Fijians and Tongans

In Action in The Solomons

ACCORDING to information published by the Information Office in Suva in August, Fijian and Tongan troops were in the thick of the fighting on New Georgia, BSI.

These “South Pacific Scouts,” as they are generally known in the Solomons (in stead of the more cumbersome official title of the “First Commando, Fiji Guer illas”) have won the praise of the Ameri cans, who declare that there are no better fighters anywhere. They are particularly impressed by the Islanders’ facility for gruelling day-long patrols, after which they come back and sleep as peacefully under shell-fire as though they were back in their own native villages.

The Fijians and Tongans landed first on Rendova, where the Americans had already mopped up the small Jap garri son; and then they travelled over seven miles of open sea to a lagoon ten miles

east of Munda. Here, too, the Americans had established a bridgehead, and it was not until several days later that they had their first taste of action.

The death of Lieutenant Ben Masefield, who led the Tongan detachment on New Georgia, was a great blow to the troops.

He was killed by a random Jap shell while sleeping in a foxhole.

Before he was killed, Lieut. Masefield and his Tongans had captured four enemy machine-guns, and accounted for many Japs. When they came to a machine-gun post, the Tongans would maintain a desultory fire from the front, while Lieutenant Masefield worked his way through the bush to the rear of the enemy positions, and picked off the gun crew one by one.

Casualty List

The following is a list of some of the casualties suffered by local Fiji Forces in recent actions:—

First Lieutenant Henry Taliai, who was killed in action recently in the Solomons, was the first Tongan to make the supreme sacrifice in this war. His father, three sisters and two brothers are a well-known, church-loving family. Taliai was a keen footballer. He represented Tonga in the Tonga-Fiji test matches, in Tonga, as well as in Suva.—Photo, by Hettig.