My 1102 Days of W.W. II/Chapter 4
IV. SO THIS IS ISLAND X - FIJI
On 5-14-43 we sighted land for the first time since leaving the states. This turned out to be Viti Levu, the main island of the Fiji group, 1700 miles N. E. of Australia. We landed at Vunda Point, disembarked and set up camp nearby, this was about half way between Lautoka and Nadi (Nandi) on the northwest side of the island.
Only half - about 500 of the battalion stopped at Viti Levu, C & D Companies and half of headquarters. I never did learn where the other half (A and B Companies) went.
The Fijians people were good-natured and friendly. If we visited one of their homes (grass huts) they would insist on us having a drink of Kava, a brew they made from the roots of a pepper plant grown there. It tasted putrid. "Bula Monocco" was their way of greeting one another, and consequently we were all greeted "Bula Joe." About 50 years prior to our being there, the natives from these and other islands practiced cannibalism.
Fortunately the Marines and Army were there first to set up a base before the Japanese did.
Lautoka, a small town nearby had a bar and a few stores where we could buy (British) Indian jewelry and a lot of other junk. Rice (one of my tent mates), and I usually spent our Saturday's Liberty there. If we arrived there at twelve o'clock noon when the bar opened, we could get a cold Australian beer; after that they were hot, because it was sold so fast from the keg. We soon learned to like it warm, as the Australians and English do. We had no problem getting a ride to and from town. The (Army and Marine) trucks would pick us up. On one trip we rode into town on top of a load of 500 pound, live bombs.
******
Our main job was what we had been trained for - handling cargo from ship to shore, shore to ship and ship to ship. As there were not any loading docks on the island large enough for ships to dock by, nor that had an area on land for storage nearby, all cargo had to be moved by barge from one place to another.
Everything the troops used on the island from toothpicks to 32-ton Sherman Tanks had to be brought in, as well as supplies for the fighting ships. These ships wanted a supply base as near as possible to the front line or where their action was to eliminate travel time for supplies.
The cargo ships carried these supplies from the states to wherever necessary. Some arrived completely loaded with gasoline and oil (50 gallon drums), some ammunition (shells and bombs), others with mixed or general cargo, trucks, jeeps, guns (90, 105 mm and 5-inch), canned food and all the other supplies necessary to conduct a campaign of this magnitude.
It is inconceivable how much work is involved in unloading an average size Cargo Ship, for it is capable of carrying about 7000 tons (depending on the type of cargo) in her 5 Holes or Hatches - two of which are forward of the Bridge and the other three aft. When necessary we could assign around the clock a crew (18 or 20 men) to each hole to move a lot of cargo.
For a while I was assigned as coxswain on a LCM (landing craft medium 25 tons capacity), that was used to move cargo in the Fiji. The difficult part of the task was having to stay with this craft day and night except for the times I went to chow. It had no cover to get out of the weather and no sleeping quarters, so I used an army cot and my poncho for shelter. If the weather became to rough, I had to tie down the cot so it would not slide off into the water. Sharks fins were a common sight around most any day.
If I happen to be at anchor in the harbor at meal time one of the men from camp would come out to take me ashore. One evening during a bad thunderstorm my ride who was using a small boat came half way out into the bay - became frightened and returned to camp. His superior ordered him back to pick me up. I was thankful for the rescue, because I was being pitched every direction on that flat bottom barge.
The LCM had two 220 H.P. marine engines that made this craft very powerful and maneuverable. This power was required to pull it back off the beach. With a load you could throw the rudder first right and then left to "walk" the barge back off of the beach. You could reverse one of the screws and spin it around like a top.
The Fijians, by far, had the most delicious pineapple that I had ever tasted. They were huge and golden yellow. The natives lads would bring them to us for a mere 25 cents apiece.