FIJIANS ON SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 25324, 4 November 1944, Page 12

FIJIANS ON SERVICE

MANY AWARDS GAINED (Official News Service.) SUVA, November 2. : In addition to the Victoria Cross winner, 71 members of the Fiji Military Force have received awards for distinguished service. The awards are made up as follows: —Companion of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1; Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 2; Distinguished Service Order, 2; Distinguished Conduct Medal, 2; Military Cross, 6; Military Medal, 9; British Empire Medal, 2; mentioned in despatches, 36; American Silver Star, 8; American Bronze Medal, 2. One member of the Fijian contingent in the Royal Air Force has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. • The first Fiji troops to go overseas were a small group of commandos known as a "sample party," who were sent to Guadalcanal late in 1942 at the request of the Americans, who wished to decide whether Fijians were suitable for use as jungle scouts. The Fijians of the'" sample party," under their New Zealand officers and n.c.o.s, did so well, killing nearly 100 Japanese without losing oue of their own men, that the Americans asked for a full commando unit, which was used effectively in the New Georgia campaign. The First Battalion of the Fiji Infantry Regiment distinguished itself on Bougainville, as did the Third Battalion. These battalions suffered such astonishingly light casualties by comparison with those they' inflicted on the enemy that their commanding officers, Lieutenant-colonels Geoffrey Upton and Frank Voelcker, of New Zealand, developed the habit of exchanging a new kind of salute when they met— ■ they crossed their fingers. Fiji also sent a docks company to unload ships at Empress Augusta Bay. Men of all races serve side by side in the Fiji forces, and the officers include local-born Europeans, Euronesians, Fijians, Australians, New Zealanders (who form roughly 50 per cent, of the total officers), and a sprinkling of men from the United Kingdom.