The battlefields

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Living on an island with a varied history makes for some interesting excursions on the weekends. Apart from the usual trips to the pool at one of the almost swanky hotels or to the beaches with the shipwrecks there have been a few trips to see the leftovers from the battles that took place in the 1940’s. The tensions that took place in the early 2000’s have meant that some of the plaques have been melted down for scrap, robbing the area of that little link to history. So instead of seeing a brass plaque that tells you what was there, all that’s left is a concrete or stone plinth. During the war there was some very significant battles that took place on this little island I call home. Not quite being a war history buff I’ve had to rely on others to point me in the direction as far as what’s where. Most times it's right under your nose, but because there's no big plaque or map like you get when you travel along the French coastline where the D'Day beaches are it takes a little bit of an effort to work out you're looking at. One of these has been the tour along Edson’s Ridge, which was the site of a major battle over a few days during the war (google it for the details). Like Gallipoli it’s hard to visualise what it was like when the enemy was just over the ridge or in some cases closer than the other side of the street. Not to mention the crocodiles and the malaria laden mosquitoes that helped to make your life miserable.

One of the other highlights has been traveling down a dirt track until you reach a turnoff that has no signage. Travel a little bit further down the track and you arrive at a sign that says “war relix”. Drive in and pay the $25 local money and there under the trees are a collection of Amtraks (or LVT's) left behind by the Americans. The thing you notice apart from the local kids doing handstands for no apparent reason is the size of the trees that have grown up through the Amtraks. It really makes you appreciate how quick things grow over here. It takes only 60 years from a seedling to a fully grown tree that has virtually taken over the whole Amtrak which is the size of a small truck.

On the way to beach last weekend we decided to try and find where the collection of warplanes was. Fortunately those in the car decided to override my decision to turn back, as about 500 metres up the road from where I wanted to turn back and go for a swim we found the sign. Ok so sign is probably a loose description of what indicated which road to turn down. But after another kilometre drive down a dirt track we made it to a small clearing, behind the hedge we could see a few planes so we knew we were in the right place. The welcoming committee consisted of a friendly mutt, and after a while a woman from the village wondered over. She’s happy to collect our $25 each in local currency and then give a guided tour of the planes and guns. It turns out she’s very knowledgeable on what plane is what and where the different items had come from. This includes a Lightning that is alleged to be the one that shot down Yamamoto's plane over Bouganville and a Corsair (those that grew up watching Baa Baa Black Sheep on TV will know all about this one). The only shame is that some of the memorial plaques have been liberated during the tensions and sold for scrap. As things are a little tough here for some, parts of the planes have also started to find their way to the scrap yard. One of the coolest things is the folding wings of the Wildcat fighter plane. It’s wings fold back to allow it to be stored on an aircraft carrier. After all these years sitting out in the open they still fold back, very impressive.

The weekend ended with a swim amongst a Japanese transport ship that ran aground during the war, but I’ll save the beach stories for later.

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Photos

Lunga River
The river played a big role in the battle for the ridge

Coke bottles
Each bottle has the US state that they were bottled in on the base as a morale booster for the troops. The locals try and sell them to you and are knowledgeable on the different states.

Japanese memorial
On one of the hills around Edson's Ridge, they tried hard to liberate this plaque in the tensions as well but it stayed put in the concrete.

The sign to the warplanes
OK so it doesn't exactly say warplanes this way but if you use your imagination and squint your eyes it does!

Memorials at the Warplane Museum
The memorial to the HMAS Canberra that was sunk off the coast is also here.