I said, "Who is this guy, Louie?"

Subscribe Today

• Subscribe to Armchair General Magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!
 

He said he had written letters to everybody in Washington, anyone he could think of, and he finally got a letter back saying there’s no way that this could be an American Marine or soldier, all had been repatriated. So he said, “Isn’t that a goddamn lie?" (Laugh) I had to agree.

“Where’s Somes now?” I asked, and Louie drew a map on a paper napkin and marked an X on a it. The spot is where the Coastwatchers Memorial stands. Coastwatchers were a group of Australians and New Zealanders who sat on these islands in the South Pacific marking the movement of Japanese ships and radioing the information back to Australia. About a dozen were captured by the Japanese invaders and beheaded. Years later, at the place where they had been executed, this beautiful memorial was dedicated near Red beach, and that’s where Louie put Pvt. Somes’ remains. I went there, and I could feel my throat tighten as I said a silent prayer to him. That, along with other evidence convinces me there are plenty of other American remains lying on that island.

JW: What is the reaction of the government there in terms of possible cooperation for a memorial or expanded park or something? How do they feel about it?

LC: They feel guilty about the garbage. Sometime in the 1950s they decided to put all their garbage on Red Beach; they figured there should only be one place where all the garbage would be located, so it’s all on the tiny island of Betio, where the principal fighting took place. They’re really nice, delightful, beautiful people, they mean no harm. Garbage, of course, is a result of our introduction to them of so-called Western civilization. Before we introduced them to our diet, they ate breadfruit, papaya, coconuts and so forth and threw the remains on the ground to decay.

When I was there, I presented an action plan for Tarawa, which among other things called for the collection and distribution of garbage and the installation of a state-of-the-art incineration system that would consume all the garbage and provide additional electricity for the island. The president of Kiribati was delighted by the idea, so at this time there is a study under way.

The installation of an incineration plant could be a model, hopefully, for all other South Sea island nations where, no different than Tarawa, they throw garbage on the beaches. Hopefully, the plan will become reality. The New Zealand government has a consultant on the spot who is interested in pursuing my ideas about the incinerating plant.

JW: So your action plan really has a dual purpose: it is eco-friendly and preserves the beach. How did the plan go over with entities that you’ve spoken with in the United States, such as Department of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs or private groups?

LC: How did it go over? With a loud thud. (Laugh). This is the irony of the whole thing. The New Zealand government hired an American as a consultant and made six million dollars available for the – I’m not sure what the word is, but for beautification of the island and for making it more inhabitable.

There was plenty of ammunition scattered all over that tiny, densely populated island, I might add. Everywhere you walk you see spent cartridges, live grenades, live mortar shells, and this little island has a population density greater than Hong Kong, so many people, especially kids, have been killed or injured. I can only guess, nobody would tell me; I tried to find out, but that was a secret they wouldn’t share with me.

So what is being done about this live ammo everywhere? Well, Australia sent a guy whose job is deactivating all the bombs they find in the lagoon and elsewhere on the island. So here are Australia and New Zealand doing our dirty work.

Help Armchair General by bookmarking to