Rakkasans Mystery Cache
Hidden : 11/11/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Placement of this hide is on Veteran's Day 2010 and is dedicated to the women and men of our armed forces.

The coordinates above are for the parking area at Korean Veterans Field in Marlborough, MA. This small, inconspicuous park is home to a basketball court, a soccer field and a play area for children. Park Hours are 7:00 AM until dusk. NOTE: This is NOT a snow-friendly cache!

There are two plaques visible when you arrive at the parking area. One is for the park itself, which is dedicated to all veterans of the Korean War. The other is a memorial marker for a veteran, Donald Wright. When reading this second memorial marker, a rather strange word stands out: "Rakkasans"...

As the story goes… In the days following WWII, this US Army airborne infantry division was assigned as part of the occupational force in Japan. An American translator was trying to explain to the Japanese locals what it was that their unit was trained for. Since he did not know of any Japanese word for "airborne soldiers", he used the word "rakkasan", which loosely translates to "falling down umbrellas". The locals began to call the paratroopers by that nickname - and it stuck.

Some Notable Rakkasans:
Gen. William Westmoreland, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Gen. David Petraeus, PFC Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, Col. Michael Steele (Black Hawk Down)


To solve this relatively easy puzzle, you will likely need to do a small bit of research (before leaving home) in order to determine the following numerical values associated with the Rakkasans:

V = _____st Airborne Division
E = _____th Infantry Regiment
T = The regiment was originally constituted on Nov 12, 19___

After you have V-E-T, solve the following two calculations:

Donald = _____ (790 + V)
Wright = _____ (E + T)

The final is an average-sized camouflaged container located at:

N 42 20.Donald
W 071 35.Wright


I am pleased to report that this cache was selected as the Geocaching Puzzle of the Day on 11/11/15 in honor of Veteran's Day! I happily share this honor with all our Veterans!



There was a FTF prize package for the first on scene. It includes an unregistered POW/MIA trackable pin, which is being given in honor of my grandfather, who fought for the US Navy during WWII. As it so happened, he was stationed throughout the Pacific theater.

CONGRATULATIONS to Boston Brewins, Kerrytherat and Cheryltherat for the co-FTF!

Benchmarking Note:
MY5641 (designation '189 U') is the closest and easiest find.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ba gur cnex fvqr bs gur ebpx jnyy, va SEBAG bs gur oehfu

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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