Searching for Uncle Jack: A Gisborne family's intrepid journey to find WWII soldier's remains

NZRAF pilot Jack Williams is commemorated on the Bourail Memorial Wall in New Caledonia. Photo / Supplied

Seventy-six years after a WWII fighter plane crashed in Papua New Guinea, the pilot's nieces and nephews have tracked down the wreckage along with their uncle's remains.

Gisborne locals Phillida Eivers and Marcus Williams travelled to the Pacific nation in February, taking a trip back in time to find out about their Uncle Jack's life and tragic war-time death.

RNZAF fighter Jack Williams was just 22 when he died while flying on a mission in PNG during World War II.

It was thought the young pilot had been affected by sunstrike in the moments before his aircraft crashed into another New Zealand military plane on December 19, 1943. Both planes were Kittyhawks - American single-engined fighter aircrafts.

In the lead-up to Anzac Day they have spoken to the Weekend Herald about their emotional trip to the small village of Torokina, whose community helped them piece together Jack's tale.

Eivers, 65, said Jack was "very much a part of their world" growing up, despite the fact she and her four siblings never met him.

"As children we used to go to Granny and Granddad's and dress up in his flying helmet," she said.

Jack Williams (4th from the right) photographed in 1943 alongside his unit of fighter pilots. Six of the 13 pilots in Jack's squadron died during the war. Photo / Supplied

"He was very big in our imaginations."

Following Jack's death, Eivers' father set up a charitable trust in his name - the J N Williams Memorial Trust. The trust was what spurred Eivers and her brother Marcus to first visit Bougainville five years ago, at the beginning of 2014.

The pair were coordinating charity work through the trust and figured they might be able to find their uncle's crash site on the same trip.

Aided by official NZRAF information about Jack's crash, the pair knew roughly what they were looking for - a site in the jungle, about 60km southeast of Torokina.

Torokina wasn't accessible by road, so instead they took a boat around the coastline. They travelled four hours only to be told by a chief in Torokina they couldn't get further south.

The pair were running out of time before they had to leave Papua New Guinea, and were at a loss as to their next move.

Phillida Eivers, Amanda Chrisp, David and Cate Williams, Hamish, Marcus and James Williams at the crash site.The plane debris is under an extended roof shelter built by locals. Photo / Supplied

But before they left Antony McIntosh, a local policeman who'd heard about the historical crash, stepped in to help.

McIntosh was based on the southern-most tip of Bougainville. He pledged to make it his mission to travel the island from bottom to top, looking for the plane wreckage as he went.

It wasn't until last June that Anthony contacted Eivers and Marcus. He'd tracked down Jack's burial site and the wreckage of his plane in a small town called Haisi.

"He took photos and sent them back - many photos of numbers on the plane so that we might be able to identify it as Jack's," Eivers recalled.

"We said, 'This looks really, really likely - let's go back and see if we can walk in and see the plane site'. We can lay a wreath, say some prayers and say goodbye to Jack - bring his spirit home."

Eivers and Marcus got their three siblings on board as well as one of their in-laws.

They flew back over to Bougainville then jumped into a pair of open-air boats, organised for them by McIntosh.

From here they set off along the coast towards the site of the crash. Once again their approaches were thwarted, this time by rough seas.

"There were waves completely rolling over us, it was very dangerous," Eivers said.

After the traumatic boating experience, the family drove to Haisi the next day, where locals then helped them on the next leg of their mission.

The crash site, as Anthony MacIntosh found it, midway through 2-18 near the village of Haisi. Photo / Supplied

Eivers said the locals had cut away the pathway for them, had laid bamboo shoots on top of the mud to prevent them muddying their shoes, and had made a handrail.

It seemed the community had gone to all the effort because of the culture's respect for the dead, and their high regard for New Zealanders.

"It was completely overwhelming," she said.

When arriving at the crash site, they found locals had created a clearing around what was left of Jack's plane.

"They'd chopped all the bush down and had made gardens, made a wee hangar. They had picked up all the plane debris and put it all in a pile under this hangar with seating around, so that we could sit and talk."

The family, who were accompanied by a local policeman, gave speeches and thanked the locals, before laying plaques and a wreath Phillida had made.

A log bridge created by Haisi locals to assist the Williams' in their mission to get to the site of Jack's crash. Photo / Supplied

Local women then sang before encouraging the family to ask Jack's spirit to come back with them.

Marcus said he felt it was a case of "mission accomplished".

"The connection with Jack and where he died, it was always unfinished business."

Marcus said the family would likely return to PNG.

"We still feel a very strong attachment to the people at Bougainville and we're very keen to help that community develop."