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Honouring Solomons’ famous and unsung heroes
Ivor Hanson
The Solomon Islander’s arm, hand and fingers are straight and stretched to their limits, his body stance and stern face a testament to focus and fierce determination.
Leaning forward, counter-balanced in part by a bush-knife in his other hand, he points out to sea at something distant, but unmistakably menacing.
The Allied officer at his side, in uniform and with a rifle slung across his back, peers through the binoculars to where his eyes are being directed. At their feet, a squatting radio operator calls in the position of the Japanese— the Coastwatchers and Solomon Scouts in action.
If all goes according to plan, this monument —an archetypical scene that took place countless times during World War II, and presently a pencil-on-paper sketch by Solomons sculptor Frank Haikiu, Sr—will soon take the form of life-sized figures and become part of the Solomon Islands Coastwatchers & Solomons Scouts Memorial.
Taking up their position on a base two to three metres high on the seaward end of Commonwealth Street in the Point Cruz section of the Solomons capital of Honiara, the cement-and-wire-mesh soldiers will forever reprise the pivotal role the Coastwatchers and Scouts played.
The Second World War came to the Solomon Islands in May of 1942 when Japanese forces landed in Tulagi. From then until the close of “The Big Death”, Coastwatchers and Solomons Scouts reported the movements and disposition of Japanese ships, personnel and munitions; staged hit-and-run raids on Japanese troops; rescued Allied pilots, sailors (including John F. Kennedy) and civilians—in short, helped turn the tide of the war in the Pacific.
As Major Gregory R. “Pappy” Boyington, leader of the legendary Black Sheep Squadron, famously put it: “If it weren’t for the Coastwatchers, then we probably would have lost World War II.”
The work of the Coastwatchers Memorial Trust, which is spearheading the effort, however, does not simply entail the construction of the memorial, which includes the sculpture and an engraved list of the names of the Solomon Scouts.
There’s the challenge of getting those names. Though such Solomon Islanders as Sir Jacob Vouza, Sir Gideon Zoloveke, Billy Bennett, and Geoffery Kuper are well known, this memorial is for all those who took part, the famous and the unsung. But Michael Liliau, a member of the Memorial Trust and whose father, Bruno Nana, served as a wartime scout, points out that lists of Solomons veterans were lost during the ethnic tensions a decade ago and reconstituting them will be quite a task.
Publicity for the project, then, is not simply for awareness or funds—the Coastwatchers Memorial Trust is working towards raising SBD$300,000—but completeness and accuracy. Getting stories and names is key to this success, and the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation has expressed a keen interest in playing a role, whereby as Solomon Islanders hear of the memorial on the radio, they will come forward with the names of relatives to be added to the Honour Roll.
There’s an educational component as well. The heroic accomplishments of the Coastwatchers and Scouts will become a part of the curriculum taught in Solomon Islands schools via a booklet and a documentary on DVD. In addition, the Ministry of Education has agreed to sponsor a scholarship for a Solomon Islander to pursue graduate studies on the Coastwatchers and Solomons Scouts. When completed and published, the work will add to the public’s knowledge.
“The memorial, the curriculum, the scholarship, it will all create a sense of living history, especially for the young people,” says Sir Peter Kenilorea, the Speaker of Parliament, and a member of the Coastwatchers Memorial Trust. “This effort can help them understand and appreciate that their fathers and grandfathers have done great things.”
Still, much lies ahead for the effort, including building the memorial.
Haikiu, whose large wooden traditional sculptures grace, in Honiara, the Parliament Building and the Heritage Park Hotel, and will be installed in the Solomon Islands government’s new Chancery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, notes that a preliminary drawing is very different from a finished sculpture.
For the Coastwatchers Memorial, he may well have the Solomons Scout figure carry both the “303” rifle and a bush knife, as many did, just as he may have the officer wear a pistol at his waist; there will also be some bush to form a background and a possible fourth figure.
“Right now, I am figuring out the strength of the steel rod for the hand that’s pointing,” Haikiu says, stretching out his own arm as a model. “It’s very delicate, very complex, but I need him to be pointing.”
For that matter, Haikiu also needs to get hold of an old “303” and a vintage radio transmitter to get the details just right.
As Project Manager of the Coastwatchers Memorial Trust, Honiara businessman Bruce Saunders, who heads the BJS Group of Companies and has lived in the Solomons for over forty years, is busy nailing down the project’s many details.
He views the monument, honor role and the rest as long overdue recognition finally falling into place. Though with a slated completion date of August 7th, 2010 so as to coincide with the 68th anniversary of the US Marines landing in Honiara, he’s pursuing appreciation for the Scouts under a tight deadline.
“Now, it’s really about making all this a reality,” Saunders says, adding, “It’s not just about commemorating the past, but building on a sense of national pride and a national identity for the Solomon Islands. That’s what we’re after.”
In part, this goal helps to explain the location of the memorial, right at the wharf, where Solomon Islanders from the other provinces disembark when arriving in Honiara by ship. As they head into town, they’ll look up at the memorial and hopefully identify with the figures before them.
“The realism of the sculpture is a key idea for me,” Haikiu says, calling his planned work a first of its kind here. “I want people to see the Coastwatchers and Scouts and think ‘That could be me.’”
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