Full moon feared by WWII soldiers
A full moon was something they dreaded.
Sitting in camp in Guadalcanal during World War II, the full moon meant only one thing to Corporal Stan Edwards and his comrades — the Japanese were coming.
The extra light increased visibility of the camp, based in the Solomon Islands, highlighting their position to the enemy as the moonlight bounced off the coral surrounding them, lighting the place up.
Now 94, some of Edwards’ memories of war have dimmed.
At just 17, the Palmerston North man enlisted for the army, bumping his age up to 18 to make the cut.
As he went to enlist he stumbled, saying he was born in 1922. The recruiting officer reminded him nobody born after 1921 could register.
On the spot, Edwards wound his birthday back a year and just like that, he was in. Telling his parents was tough. ‘‘I told my mother, ‘I’ve just joined the army’ and she said ‘don’t be stupid, you’re too young’.’’
But a couple of years later, he was shipped off to New Caledonia from Wellington.
‘‘It was early in the morning and there was only one policeman and a dog on the wharf when we pulled out.’’ Edwards joined the army medical corps as a medic, and by his 21st birthday, he was running a surgical ward for operations and amputations in the casualty clearing station in Guadalcanal.
This was the main hospital for patients from all over the Pacific.
Guadalcanal saw Americans, Australians and New Zealanders fight alongside each other to try and push back the Japanese.
Troops were sent there after Japan bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. War was declared on Japan the next day.
The conflict ended nearly four years later, on August 15, 1945 when Japan signed the Armistice.
Edwards was in Guadalcanal for 12 months and spent two years in New Caledonia.
Coming back from war, he said the first thing he had to learn was not to swear as much after years of using ripe language.
‘‘We used to even hyphenate words to put a swear word in it.’’
‘‘When we were back in the company of women it was very, very hard to stop.’’