What a journey!
I love to tell this story about my dad. The story below, published in the Solomon Times on June 22, 2009, tells about a candlestick that dad had sent home from the war. In his letter homes, there are just a few items he collected that he really wanted to keep. The candlestick was one of them. Then, decades later, he felt the need to return it to the people and the country it belonged to.
To fully appreciate the journey Don must have taken, we need to remember what was happening at the beginning of the story. Don was young man, fighting the enemy and struggling to stay alive. He was driving a landing craft and had multiple near misses after being assigned duty on Tulagi. His boat was nearly hit during an air-raid. He almost died from malaria and dysentery. The order of the day was to take no prisoners. While the Japanese were the enemy, the local people of the islands were sometimes considered incidental. Food shortages and difficult living conditions left little room for empathy with the people of the area.
I remember, as a young child, hearing dad speak about the “Japs” as if they were less-than. He carried the prejudices of his peers and of the times.
I grew up looking at this candlestick somehow knowing it was a prize, hard won, from the bad guys.
Over time, dad left the prejudice behind. He developed a strong sense of empathy for all of the victims of all wars. Somewhere, along the way, it became important to him to return the souvenir candlestick to where it belonged as a sign of respect.
Solomon Times
Monday, 22 June 2009
A hand carved wooden candle holder from the Solomon Islands has been returned to Prime Minister Dr Derek on Saturday, 67 years after it was discovered at a location in the Gela group of Islands (Florida Islands) by a US Navyman during World War II.
Eighty-four year old Don Chalmers, who fought here during World War II, returned the carved candlestick holder to Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua through a fellow American Dr Eileen S. Natuzzi.
Dr Eileen came to Solomon Islands in 2008 as a worker under the Loloma Foundation program.
She went back to the US and wrote a War Veteran Story which was published in one daily magazine there.
Upon reading the story, Mr Don Chalmers immediately contacted her through email seeking advice on how he could return the artifact to Solomon Islands.
Through their email contacts, Mr Chalmers relayed his story to Dr Eileen about how he got the carved candlestick holder.
“In 1942 August I was assigned on the US boat Coxswain for more than four months. While stationed at Gavutu Islands; I made a tour of part of the Florida Islands and came upon a native chapel that has been ransacked by the Japanese”
“I found two beautifully hand carved candlestick holders, one of which made it home with me.”
Mr Chalmers said he had sent a letter to the Honiara City Mayor asking who might be the proper person to contact regarding returning of the object.
At the handover of the candlestick holder last Saturday, Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua acknowledge Don Chalmers for his time here serving during world war two and having a heartfelt commitment to seek propriety in retuning the candlestick holder.
Prime Minister Sikua also commended Dr Eileen for the correspondent she made with Don Chalmers to enable the candlestick holder returned to Solomon Islands.
He said the candlestick holder will be handed over to the national museum for storage and also for show.
https://www.solomontimes.com/news/us-war-veteran-returns-old-wooden-candle-holder/41
