Peter Flahavin  Guadalcanal Revisited

Tuesday January 13, 1998
  At 9.30 a.m. we drove up Wright Road to the lookout on Mt. Austen where the Japanese artillery observers had their position . The weather was overcast and rainy so unfortunately when we got there the view towards Henderson was obscured by dark clouds . We then drove downhill to the site of the Japanese GIFU strongpoint that was the scene of a lot of fighting in December 1942 - January 1943 as elements of 5 US Army Battalions wiped out 500 Japanese defenders . There is a village on part of the battlefield now near Hill 27.

  The road to the village was pretty muddy , so we left the taxi and walked the 500 yards in to the site. There were items to look at in the village but it was pretty deserted . I think a lot of the men were employed further up Mt. Austen doing some logging . We walked up to the Hill 27 battle area and, after looking at the Japanese monument , commenced looking for relics amongst the US foxholes as we walked towards the rear slope .

�We found ration tins and lids, grenade handles, shrapnel , pieces of US Carlisle field dressing tins, mortar fins, Garand rifle clips, expended cases (.30 calibre and .45 calibre),grenade body segments , lids of grenade tins and other bits and pieces . One of the villagers came up the hill and talked to Leo and Leigh as I walked on down the reverse slope and looked at some overgrown foxholes.

On the crest of the hill in 1996 there was a rough wooden cross and shot up water bottle marking the grave of an unknown Japanese soldier . Now in 1998 that had been replaced by a proper white painted cross marked ; �TOSHIO KOJIMA , 2ND. LT., 228 INFANTRY ,� K.I.A. JAN 1943�. The first night the American pulled back to the reverse slope and the Japanese reached the top here , but were forced back by US artillery fire . The whole hill is still covered in shrapnel fragments .

The Japanese had a 75mm mountain gun on this hill that was captured by the attacking American troops � we saw the wheels and an ammo tin in 1996 . Now as I walked down the path to the rear slope there was the rotted remains of another ammo tin on a rock .

  On the rear slope the foxholes were very overgrown with thick grass but we found more expended cartridge cases, grenade tin lids, radio batteries and the clover leaf lid of an American 37mm ammunition tin.

  As we walked back towards the Japanese memorial we found a piece of bone near a foxhole which Leigh identified as part of a leg bone . It was probably Japanese so we placed it in the bowl near the memorial.

  After exploring here we went back to the village and had another look at the items there . Around a large tree were ; part of a Betty bomber wing (sadly deteriorating in the open since I first saw it in 1995), Zero drop tank , Jeep windscreen , 2 live US grenades, a live US 60mm mortar round, a live Japanese grenade , a burst US 81mm mortar round , two Japanese water bottles and a rotted out Japanese helmet . In 1996 there had been some Betty bomber controls but they were now gone.

  On a table near the tree were helmets , water bottles , mess tins , a Japanese knee mortar round , the metalwork of an Arisaka rifle ,cases , canteen cups etc. . The villager we were talking to said we should come back on Thursday when everyone would be there , including the guy that owned this table full of relics . As we were about to leave we asked him if he had anything in his �hut and he produced 2 Japanese water bottles (one with 99% paint) and a US canteen cup , all of which we snapped up . Nearby was lying a 1941 dated US Jerrycan , which was good on one side but rotted on the other . Another villager showed us some Arisaka rifle metalwork he had found but it was pretty rusty .

  As we drove down Mt. Austen we noticed a Police Minibus parked at the Japanese memorial half way to GIFU , so we stopped there for a look . It turned out that he had just missed the Japanese tour group we had seen on Saturday . They had laid out food on a table , burnt some in a ceremony and left the rest as an offering to the souls of their departed countrymen . The police were there to make sure the locals didn�t take the food during the ceremony . That is didn�t take it until after the Japanese had departed� - then the locals had what was left !� We were told that although the Japanese� fund a lot of projects in the Solomons a lot of people have little respect for them , as they said most don�t speak much English or mix with the locals as American or Australian tourists do .

  The view over Honiara , Lunga and Henderson was very good from this point . There is a carving here of a fisherman looking out to sea , which was done pre-war by a young Japanese sculptor who died as a soldier on Guadalcanal , so it is now set up here on Mt. Austen.

  After descending Mt. Austen we crossed the Lunga bridge with the intention of driving up to Lunga Point . However� the road degenerated into a rain soaked muddy trail� that would no doubt have been familiar to Marines and after a while it wasn�t worth trying to go any further and get bogged , so we called it a day and went back to the hotel .

  After a swim Leigh and I walked down to Point Cruz and took some photos , then went to the Honiara Market in search of American wartime dated Coca-Cola bottles , which I knew one stall holder had . We got there 10 minutes before the market closed , found him and bought about a dozen bottles at S$10.00 (US$2.50) each . He also had a US 75mm shell case , plus some . 50 calibre cases and heads , so we got those has well . Looking through all the bottles caused an amused crowd to gather .

  I said� �..well guys , you know it is only crazy white men who would come all this way to pay money for this stuff..� . Everyone laughed and nodded their heads in agreement.

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