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Fiji At War

Outstanding Records on the Fighting and the Home Fronts

rO infantry battalions, two commando units and a Dock Company of the Fiji Military Forces have seen active service; a contingent of 30 young men was recruited in the Colony for the RAF.

The decorations awarded to this com paratively small body of fighting men are as follows: One Victoria Cross; one CBE; two MBE’s; two DSO’s; two DCM’s; six Mili tary Crosses; nine Military Medals; two British Empire Medals; one Distinguished Flying Cross; 36 men mentioned in des patches. American decorations won are eight Silver Stars and two

Bronze Medals.

These decorations do not include those won by former residents of Fiji who are serving with British or Dominion forces.

As this list of awards indi cates, the war effort of this small British Colony has been second to none. Fijians and European residents alike put their whole weight behind the cause of the Allied nations particularly after Sir Philip Mitchell arrived in 1942 and announced that he had “come to wage war.”

To Lieut.-Colonel Ratu J.

L, V. Sukuna, Advisor on Native Affairs, must go credit for the amazing response of the Fijians when recruiting for vthe Fiji Military Forces began; to local European and New Zealand officers must go credit for moulding the Fijians into a modern fighting unit; but the well earned reputation of the Fijian troops as the supreme jungle fighters of the war

in the south-west Pacific is all of a piece with the Fijian himself—along with his ingrained sense of discipline, his know ledge of the jungle, his eagerness and his cool courage in the face of danger.

THE first Fiji troops to go overseas were a small group of Commandos known as the “sample party.” This ?oi9 y wa.s sent to Guadalcanal in late

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» er scoute. Riians were s, i itable as naen of this sample party under so e wenThat ea th? d A° fflC?rS and N^°'s did that J the Americans asked for a effectivTl? a ?n° S?* S hich r^ as later used paign . the New Ge orgia cam- The First Battalion, Fiji Infantry RpH same’timp 8 a if? Sont forward about the PlOTfdf a xfa 0 n n d d ’i y ri for T n ? |& h 1t a s d el f °§ y a'series'of'daritj de , e P into enemy territory S patrols moT d d el intoßoug d in^ a e n iauf‘ a t als ?

CompU he to rd uSoad o ship s en ‘ t th £ Docks Augusta Bay. ps at Empress seas ef °Wn itS f ombat unlts went over seas, Fiji had already made a rmtlui contribution to the war effort S«?rf le many young men who in the

of the war went overseas of their own accord to join the armed forces of Britain or the Dominions, a contingent of 30 was recruited in the Colony for the RAF.

These pilots have taken part in bombing raids over Berlin, in attacks on U-boats on the coast of Europe, in the pursuit of Rommel’s broken Afrika Corps, and in the defence of India and Ceylon.

Officers and men of the Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve have seen action m New Zealand warships, and in 1940-41 Fijian merchant seamen helped to carry supplies to Mediterranean garrisons.

NOR has there been anything lacking in the efforts of citizens on Fiii’s b °™e fr x? nt - D ™g 1942, Fiji became an Allied base, with the whole economic and soda! life re-orientated towards this sudden change in the affairs of the for merly 9 met and P ea ceful Pacific Colony The Home Guard and the Civil Defend organisation consisted of Europeans Fijians, Indians, Chinese and represen- JS tlV w ? f al 2 loS . t « every island group in the Western Pacific. p From the beginning of the war the women of Fiji have worked to provicte gifts for men serving overseas and for the civilians of Britain who became victims of enemy bombing. e Fiji has contributed £260,000 to war funds and, m addition, 3 bombers and 9 fighters have been bought for the RAF It is a fitting culmination to Fiji’s part in this global war that one of her natfve s ° ns > Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu should have been awarded the supreme reward for valour-the Victoria Cross a rf d ’. Cor P° ra ! Sukanaivalu !h S nco^ IS f i l ? 6 ’ i n 80 doing he saved those of his comrades and wrote the Fiii Military Forces indelibly into the records of the British Army. b The Rev. H. J. E. Short, of the LMS recerfidy in Sydney 0n furlou S h from Papua The marriage of Miss L. Kutinius to Mr P. Snook was celebrated at Valui, Savu Savu district Fiji, on October 7. Miss Kutinius until recently was a Child Wel fare nurse. Mr. Snook is Savu Savu manager for Morris Hedstrom, Ltd.

Lieut.-Col.Ratu J. L. V. Sukuna, with District- Commissioner C. R. H. Nott.