Historical
Cover art by: Richard Stroud
A nobleman’s errant son is despatched to the South seas to be blooded.
- A tale of stumbling through intrigue, hunger, pangs of love-lust, deceit, loneliness, kidnap and hunger on his path to discovering common sense.
- Coast-watching on Guadalcanal when the Japanese invade, he discovers the horrors of what war does to man on the one hand—and what unlikely friendships can be forged on the other.
- A front stalls view of the legendary naval battles on Guadalcanal, 1942.
Excerpt:
Beresford, Andy and Doug were no longer permitted leave at
the same time. The three coast-watchers were on watch twenty-four hours a day
in their particular ‘hides’. Now only one watcher at a time could be absent
from his post for a half day off each week. And they travelled to and fro on
their ‘free’ time, and these days it wasn’t all by foot as they now had
‘motor-scooters’. No longer was there need to keep tracks to their ‘hides’
secret, for all knew that any day from now there would be a major battle for
the island—one that could change the course of the war.
“If the bloody Japs win this island,” a PBY pilot expounded,
“they’ve got Australia. And without Australia, the US has lost the Pacific. And
that includes Hawaii and every opportunity to ever get close enough to attack
Japan. Alaska is already under attack. Canada would be their next target, and
the entire USA is then within range of their bombers. So this very island
simply has to be taken off the Japs while we’ve got this airport open. I reckon
the next fleet we see coming will be either the Japs with a million troops or
our lads with a million troops. It’s going to be first here wins the war—that’s
how I see it. I reckon that’s what the Japs thought they were doing here last
week.”
A first lieutenant marine buddy looked around to see who
might be listening, for all in the group were junior officers. “I agree, Mike.
My captain’s under instruction to issue no leave passes, and he hints that more
troops are on the way in big numbers.”
Beresford couldn’t lose the feeling that nobody expected
today’s situation would be the same tomorrow. Imminent change was in the air,
and everybody seemed to sense it.
He made his farewells, finished his beer, picked up his
satchel stuffed with bread, cheese and pickled onions.
A good old English ploughman’s lunch is just the shot when a
man can’t get hot food.
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