Guadalcanal a historic battlefield well worth a visit
I learned last week that the Australian Government initiative, Strongim Bisnis, has been working with Solomon Islands’ tourism operators in Guadalcanal, Western and Central to develop new tourism trails.
Strongim Bisnis facilitated workshops with tourism operators to identify locations of key tourist sites, such as natural attractions, WWII sites, and walks, and then combined these with accommodation options to create tourism trails.
Strongim Bisnis presented the workshop findings to tourism operators, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Tourism Solomons in late August 2019
I was particularly interested in the idea to further promote visits to WW11 sites and recall how Charlie Panakera of SINU had said in an article titled ‘World War II and Tourism Development in Solomon Islands,’ some 12 years ago.
Quote:
“An interesting aspect of war tourism is the “historical motivation.” Thus “Battlefields are of particular interest to two diverse groups: history buffs and military strategists, both real and armchair, who tramp over the area with books in hand, studying such details of the battle as it relates to terrain, to ground cover and troop movements.
“Consequently, visitors do not need to be directly affiliated with a death or disaster site or event to be attracted to it: some are simply interested in history.
“By looking at the wide range of products, and tours available to visitors, it may be under-stood that history does incite visitation to sites in Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Munda, Rendova,Vella la Vella, Kolobangara, Gizo and Mono in the Shortland Islands.
“One reason for the popularity of various tours (products) is that they provide experiential learning. Through first-hand experience either with land tours or wreck diving, World War II events can be brought to life. To trace the actual path of a sunken submarine, warship, or a corsair fighter located in a lagoon has much bigger impact than to simply read of it in a book.”
One of the toughest battles of WWII began 77 years ago at Guadalcanal and the place where some 38,000 Imperial Japanese soldiers and 7000 US soldiers lost their lives from August 1942 and February 1943.
The main objective of the fighting was a tiny airstrip that the Japanese were building at the western end of Guadalcanal, a speck of land in the Solomon Islands. The airstrip, later named Henderson Field, would become an important launching point for Allied air attacks during the Pacific island hopping campaign
Two of the US carriers lost in the Pacific were lost during the Guadalcanal campaign.
The Imperial Japanese Navy sunk 10 aircraft carriers and escort carriers over the course of the war.
One, the USS Wasp, was sunk near Guadalcanal on September 15, 1942 by a Japanese sub. The USS Hornet was sunk near the Santa Cruz Islands, to the southeast of Guadalcanal. Hornet was lost during a major battle with a Japanese carrier fleet that was pulling back from Guadalcanal.
The Japanese aircraft got the jump on the Americans as the engagement started, and the Hornet was irreparably damaged by two torpedoes, two crashed Japanese planes, and three bombs.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
