Men Sacrificed In Japanese
p. 99 · Read in the full issue
War
IDO not think a sufficient tribute has been paid to the memory of Mr. C. G.
F. Cartwright, who was killed by the Japs on Ocean Island during the war,” said Mr. D. G. Kennedy, a former official of the W’estern Pacific High Commission, when in Sydney recently.
“I first met ‘Wheels’ Cartwright (as he was called by his friends) in the Southern Gilberts in 1937. He was then a young cadet—a graduate of Oxford, and a member of a good English family. About 1938, he was transferred to the Seychelles, as an administrative assistant under the Governor, Sir Arthur Grimble. In 1940, he was sent back to Ocean Island, and
when I was transferred to the Solomons, he took my place as Government Sec retary. He was quite young,—under 30— and a man of very attractive personality.
“When the Japs invaded the South Pacific, and it was finally necessary, in 1942, to abandon Ocean Island, Cart wright was one of the three officials who elected to stay behind and help the natives in their relations with the enemy.
He knew the risk he was taking: but he did expect that he would receive from this enemy the treatment usually ac corded civilian prisoners. However, all the Europeans, and a great many of the native people, were wiped out.”
There should be some permanent memorial to the men who, in the invaded Territories —Gilbert Islands, Nauru, New Guinea—sacrificed themselves in order to help the natives.