Page:My 1102 days of wwii.djvu/12



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