Japanese Airplane Crashes in Lore, Lautem

The War World II effect was also felt in East Timor. East Timor was under the colonial, Portuguese rule during the War occurring between 1942-1943, some Timorese were being bombed and killed. The killed Timorese were the aides for Australian military who was the main enemy of the Japanese military at the time. In a more sustained local suffering, I heard from my village grandparents, the Japanese military forced them to serve in building shelters or housing and infrastructure in order to facilitate logistical distributions.

Fortunately, the War ended, and thus the suffering also stopped. The WWII left a lot of footprint in physical forms as well. There are so many tunnels, roads, compounds that the Japanese military built. It is all now becoming historic assets. Those assets need to be preserved for tourism and educational purposes. I am afraid; however, the government is able to go that far in preserving the historical assets located sporadically all over the country and that being out of sight and reach as time goes by.

One specific remnant that drew my attention is a Japanese WWII military airplane crashed in Lore, a village in the South side of Lospalos, the capital city of Lautem municipality. The airplane crashed in the forest; the color of the airplane is white. However, it is now being eaten up by mosses to about turn green entirely.  According to the source I contacted to, the exact name of the location where the airplane crashed is Raka, Lore - Lautem. It would be interesting to find more sources to tell about the story, and if get a chance, to visit the location. Japanese tourists who visit East Timor should be more interested than any other tourists, right?

Lastly, I must admit that I have not confirmed fully whether it is real. A Facebook friend posted it, I asked him, and he said yes it is real. Then I texted a friend who is from the village also said yes. I could not wait until confirmed, I go ahead to share with those of you who read this blog, by the way with an expectation that you might be interested to visit one day either for the sake of curiosity or for a predetermined purpose. If you happen to confirm the reality of the photo, please let me know so I can edit the content, or even delete if it is totally fake.

 

**Hope this gives you an inspiration.