Remembrance Day

from Peceli
Remembrance Day, the 11th of 11th month and I remember my older brother Laisenia who died in the Solomon Islands.(reposted from another remembrance occasion) I was thinking of my older brother Laisiasa Masidugu who died in the battlefield in the Solomon in 1944. I only discovered by using the internet that my brother Laisaisa is listed in the Rabaul War Cemetery in Papua New Guinea.
Rabaul War Cemetery Roll of Honour includes:
MASIDUGU, Private, LAISIASA, 1336. 1st Bn. Fiji Infantry 13. A. Regt. Fiji Military Forces. 29th March 1944. Age 22. V.
I was about seven when the District Officer and a Fijian came to our house to tell my father that Laisiasa had died. The story was that there was a valley and three young soldiers kept on fighting while the others in his platoon of the First Battalian were told to retreat. Later on someone came to our house to give us his belt and water bottle. There were bullet holes in the belt. A few years ago I saw an honour scroll in my cousin’s house in Naseakula and it was a tribute to Laisiasa and I have it now. He was eighteen though, not twenty-two.

Timoci Naitini remembers in a ceremony at Labasa this week.photo from Fiji Times.