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Letters
Defaced memorial at Vilu in the Solomons I was contacted at our Web Site: AHOY. Mac's Web Log, by His Excellency, Patrick Cole, the newly appointed Australian High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands. He was inquiring about any Memorial on Guadalcanal that commemorated the sinking of HMAS Canberra, at the Battle of Savo Island on the 9th. of August 1942. In my response, I E-Mailed a photograph ( see the bottom of this page ) of such a plaque bolted to a large rock at Vilu Village on Guadalcanal. The High Commissioner indicated that he recently visited Vilu Village and this location, only to discover that this plaque had unfortunately been looted in the recent ethnic troubles. This fact now raises the question of the reestablishment of a more appropriate and permanent Memorial in the Solomon Islands to the memory of those who died, or were wounded in HMAS Canberra , on the 9th. of August 1942, at the Battle of Savo Island. It is here in the Solomons where the current Australian led RAMSI Operation, is reestablishing in a partricularly close and direct manner, linkages with the Australian Defence Forces. I further raised the question, that it might be considered appropriate, to also record, the loss that night of the three United States heavy cruisers, Quincy, Astoria and Vincennes, on any such memorial.
Canberra Memorial, Vilu, Solomon Islands |
