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Last edited: July 30, 2002 (C) Under construction
Tulagi
Here they are, the brave, reliable, softy police, under the command of Sergeant Piluniuna, who refused transfer and promotion, not so much because of me though we liked each other's style, but because he came from a nearby village. We've got some stories for you, later. These first pictures and the one of me taken by Milt Effron of the 1008 Seabees photo lab not long before they were to pull out of the area. One of the police appeared in their memorial book.
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Me now, master belong altogether, I don't think.
The Harbour, below, had been the headquarters of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which could anchor with cruisers, PT boats, landing barges. This scene, taken after most had left, was usually chock a block with warships, including Kennedy's PT boat. I would look down from one of the few houses left, top of a cliff, onto their decks. Their HQ quartermaster was the source of our food supplies (other than that bought from villages), and any other needs such as sheets, under a Lend-Lease agreement with the British government.
One of my tasks, somewhat unofficial, was to try to set up the beginning of local administration. Councillors were elected from Gela Sule and Gela Pile, and we tried to find ways for them to have a little income and as much responsibility as we could engineer. My storeman clerk left me to train as a dispenser and we later installed him in the first, locally controlled, dispensary and first aid post with the assistance of the medical department. The administration clerk and radio operator followed me later to KiraKira, and I learned much later that he became a member of the Council which formulated the Solomon Islands constitution. Here, Councillors arrive for a meeting. (Although my negatives are black and white, they scan with better detail in colour.)
A small area, flat, was the location of all US HQ services, there were some old colonial homes still standing, still with flowering gardens, higher up the hill. The rest of the island was just one stony hill, but since for the most part it was unused, villagers from Gela, and my staff, continued to work gardens here.
