Tarawa Memorial

22 Victims of Atrocity Commemorated

A PERMANENT memorial has been erected on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands to commemorate the 17 New Zealanders and five other Europeans who were murdered by Japanese on October 15, 1942. The New Zealanders were serv ing in the group as soldiers and radio operators in a coast-watching detach ment.

Officers and men of the NZ frigate Taupo, which returned to Auckland on August 8, after visiting the Gilbert Group, said a temporary memorial erected by the Americans from the trunks of coconut palms had now been replaced by a permanent concrete struc ture. It was most appropriately designed and merged harmoniously into its sur rounding of coral and palms. The names of the men killed in the massacre were perpetuated on a plaque designed in the form of a book of honour.

Tarawa itself has not recovered from the ravages it suffered during the heavy fighting of the Pacific war. The atolls on which there was battle have had to be replanted with young coconut trees and the beaches and reefs are still littered with the abandoned wreckage of barges, landing craft and small ships of many kinds. The land, too, is dotted with the remnants of huge dumps of rusted vehicles, aeroplane engines, army huts and military stores. Once worth millions of pounds, they are now reduced to the value of junk.—New Zealand Herald.