April 19, 2025

Dystopic Newsletter

A Postcard from the South Pacific and World War 2 Battle Sites - Part 1

3000 Mile Journey: Darwin, Australia to Fiji

Update on my book: How the Hell Did We Get Here?

With the help of some of my readers, I have selected the final cover for my book. I hope the final revisions of the cover will be available next week. Meanwhile, my copy editor is hard at work. I hope to see the final edits and correction requests next week.

You can read more about my book HERE.

A 3000 Mile Journey and Family History

For the next three weeks, I’ll be cruising the South Pacific and in the process, either visiting or passing by many of the battle sites of the U.S. and Allied navies against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) fleet in 1942 and early 1943.

The journey is a personal one for me. My uncle, William (Bill) F. Green, a navigator on a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell bomber in the 405th Bombardment squadron, along with his crew were lost September 2, 1943 on a mission from Port Moresby to perform a low level bombing and strafing mission (Strike 244-H) against Japanese shipping in Wewak Harbor. Their B-25 suffered a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire in the right wing. Still, it continued its bomb run and was last observed with the right engine on fire and the bomb bay doors open and landing gear extended from the nacelles with flames in the fuselage before it crashed into the sea off Wewak Point and rapidly sank. The crew was reported likely KIA (Killed In Action).

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Sadly, the crew would meet a crueler fate than dying immediately in a crash at sea. The entire crew survived and swam ashore and were captured by the Japanese on Kairiru Island and became Prisoners Of War (POWs). After three days as Prisoners Of War (POWs), on September 5, 1943, they were told to dig a hole at the cemetery at Saint John's Mission (Barakam). When completed in the afternoon, all five were beheaded and their bodies buried in the grave. Local people, including Pregil, a native doctor, who, as a boy, observed the execution.

Their remains were recovered and positively identified in 1947. My Mother’s family received the sad news by mail first, declaring Bill missing in action, and then followed by a letter confirming that Bill was KIA. Here are photographs of these letters, which hang on the wall in my office.

Fortunately for my mother, her brothers and sisters, and their parents, the grisly details of Uncle Bill’s actual death remained classified while they were alive. Perhaps that is for the best.

You can read more about their mission HERE.

Darwin Australia: Our Journey Begins

We embark on the Ponant Cruise lines’ Paul Gauguin with two days at sea to reach Thursday Island with our ultimate destination Fiji, more than 3000 miles across the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, and the Pacific, including the following port visits (see intro graphic):

• Thursday Island - the Torres Strait
• Alotau, Papua New Guinea – The Battle of Milne Bay
• Samarai Island
• Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands – location of numerous land and sea battles in 1942
• Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu – major supply and refitting base in WW2
• Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu – Staging base for Army and Marine amphibious assault troops
• Lautoka, Viti Levu island ( Fiji – the end of our Journey)

After Pearl Harbor... Bombing of Darwin, February 19th, 1942

In early 1942, the U.S. and our Pacific Allies were reeling from the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN) attack on Pearl Harbor. The IJN followed the Pearl Harbor attack with a series of rapid offensive strikes across the Pacific. Within days, the U.S. territories of the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island, as well as British territories like Malaya, Hong Kong, and Singapore, along with independent Thailand, all fell to the Japanese.

On February 19th, 1942, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territories of Australia. The Japanese air armada attacked the harbor, docks, and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.

Darwin was attacked by aircraft flying from an IJN carrier fleet and from land bases in what was then called the Netherlands East Indies, but today we know as Indonesia. The primary Japanese force involved in the raid was the 1st Carrier Fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo. Nagumo had commanded the carrier task force during the attack on Pearl Harbor several months earlier. His carrier force for the Darwin attack comprised the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryū, and Sōryū. The same carriers that conducted the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition to the carrier-based aircraft, a second wave of 54 land-based bombers flying from Ambon and Kendari in the Celebes islands struck Darwin in a high-level bombing raid nearly two hours after the Japanese Navy Attack.

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It was a devastating raid. Darwin’s main pier was highly damaged. The American destroyer USS Perry, docked at the Pier, was struck and partially sunk along with nine other ships. Much of Darwin’s infrastructure was destroyed. 235 people were killed, and another 300 to 400 were wounded.

Australia was now under threat of invasion. The U.S. Fleet would have to take action to counter any further Japanese expansion, or Australia would be cut off and isolated by the Japanese.

1942 would be a pivotal year for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. In May, the Imperial Japanese and the U.S. fleets would face off in the world's first naval battle, where only carrier aircraft did the fighting, the Battle of the Coral Sea. Barely a month would pass before the IJN and the U.S. would have their rendezvous with destiny at a little atoll called Midway. After Midway, the opposing fleets were more evenly matched, and the U.S. and the Japanese would test their wills in the 6-month Solomon Islands Campaign.

Our three-week journey will take us to nearly all of the famous battle sites associated with the 1942 World War 2 pacific campaigns (see graphic)

Thursday Island – The Torres Strait

Our passage out of Darwin was challenging, as Paul Guaguin had to navigate around a tropical cyclone along our route in the Arafura Sea. We cruised for 2 days and 1250 Km, making headway against heavy seas and force six gale winds. Fortunately, the weather broke when we reached Thursday Island.

