ML161633
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Subject 1: (Environmental Recording). Subtitle: Rush hour in Honiara. Timecode In: 00:00:04. Timecode out: 00:06:52. Subject 2: (Environmental Recording). Subtitle: Gentle ocean surf. Timecode In: 00:06:53. Timecode out: 00:11:43. Subject 3: (Interview). Subtitle: Warren Frederick Martin Clemens. Timecode In: 00:12:03. Timecode out: 00:40:56. Notes: WWII; Solomon Islands; Guadalcanal; Coastwatchers. Equipment Notes: Two-Track Mono; Electrovoice RE50 Dynamic Omni Microphone. Show: Guadalcanal -Martin Clemens Intv Log of DAT #: 4 Engineer: NC Date: 5/29/02 MC = Martin Clemens NC = Neal Conan Track one :10 car zooms by :16 car :29 car :34 car :51 horn :56 more cars 1:04 NC Rush hour in Honiara. 1:13 young voices 1:21 close car 1:33 - 1:39 multiple cars 2:47 large car with interesting rattle quality 3:03 horns 3:21 large car w/rattling 6:24 adult voices 6:42 faint voices 6:53 Track 2 6:53 - 11:43 waves lapping, with gurgly sounds at each break. 11:43 Track 3 12:10 NC when did you first se the Japanese arrive? 12:13 MC The Japanese arrived about may in tulagi and the RAAF people who had an airbase there, moved out in a hurry, leaving behind one of their catalinas which was badly damaged. Saying that they'd send a rigger down from fort Moresby, and they left this Catalina on my doorstep, which was not very pleasant news - so we had to destroy that. So it was on the 4th of May, I think, which was the same day as the battle of the coral sea, and people down here thought this was the battle of saving Australia, which of course was the day the japs arrived on the Solomon islands. They didn't come over to Guadalcanal for a few weeks, until they got settled in, and they got fairly well bombed and lost a lot of casualties on the first few days. Then they came over and started surveying, and it was quite obvious they were going to build and airfield so we kept close tabs on that. Of course they tried to get the Solomon islanders to work for them, which they did, they went and worked and of course they came back every night and told me the progress of the building. And so we followed that right through until it was ready to be used. The day after it was supposed to have been finished, by some unknown chance the marines arrived and started the battle, which lasted 6 months. So having spent the last few months with very little to eat and waiting for something to happen, here was another 6 months when we got bombed every morning and shelled every night, so I became a liaison officer to the first marine division and worked with the intelligence section, in fact I controlled what was outside the perimeter and the marines controlled the inside. Every marine patrol that went out had Solomon islanders with them, to make sure they didn't get lost or came to no good - and they were able to deal with the Japanese. 15:07 NC One of the questions that still puzzles me, particularly in those early days, even right after.. The loyalty of the Solomon islanders. Was it ever a question? Why do you think they stayed loyal? 15:24 MC well, this is what happened. I called a lot of the headmen in to tell them what was going on, and there was a crowd of about 3 or 400 outside my office. They said 'what's going to happen?" and I said look here, I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I'm quite sure that someday, somebody's going to come and it will be all right again. In the meantime, I you do what I tell you, and we all work together; we'll make it 16:05 NC and they were happy with that? 16:07 MC there were a few people who, you know, got a bit silly and grabbed a rifle from somewhere and rushed up and down going 'bang bang' and that sort of nonsense. There were an awful lot of scare mongering, but on the whole they didn't do so badly. Of course Sg... (Notes truncated)
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- Cataloged
- 4 May 2010 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 4 May 2010 - Ben Brotman
- Edited
- 4 May 2010 - Ben Brotman