185 - New Jersey Postal History Society

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FROM GUADALCANAL TO THE GARDEN STATE, Part I ~ Lawrence Brennan government did not even take the trouble to survey them properly. Extant maps were very imperfect, showing only dotted lines for estimated courses of rivers. According to American and Australian standards, the Solomon Islands were almost pure “bush” or wilderness. … The Solomons were still a region of uncharted seas, leaving the edges of trackless forests. Fig. 6: Map of Guadalcanal. 12 The outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific in December 1941 by Japan caused problems for the territories controlled by the Allies. Again, Admiral Morison explained: At the time the Pacific war broke, the native population of Guadalcanal was between 8000 and 10,000, with over 40,000 more in Malaita. The Australian Air Force stationed a squadron of Catalinas in Gavutu Harbor near Tulagi and assigned 20 infantrymen to help the "Gilbert and Sullivan Army" of 15 whites, 5 Chinese and 130 native police in defending their base. Japanese planes began bombing runs on Tulagi and Gavutu in January 1942, after which Europeans and Chinese shopkeepers began to get out. When the Japanese task force, part of the Coral Sea operation, approached on 1 May, the Australian government saw that defense was hopeless and ordered Tulagi to be evacuated … One important institution outlasted the Japanese invasion -- the Australian "coastwatchers." They were a network of small radio stations through the Bismarcks and Solomons, established several years earlier and taken over by the Australian Navy in 1939. Only eight or nine coast-watchers remained in all the Solomons after the evacuation of Tulagi, but many others were brought back by American boats or planes. These coastwatchers, whom the natives generally aided and abetted, were of inestimable value throughout the Solomons campaign. They relayed to Allied headquarters the movements of enemy ships, planes and NJPH 12 Vol. 40/No. 1 Feb 2012 Whole No. <strong>185</strong>
Lawrence Brennan ~ FROM GUADALCANAL TO THE GARDEN STATE, Part I ground forces. At a time when American air power was worn thin, their reports of southward-flying enemy aircraft, received as much as fifty minutes in advance, made it possible for American planes to take off and gain altitude in time to swoop down on the enemy. And, in less than a year, coastwatchers succored 120 crashed Allied air-men. 1 Fig. 7: A team of “coastwatchers” headed by Capt W. F Martin Clemens, British Guadalcanal district officer, with Island natives in the British Solomon Islands. 13 Photo credit: National Archives Photo BO‐G‐ 17080 For some time after their occupation of Tulagi on 2 May, the Japanese paid no attention to Guadalcanal except to send over parties to round up and kill the wild cattle. But before the end of June a convoy of 13 ships put in, bringing a substantial force of labor troops, engineers and heavy equipment to build the landing field. It was the discovery of this by an Allied reconnaissance plane on 4 July that put the heat on Operation “Watchtower.” The U.S. invasion of Guadalcanal was designed as an opportunistic offensive primarily in response to the Japanese offensive action in the area. As discussed in Morison, U.S. Naval Operations, Vol. V: That operation had been conceived by Admiral King as early as February 1942. He wanted Tulagi partly as an additional bastion to the America-Australia lifeline, partly as the starting point for a drive up the line of the Solomons into Rabaul, and as a deterrent to any further expansion by the Japanese. General MacArthur, too, liked the idea, since Japanese possession of Rabaul blocked his eventual return to the Philippines. 1 Information from Lt. Rhodes and from Mr. W. H. Brocklebank, who originated the system at the R.A.N. office, Melbourne, in June 1943, Cdr. Eric A. Feldt RAN The Coastwatchers (1946). Vol. 40/No. 1 13 NJPH Whole No. <strong>185</strong> Feb 2012
Page 1 and 2: NJPH The Journal of the NEW JERSEY
Page 3 and 4: Ed & Jean Siskin ~ REVOLUTIONARY WA
Page 9 and 10: Lawrence Brennan ~ FROM GUADALCANAL
Page 11: Lawrence Brennan ~ FROM GUADALCANAL
Page 21 and 22: Doug D’Avino ~ HISTORY OF THE HAM
Page 33 and 34: Hughes, Walton, & Micchelli ~ CIVIL
Page 47 and 48: Ed & Jean Siskin ~ CENSUS OF EARLY
Page 53 and 54: Doug D’Avino ~ HOMETOWN POs: Ampe
Page 55 and 56: MEMBER NEWS: Treasurer’s Report M
Page 57 and 58: MEMBER ADS MEMBER ADS ~ YOUR AD MIS
Page 59 and 60: NJPHS LITERATURE AVAILABLE postpaid

185 - New Jersey Postal History Society

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