:Poppies in Flanders fields

from w
Today is Remembrance Day and there are ceremonies in many countries including Fiji. It is not a celebration in my view but a lamentation because wars are wrong, there is so much death and injury, that there are other ways to settle conflicts. At the same time the greedy and aggressive people need to be put in their place. That is the dilemma for someone who wants to be a pacifist.

The famous poem about Flanders field and poppies came from World War 1.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-
It is a good time for reflection in Fiji of the role of the military forces, their function, their purpose, their actions.

A Fijian soldier remembered

From Peceli
Yesterday was Anzac Day and I watched one of the marches to remember fallen soldiers. In Melbourne there is an eternal flame at the Shrine of Remembrance and this is a symbol not to forget them.

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
The Roll is in alphabetical order
Ma

MASI, Pata (Private), PN3526. A.C.M.F. 3 New Guinea Bn. 1. B. Australian Infantry. 28th June 1946. W.
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.

Some Fijian soldiers have been particularly noticed such as Sefanaia Sukunaivalu from Yacata who was awarded the Victoria Cross. But of course there are many others who were courageous and died during a war. The Sukunaivalu Barracks of the Fiji Army in Labasa are named after Sefanaia.