Travel Pacific
Tarawa’s Bloody Past Revisited
World War II Tour Is Regular Part of Kiribati Visitors’ Diet
Three or four times a week John Brown relives the bloody days of November 1943, when thousands of Americans and Japanese died in the horrific Battle of Tarawa. “It’s an emotional few hours,” Brown says of his World War II battlefield tours around Tarawa, capital of the former Gilbert Islands. “People cry.”
An amateur historian and former Australian consul to Kiribati from 1989 to 1992, Brown bubbles over with knowledge of Operation Galvanic in which over 1,000 American Marines and sailors and over 4,000 Japanese defenders died in one of the war’s costliest battles.
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His visitor’s book is testament to the depth of his knowledge. In it, Louise Giles of Michigan wrote: “John did all I hoped, pointing out the sights where George (Louise’s uncle) served, was wounded and memorialized.” And this, from John Spencer of Los Altos, California: “(The tour) fulfilled a boyhood dream.”
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Tarawa, and particularly the area known as Betio (code-named Long Suit Helen in the war), is crammed with relics from the days when the Japanese took over part of the atoll and the subsequent American invasion.
“I take people inside Admiral Shibasaki’s bunker, then show them the Sherman tank on the beach, the 127mm anti-boat/aircraft Japanese gun, the 6-inch gun that was hit by a Hellcat fighter.” And throughout it all, Brown keeps up a non-stop commentary of what was taking place in the battle.
Brown does his tours under the banner of Molly’s Tours. “That’s Molly Mamara, my wife - I met her when I was the consul, whisked her off to Canberra, Australia, and then I retired and we came back to Kiribati to live.”
“Retired” is not exactly a word that describes Brown’s life. Between them, the couple has their fingers in more pies than you could feed a platoon of hungry Marines for lunch. “Molly has a store, we import construction supplies, equipment for schools in the outer islands. We make ice cream. I’m the local representative for AESOP (Australian Expert Services Overseas Program).” If there’s something you need or want to know about Tarawa, Brown is your man - especially if you don’t mind a beer or three.
“After every tour we lay on soft drinks and beer,” says Brown. “Often, if the group is still wanting to know more, we just sit around for hours at the house downing XXXX and shooting the breeze. I don’t care about the money - I love talking about Tarawa and the war.”
The battlefield tour (check out at www.kiritours.com or email Brown at jaybe@tsk1.net.ki) costs $30 Australian for adults and $A25 for children under 12 and overseas volunteers (Kiribati has a relatively large contingent of volunteers from America, Britain and Australia). “When the volunteers first come to Kiribati, they do my tour so that when they go to the outer islands they can teach the children about their country’s history and the terrible damage that war brings.”
In addition to the tours and other business ventures, Brown has done much of the research for a book soon to be published on the World Wide Web called The Aftermath by American Dr. Donald K. Allen. As part of the Tarawa tour, Brown hands out a paper by Allen about the battle that says, in part: “Of the 18,313 American Marines and sailors who participated in the assault on Tarawa, there were 3,110 casualties. One thousand and nine were killed in action or died of wounds. The Japanese Third Special Base Force comprised a total of 4,836 men. Seven Japanese and 129 Korean laborers survived as prisoners of war.
“Four congressional Medals of Honor were awarded for action during the battle. The only living recipient, Col. David M. Shoup, would go on to become Commandant of the Marine Corps.”
Photo: Karen Earnshaw
