Fijians are renowned the world over for their prowess as soldiers in the arena of modern warfare.
The heroic exploits of men such as Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu during the Solomon Islands campaign in World War II and in more recent times, Talaiasi Labalaba of the British SAS (Secret Air Service) best exemplified the extraordinary guts and capabilities of Fijians in the heat of battle.
It goes without saying that having emerged as a warrior race in times past, Fijians were always hardwired for battle.
However, it was during the course of the WWII ‘s Pacific War that Britain and her allies would soon realise just how vital Fijian soldiers were to the cause of the British Empire.
During their first three months in action, the First Battalion accounted for about 150 Japanese killed as opposed to the loss of only one of their own.
Stories have come back from the battlefield contributing to legendary status of some veterans and those who failed to come back home.
So far, though there is not much existing visual footage of the Fijian soldiers who took part in the Pacific War, in places like Bougainville and Guadalcanal.
This is why archivists and historians were intrigued and excited by recently discovered footage from this period featuring Fijians soldiers.
On Sept 18, 2015 the University of the South Pacific hosted a screening of the 1945 documentary Fiji Return, which contains recently unearthed archival footage of Fijian soldiers fighting on Bougainville and returning to their home islands.
The documentary screening was a joint activity by History at ANU and History at SOSS/USP under the recently signed MOU between Australian National University (ANU) and the USP.
The actual film offers a rare and rich visual record of this crucial episode in Fiji’s history.
Dr Vicki Luker from the of the ANU’s Culture, History and Language believes the film is old enough for current generations to make links to.
“There are so many Fijian men, women and a couple of babies in the film who could be identified, I’m sure, by people today,” said Dr Luker.
She and colleagues found Fiji Return in the UK’s Imperial War Museum while researching materials for a course on World War II in the Pacific.
Professor Max Quanchi, of the USP’s Department of History, believes this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of visual archival material from the war coming to light.
“In the middle of the commemoration of World War I — it is often forgotten that Fijians were actively engaged in the home front and in the campaign in the Pacific War,” said Prof Quanchi.
Prof Quanchi said the news reel footage was a very popular media from during World War II.
“There is still a huge resource of unseen film of World War II involving Pacific Islanders and this is just one example of it,” he said.
Prof Quanchi said the film more or less portrayed Fijian loyalty to the British Empire.
“I think that basically came out as the big message in the film,” he added.
There have been suggestions that some of the footage containing battle scenes were staged as has been the case in previous times involving nations at war.
“These men win out of skill and not by weight of metal,” says the film narrator in a serious tone typical of the era, during a scene where Fiji soldiers are pitching hand grenades into the jungle of what was supposedly Bougainville.
This supposed battle scene footage, which stretched for about 10 minutes, was never part of the film that has been showed recently by the National Archives of Fiji.
At one stage during the filming however, even the camera man puts his camera down to help with the actual fighting.
Only two Fijians were named in the footage, which researchers are still trying pinpoint, who produced.
They are at loggerheads on whether it was the New Zealand Film Commission or conversely their counterparts in Britain that put it together.
The two Fijians featured in the footage were a former soldier himself in Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna while the other was Lieutenant Isireli Korovulavula, whose actions on Bougainville, which earned him the Military Cross, only known by a certain few, are astounding to say the least.
Korovualvula, who would become a Major, one of only two commissioned iTaukei officers during the Malayan Campaign in the 1950s, was part of the First Battalion deployed to Bougainville in 1943.
Interestingly, Major Korovulavula (MC) would go on to fight alongside his sons, Corporal Manu Korovulavula (OF) and Warrant Officer Nacani Korovulavula (MBE) in Malaya, perhaps the only recorded instance in Fiji of a father serving alongside two sons in war.
Former senator and government minister Manu Korovulavula, who has been documenting the history of Fijian soldiers during World War II and the Malayan campaign, was also present at the film screening.
Mr Korovulavula, who attended the event with his sons Isireli and Dr Isoa Korovulavula, said it was vital recording the deeds of Fiji’s veterans including his father, much of which was hardly known to many. What is known of the case is sometime during January 1944, Lt Korovulavula accompanied an American airman, a certain Flight Lt Cross on a reconnaissance mission inside the Bougainville jungle, which was then infested with Japanese soldiers.
After a freak storm their Auster plane crashed into a tree-top, forcing the pair down and starting a 21-day ordeal without food ammunition and without any idea of the exact location.
“On the fifth day the American could not walk so my father carried him on his back,” said Mr Korovulavula.
He carried the airman for five days.
After an exhausting 10 days in the humid Bougainville jungle, the pair (who only had one dagger between them for safety) sadly parted ways.
It was agreed it was best for the Fijian soldier to find help while the American sat in an improvised shelter Lt Korovulavula assembled from saplings and twigs.
On the 21st day, Lt Korovulavula, a native of Naikorokoro in Kadavu, stumbled on a plantation and regained consciousness inside a thatched hut.
He had droped from a strapping 14 stone to 10 stone.
The rugby player had been saved by a Bougainville native named Paula, who had nourished him with mashed papaya and sugarcane juice, before he had enough energy to seek help.
Lt Korovulavula eventually managed to get to the allied camp where he delivered map coordinates to the artillery there that resulted in the swift bombardment of the Japanese gathering he had spied with other Fijian troops in the days leading up to their plane crash.
The remains of Flight Lt Cross have never been found.
Interestingly, before the war Lt Korovulavula, who was known as the “Smiling Fullback” had represented Fiji in rugby union, appearing in his first game against the New Zealand Maori in Suva on August 24, 1938.
He would go on to play in all of Fiji’s games in their historic unbeaten tour of New Zealand in 1939, a team that was captain by Ratu Sir George Cakobau.
One NZ rugby writer described him in the following way: “Korovulavula the fullback was popular with the crowd. He handled the ball brilliantly, no matter at what angle it went to him, and his line kicking was both accurate and powerful.”
No doubt his athletic prowess had helped him cope with the trying conditions he encounterd in the forest of Bougainville.
The 82-year-old former senator Korovulavula released a book titled Malayan Campaign two years ago, that documents Fiji’s involving in the campaign against insurgents in Malaysia between 1952 and 1956.
“I personally realised the importance of maintaining records which is why I wrote the book,” said Mr Korovulavula.
“I told myself I might as well take the responsibility of recording this because probably no one else will.”
The recovered footage has revived vivid memories of old Suva and of the troops returning home.
The Fiji Return film shows people lining the streets of Suva as truckloads of Fijian soldiers pass them on their way from the Suva wharf.
“I was standing along the Burns Philp building with other boys from my school when they ( Fiji soldiers) passed us on American 10-wheeler trucks,” recalls the army veteran, who was then a class five pupil of Suva Boys Methodist School in Toorak.
The film also shows returned serviceman surrounded by men and boys while he recounted tales from the Solomons, which Korovulavula said was exactly what happened when his father returned to Naikoroko.
Major Korovulavula’s grandson and namesake Isireli Korovulavula, while proud of his ancestor’s achievements, believes there are other untold stories from World War II that need to see the light of day.
“There needs to be more recognition for the other Fiji soldiers who served in the Pacific War,” he said.
“Too often when people talk about Fiji in the Solomons, it revolves around Sukanaivalu but there are many other stories and exploits by Fiji soldiers which need to be told.”