WW2 Soldiers Remains for sale

Paul Reed · 06-10-2007, 07:54 PM

Saw this after someone posted it on GWF:

WWII soldiers' remains for sale in PNG - report - New Zealand's source for World News on Stuff.co.nz

Quote:

Selling the remains of fallen US, Australian and Japanese World War 2 soldiers has become a lucrative business in Papua New Guinea, with a complete human skeleton fetching $US20,000, ($NZ26,907) local media reported.

The South Pacific archipelago's Post-Courier newspaper said the skeleton was sold last month, and that plastic bags filled with bones were being sold for the equivalent of between $US2 and $US24.
Sanananda and surrounding areas saw fierce battles and heavy death tolls between Japanese and allied US and Australian forces between November 1942 and January 1943 and was regarded as a turning point in eventually repelling the Japanese forces from what was then New Guinea.
Albert Awai, chief of Sanananda village, said government authorities were failing to detect the sale of the remains which had become a big industry, the newspaper reported in its online edition.
The recovered remains of thousands of Australian troops are interred at cemeteries in Papua New Guinea. But the remains of hundreds of other Australians killed during the fighting were never recovered.

Owen · 06-10-2007, 10:22 PM

Sick.

Slipdigit · 07-10-2007, 12:20 AM

Chaps my butt.

machine shop tom · 07-10-2007, 12:54 AM

Very ghoulish.

spidge · 07-10-2007, 06:01 AM

The New Guinea people are not well educated in the back waters and would not know in most cases they were doing wrong. This would be a chance to feed their families.

Their economy is rock bottom. I used to pay $1.40 AUD for one PNG Kena. This is now down to $0.45 cents.

They need to make all the buyers into geldings, and give them some really good gaol time and the demand would cease.

PNG government officials on the other hand are renowned for having their hand out for a share of anything.

Kjaersgaard · 07-10-2007, 10:10 AM

Speechless.

Harry Ree · 07-10-2007, 03:50 PM

I think Spidge has got this right.It is less than 100 years ago where certain parts of N.G practiced cannabalism and enemies were eaten.

One point about these people is that I cannot recollect an occasion when they were anything but supportive to the Allies in preventing the overruning of NG by the Japanese.

Standards may change when the tide of globalisation reaches the N.G shores.

Gibbo · 08-10-2007, 07:51 PM

The sellers are very poor people with a different culture to that in the West but who are the buyers?

Elven6 · 24-11-2008, 12:25 AM

It's a shame this is happening, maybe Veterans organizations in the "west" should start buying these remains and putting them to rest honorably regardless of what side they were on. If I had the money for such a contribution I definitely would, they deserve better.

Any idea who they are being sold too?

Peter Clare · 24-11-2008, 12:45 AM

A very sad state of affairs. As Gibbo (Martin) says, who are the buyers?

07-10-2007, 12:20 AM	#3 (permalink)
Slipdigit The Dixie Division Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Not far enough in the woods Posts: 1,632	Chaps my butt. __________________ Warmest Regards, Jeff The Bonnie Blue Flag *

07-10-2007, 12:54 AM	#4 (permalink)
machine shop tom Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 265	Very ghoulish. __________________ Paddle faster! I hear a banjo........... If something seems to be too good to be true, well, your wife will be sure to tell ya

07-10-2007, 06:01 AM	#5 (permalink)
spidge Legendary Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 8,056	The New Guinea people are not well educated in the back waters and would not know in most cases they were doing wrong. This would be a chance to feed their families. Their economy is rock bottom. I used to pay $1.40 AUD for one PNG Kena. This is now down to $0.45 cents. They need to make all the buyers into geldings, and give them some really good gaol time and the demand would cease. PNG government officials on the other hand are renowned for having their hand out for a share of anything. __________________ Spidge, ------------------------------------------------------- My Avatar is the memorial to the 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) who were beheaded by the Japanese on 15th October 1942. http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat...mem_beito.html "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." (Winston Churchill made this prophetic pronouncement in a House of Commons speech in 1938, just after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Chamberlain returned from Germany with the signed agreement in hand, proclaiming that "peace in our time" had been achieved. Churchill attacked Chamberlain's "politics of appeasement" in this and many other speeches.) What did the Australians do in ww2 and other conflicts? Check out this site: http://www.diggerhistory.info/00-pag...ster-index.htm

07-10-2007, 10:10 AM	#6 (permalink)
Kjaersgaard The Wiking Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Randers, Denmark Posts: 213	Speechless. __________________ Good night, then - sleep to gather strength for the morning. For the morning will come. Brightly will it shine on the brave and true, kindly on all who suffer for the cause, glorious upon the tombs of heroes. Thus will shine the dawn.

08-10-2007, 07:51 PM	#8 (permalink)
Gibbo Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 321	The sellers are very poor people with a different culture to that in the West but who are the buyers? __________________ Martin

06-10-2007, 10:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
Owen Grumpy Old Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 9,485	Sick.

07-10-2007, 03:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Harry Ree Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 634	I think Spidge has got this right.It is less than 100 years ago where certain parts of N.G practiced cannabalism and enemies were eaten. One point about these people is that I cannot recollect an occasion when they were anything but supportive to the Allies in preventing the overruning of NG by the Japanese. Standards may change when the tide of globalisation reaches the N.G shores.

24-11-2008, 12:25 AM	#9 (permalink)
Elven6 Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 98	It's a shame this is happening, maybe Veterans organizations in the "west" should start buying these remains and putting them to rest honorably regardless of what side they were on. If I had the money for such a contribution I definitely would, they deserve better. Any idea who they are being sold too?

24-11-2008, 12:45 AM	#10 (permalink)
Peter Clare Legendary Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Neverland Posts: 5,667	A very sad state of affairs. As Gibbo (Martin) says, who are the buyers? __________________ On weald of Kent I watched once more Again I heard that grumbling roar Of fighter planes; yet none were near And all around the sky was clear Borne on the wind a whisper came 'Though men grow old, they stay the same' And then I knew, unseen to eye The ageless Few were sweeping by

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