (Kentiga Anup Kwimbe in Connolly & Anderson) — IT COMES, IT GOES (Blackburn)

THEY [THE WHITE PEOPLE] SMELT SO DIFFERENTLY (Gavey Akamo in Connolly & Anderson) — WE CALLED [THE WHITES] SEBRIB, WHICH MEANS “DIFFERENT SMELL” OR “SMELL OF SOAP” (Amusep in Morren) — […] BUT THEIR SHIT SMELLS JUST LIKE OURS [THEY SAID] (Kirupano in Connolly & Anderson)

WE WERE RETURNING FROM THE FOREST, AFTER COLLECTING AND COOKING PANDANUS NUTS, WHEN WE MET WITH THOSE WHITES (Enjap in Sillitoe) — “WHY DO THEY COME HERE?” (Blackburn) — “WHY DID THEY COME?” PEOPLE ASKED AND THEY WERE AFRAID BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT FIND AN ANSWER (Berndt) — … AND WE WONDERED WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO IN OUR PLACE (Mokei Wanip Wan) — THEY COME, THEY GO […] THEY BRING THEIR SOMETHINGS (Dipapa in the Visitants)

OUR ANCESTORS AND THEIR ANCESTORS CAME HERE TOGETHER IN TWO FLYING MACHINES. THEY CRASHED AT ODAKINA (Stow)