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During World War II, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait, a critical choke point between Papua New Guinea and Australia, separating the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea. Green Hill Fort, situated on the heights above the small town surrounding Thursday Island, stands as a reminder of the danger of a possible invasion Australia faced over 83 years ago. The rusting relics of the fort's naval guns stand as a silent witness to those times now fading from memory.

Fortunately, for the citizens of Friday Island, the planned Japanese invasion was thwarted, as we will discuss shortly

Our time on Thursday Island was very brief, four hours at best. We returned to the Paul Gauguin, weighed anchor, cleared the Torres Strait, and began our 950 Km trek to Alotua, Papua New Guinea, across the Coral Sea. In the process, we passed by the location of two critical events, at least from my perspective, that occurred in World War 2:

• Port Moresby, where my Uncle would take off on his B-25 Mitchell bomber for his ill-fated final fight
• The location of the 1942 Naval Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea, May 4-8, 1942

Six weeks after the IJN attack on Darwin, the U.S. and IJN fleets would meet to contest control of the Southern Pacific in the first naval battle in history where surface combatants never exchanged fire and carrier aircraft alone decided the battle. The U.S. fleet carriers Yorktown and Lexington would face off against the IJN fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, along with the light carrier Shoho. Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher would lead the Americans. Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Here is a brief summary of the battle:

• 4 May, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Tulagi, and were attacked by the U.S. carrier Yorktown, which managed to sink a number of Japanese support ships.
• The Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea to locate and destroy the Allied naval forces.
• On the evening of 6 May, the two carrier fleets closed to within 70 nmi (81 mi; 130 km) but did not detect each other in the darkness.
• On 7 May, both fleets launched airstrikes. The U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō, and the Japanese sank the destroyer Sims.
• On 8 May, both sides finally located and attacked the other's fleet carriers, leaving the Japanese fleet carrier Shōkaku damaged, the U.S. fleet carrier Lexington critically damaged and later scuttled, and the fleet carrier Yorktown lightly damaged.

By the time both fleets retired from the battle, both allied and Japanese sides suffered significant losses in this first-ever “clash of carriers.” From a strategic standpoint, the Allies emerged as victors. The IJN would never again threaten Australia and the U.S – Australian supply lines in the South Pacific. Tactically, the Allies could ill afford the loss of USS Lexington and 66 aircraft, along with 543 killed or wounded. The Japanese lost the carrier Shoho, multiple support craft, 77 aircraft, and the heavily damaged Shokaku. The Japanese also suffered 1,074 casualties.

Japan’s two fleet carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku, were damaged severely enough that they could not participate in the next planned naval engagement. On the U.S side, the Yorktown was also severely damaged and would limp back to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

In just over a month, the two fleets would meet again at a little atoll north of the Coral Sea and west of the Hawaiian Islands. Four Japanese carriers would face off against three American carriers in the Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942

Read more about the Battle of the Coral Sea HERE​

Alotua, Papua New Guinea

In mid-morning Easter Sunday, the Paul Guaguin passed through the Ito Island Narrows and into Milne Bay. Typical for the rainy season in the South Pacific, mist and clouds hung over the lush rainforest that covers both the lands and the mainland. The rising sun slowly burned through the mist. A light breeze from the mainland displaced the smell of the ocean and salt spray with the odor of dank, lush rainforest.

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Our 950 Km and nearly 2 days at sea for this leg of our trip complete, we have a brief 8 hours for shore excursions before we continue on our journey. This allowed me and my wife, Mindy, the opportunity to visit the war memorials for a battle famous in the annals of the Australian Armed Forces but little known to the rest of the world: The Battle of Milne Bay.

We also met a few of the local indigenous warriors along the way.

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The Battle of Milne Bay, August 25 to September 7, 1942

As U.S. and Japanese forces battled for supremacy of the island of Guadalcanal over 1000 Km away, a separate Japanese force would continue their efforts to encircle Port Moresby as a prelude to invading Australia. On August 25, 1942, the IJN launched Operation RE, A naval amphibious landing of over 2000 Japanese naval infantry, known as Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces), to attack the Australian garrison at Alotua and capture the garrison’s two strategic airfields.

Japanese intelligence indicated the garrison was staffed by 1000 Australians, most of whom were construction workers building the airstrips. Unfortunately for the Japanese, their intelligence was incorrect. There were over 8000 allied forces, nearly a full battalion of Australian militia and veteran Second Australian Imperial Forces.

Finding themselves heavily outnumbered, lacking supplies,, and suffering heavy casualties, the Japanese withdrew their forces, with fighting coming to an end on 7 September 1942. The Japanese suffered over 750 killed and an equal number of wounded, decimating their force of 2000 as they evacuated Milne Bay. The Australians fared far better, with 167 Australian soldiers and 14 Americans killed, along with 373 total battle casualties.

The battle of Milne Bay is often described as the first major battle of the war in the Pacific in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces. It would take the U.S. Marines seven more months of fighting to finally remove Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in February 1943.

You can read more about the Battle of Milne Bay HERE.

Next week, Dystopic will be reporting from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, along with shore excursions to other famous bases for the Pacific War campaign. I hope you found the history interesting.

See you next week!

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