August 1 – Guadalcanal Province Day

nPostednon August 1, 2015

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nLikenso many other nations of “Oceania,” Solomon Islands is made up ofnmany islands and island groups and includes several active andndormant volcanoes. n

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nAndnlike so many other nations of “Oceania,” Solomon Islands wasnruled by Britain for a while—from the late 1800s until 1978, innthis case.

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Alsonlike many nations of “Oceania,” Solomon Islands played annimportant role during World War II, in U.S. / Allied forces battlesnagainst the Japanese. There was particularly fierce fighting onnGuadalcanal.

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nHerenare some interesting things about the Solomon Islands:

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nThen natives of Solomon Islands were notorious among other islanders forn head-hunting and cannibalism.

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nEnglishn is the official language – but only about 2% of the people speakn it! Instead, there are a variety of different languages from then Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian language groups. The linguan franca (the “bridge language” with which people who speakn different languages are able to talk to each other) is Solomonsn Pijin.

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nBlondn “Afros” can be seen in about 10% of the population – then highest occurrence of blond hair outside of European-hereditaryn groups in the world.

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nOnn this date in 1943, Patrol Torpedo boat #109 (PT-109) waited near then Solomon Islands to try to torpedo Japanese destroyers that weren transporting supplies to Japanese troops. Unfortunately, instead ofn firing its torpedoes and damaging the Japanese ship, PT-109 wasn struck by the much-larger ship and cut into two!

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Kennedy, lower center, with
three other survivors.

nThisn American boat was commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy. He wasn able to rescue of several injured crew members, and his swimmingn prowess and leadership resulted in the rescue of all elevenn survivors of the disaster (two crew members died when the shipn struck the boat). Because of this incident, Kennedy became a warn hero.

And, of course, eventually the President of the Unitedn States.

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nHere’snsome info about the province of Guadalcanal:

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nThen largest city on the island of Guadalcanal, Honiara, is also then capital city of the nation.

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nSon many Japanese and American ships and planes were sunk during WWII,n nearby waters are called Ironbottom Sound. Every year a U.S. shipn drops a wreath into these waters to commemorate those who lost theirn lives here, and many Navy sailors consider the area sacred andn observe strict silence while their ships cross those particularn waters.

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