77th Anniversary of the US landing on Guadalcanal

It's been a few years since our family has been in Honiara to celebrate the landing of the US Marines on Guadalcanal in the midst of World War 2.  We were grateful to attend the early morning ceremony at the US War Memorial this week.

The Marines brought with them a small brass ensemble, which was a joy to hear.  I had forgotten how nice it was to hear my national anthem as well as the "ma'ams" that peppered the conversations I had with the visiting Marines.

The Solomon Islands was a strategic battleground in the war against Japan.  Listening to the speeches that extoled both the courage of the Americans as well as the Solomon Islanders reminded me of how blessed we are to live in a place where history comes to life and where teamwork helped win a war.

I loved learning about one of my favorite picture books, The Story of Ferdinand, and how it impacted the Coastwatchers' philosophy:

Feldt code-named his organisation "Ferdinand", taking the name from a popular children's book about a bull, The Story of Ferdinand. He explained this by saying:

Ferdinand ... did not fight but sat under a tree and just smelled the flowers. It was meant as a reminder to coastwatchers that it was not their duty to fight and so draw attention to themselves, but to sit circumspectly and unobtrusively, gathering information. Of course, like their titular prototype, they could fight if they were stung.