PLANO, Texas — Her grandfather was her favorite person in the world. Early next year Lissa Esch will travel halfway around the world to see and touch one tangible piece of that memory, even if it is 70 feet underwater.
"I was his first granddaughter so by default I was the favorite," Esch, 57, of Wylie, Texas fondly remembers. "He taught me how to tie my shoes and ride a bike and was pretty much my favorite person in the world."
That favorite person was Henry Lafayette Burkhalter.
He was a WWII radio operator on board a B-24 bomber nicknamed the Woody Woodpecker. On May 9, 1945, after taking off from Pitu Airfield on Morotai in Indonesia the plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire forcing the crew to ditch the plane near the Togian Islands.
"Everybody made it out of the plane safely but they were scattered among the islands," Esch said of the crew of 11 on board. Seven men survived, and four were captured and killed by Japanese forces.
"I know that it crushed him that he lost so many friends," Esch said. "It was pretty hard on him. It was traumatic. It wasn't something that he talked about openly. It was kind of one of those things he didn't want to discuss with anyone."
But a granddaughter does. So much so that Esch is getting re-certified in SCUBA so that she can personally visit her grandfather's plane, still resting where it sank in 70 feet of water off the coast of the Togian Islands in Indonesia. Henry Burkhalter has since passed. He died at the age of 55. But Esch wants to get close to her grandad's memory one more time.
"Because I want to pay my respects," she said. "It's something I can do for my grandfather. It's our one last thing together that we never got to do."
"This is her idea that I was able to bring to fruition," said Brent Webb of Scuba Adventures in Plano where Esch is training for the trip.
Scuba Adventures crafted a trip tailored to the GPS coordinates of the wreck. Esch and other members of the Scuba Adventures Dive Squad will travel on a Master Liveabords private charter early next year on a 12-night itinerary starting at Bitung Harbour, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
"This is actually a wreck that we're going to see it as it entered the water in history," said Webb of the B-24 that sits mostly intact, upright on the ocean floor. "And that's pretty cool."
"It's going to be amazing but it's also going to be probably gut-wrenching," said Esch who plans to leave a memorial plaque at the crash site, and perhaps offer words to her grandfather.
"I'm sorry this happened to you. And I hope you're proud that I got to come back for you and leave something for all the guys that were left behind. That's what I hope for."
Scuba divers interested in joining the expedition in February 2025 can still sign up (with limited availability).
Due to the nature of the dives, divers are required to have an Advanced Open Water certification, or equivalent, with a minimum of 50 logged dives.