Robert Merchant Collection: A Nebraska Aerial Photographer’s Experience in the Pacific during WWII
Wartime photographers went everywhere. In 1943 Merchant reportedly accompanied a rescue mission of a B-24 plane that crashed into a mountain “somewhere in New Guinea.” The ten men aboard the crashed plane were taken in by a nearby native village in exchange for cigarettes. Due to an injury to one of the ten officers, they were forced to stay on the ground until the officer healed enough to be flown out. Using parachutes, the men wrote coded messages to their rescuers flying above, sometimes positioning some of the natives to highlight the finer details of their messages. From the rescue plane, Merchant took several photos of the messages.
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-1]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-1.jpg)
An aerial shot of the New Guinea native village that took in the ten Army officers. The parachute floating down contained either a letter or supplies for the officers.
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-5]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-5.jpg)
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-3]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-3.jpg)
The message seen here, written in parachutes to be seen from the air by the rescue team, requests coffee and cigarettes. The men on the ground had traded most of theirs away in exchange for help from the natives.
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-4]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-4.jpg)
To get the attention of the rescue planes, this message displays the Jolly Rogers’ skull-and-crossed-bombs insignia. The eyes of the skull are actually two natives kneeling down on top of the parachute. The rest of the message indicates that the stranded party will be ready to leave for the landing strip at 8 a.m the next morning. The “T” means that the injured officer will be well enough to be ferried out in a plane.
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-8]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-8.jpg)
The parachute message here states “no contact” meaning that they would be unable to contact the rescue team for an unspecified amount of time.
![New Guinea village [RG5841-2-8]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-9.jpg)
Reportedly, the three “X’s” in this parachute message also indicate there would be no contact for awhile.
![Rescue team with plane [RG5841-2-10]](https://history.nebraska.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collections-img_RG5841-2-10_0.jpg)
After landing, the rescue team and stranded officers pose in front of the rescue plane, the Flamingo.
