The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present The Pacific Story. The Pacific Story [♪music playing on radio and radio In the mounting fury of the world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. Here is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. [♪music playing on radio and radio The Pacific Story comes to you tonight from Hollywood as another public service with drama of the past and present and commentary by Willard Price, noted writer and authority on the Pacific, who has visited the Bonine Island. [♪music playing on radio and radio Japan's advanced base, the Bonine Island. [♪music playing on radio and radio Well, Mr. Hunnicana, we're getting underway in a few minutes now. I'll say goodbye to you. Oh, yes. Goodbye, Captain. Well, thanks for all your hospitality. Man needs that after the long passage here. You are welcome. Well, see you when we call here again next year. Oh, I'm, I'm afraid you will not, Captain. Are you, you figuring on something happening to you in the next year, Mr. Hunnicana? You are not coming back here. Hmm? Why, why? Because of the gravity of the world situation, henceforth, no foreign ships will be permitted to put in here. Oh, you mean just here at Port Lloyd, huh? No. Anywhere in the Bonine Island. Well, um, oh, now look, Mr. Hunnicana, you're, you're taking that situation in Europe too seriously. There isn't going to be any war over there. A lot of noise. Perhaps. Well, I've been calling here at the Bonine Islands nearly every year for, well, twenty-five years. This is 1939 and the world situation has changed. Well, yes. Henceforth, no foreign ships will be permitted to put in here. What? Yes. Well, I'll, I'll see you again sometime, Mr. Hunnicana. Well, thank you for everything. Goodbye. Goodbye, Captain. I was the last white man to leave the Bonine Islands. As we got underway and stood out to sea, I had a strange feeling. I stood on the bridge and looked back at Port Lloyd and wondered if I'd ever see the Bonines again. As master of the Laudy D, I'd called it the Bonines for years. As the islands receded, all that I'd learned about the Bonines in my years of trading fell together in a clear picture. The islands were Japanese now, and were being closed to the world. We were being excluded. Yet one time, the United States occupied them, the British occupied them, and neither country realized how important they would one day become. The Bonine Islands, which were bombed again today, are the last group of islands between the Marianas where the Americans have landed on Saipan and Japan itself. The Bonines are some 800 miles north of the Marianas, and only two hours flying time from Japan. The Bonines are mighty important today. Some Americans and a few Britishers had the notion the islands were important a hundred years ago and more. I am Matteo Mazzaro. I am an Italian. But I came to the Bonine Islands on a British ship. When Mazzaro got there in 1830, some problems had to be settled with an American named Nathaniel Savery. On what basis, Mr. Mazzaro, do you claim these islands in the name of Britain? Captain Beachy landed here three years ago on his Majesty's ship Blossom, and took possession of these islands in the name of George IV. Three years ago? Yes, in 1827. An American whaler, the Clancic, with Captain Cawthon as master, landed here four years before that, in 1823. But the American captain did not claim the islands, and the British captain did. The Americans were here before the British? I have orders from the British cons in Honolulu that I am to take over the islands and that I am to be the governor. Mr. Mazzaro, you and I cannot decide which country is to hold these islands. That is for Britain and the United States to decide. If we are to live here, all of us, we must have some kind of law and order, and that is what we should be putting our minds on. Well, Mazzaro, the Italian, became the governor in the name of Britain, but Savery, the American, really was the boss. Well, they worked out a pretty satisfactory sort of a government, far as I've been able to find out. After they'd been there 18 years, Mazzaro died, Savery became governor. An American citizen, governor of a group of islands claimed by Britain. Maybe I shouldn't say claimed by Britain, because at this stage, at least the British in London had no such idea. What do we want with those islands in the Pacific? No one will quarrel with those British subjects who roam over the world and go to unheard of places. But as for Britain supplying them protection and the like, that of course is out of the question. When Savery became governor, he appealed to Washington to take over the islands. No, no, no, no, it's foolishness. If the Americans in the Bonine Islands wish to live under the American flag, they should come back to this country. The policy of the United States has been, historically, never to accept any lands which would require the Navy to defend them. The United States is not interested in the Bonine Islands. Well, the British flag went on flying over the Bonines. Savery, the American, went on being governor. It was long about in 1853 that another American came to the islands, Commodore Perry, came to establish coaling stations at various points across the Pacific. With the whole squadron of American warships, he came to open a sea route to China. The Commodore ran the American flag up over the Bonines and made a deal with Nathaniel Savery. You see, Mr. Savery, by this document, we're paying you $50 and other benefits for this part of Port Lloyd right here. How much of the port will you require for this coaling station, Commodore Perry? It's this section right here on this chart. Mm-hmm. Set forth here. You see, it reads that our part of Port Lloyd will include the entire and both sides of the creek, which empties into the said harbor called 10 Fathom Hole. Yes. And I propose to set up an American code of government here and have you, elected by the people, as chief magistrate. But that's the same as the United States taking over these islands, and we've been flying the British flag ever since we came here. You're an American, aren't you? Yes, I was born in the United States. As of now, Mr. Savery, you will be the agent of the United States Naval Squadron. And as such, you will be attached to the Navy of the United States and have all its privileges. The government of the United States will also... The people of the Bonines elected Savery as chief magistrate. Although Savery was the British governor, he also became the agent of the United States Naval Squadron. When the British government in London learned about this, they suddenly took an interest in the Bonines. And I say, by what right does Commodore Perry make a deal of this kind with our governor on the Bonine Islands? The islands were claimed by Captain Beachy and his Majesty, Ship Bluffam, in 1827. When the word got around to Commodore Perry, he had an answer. The Japanese landed on these islands 230 years before that, in 1593. And the Spanish explorer, Villa Lobos, landed there 50 years before the Japanese in 1543. The question went to the American government. Perry saw the value of the Bonines to the United States. Each passing day strengthens my opinion that the large and increasing commerce of the United States with the Far East makes it not only desirable, but indispensable that ports of refuge should be established in this part of the world. Unless we establish such ports, other powers less scrupulous may slip in and seize upon the advantage which should rightly belong to us. I listened to Perry's arguments in Washington, but that was about all. They disposed of the question once and for all. The policy of the United States is still not to accept any territory that would require the Navy to defend it. The United States is not interested in the Bonine Islands. The dispute brought the Bonines to the attention of the Japanese once more. The Bonine Islands rightfully belonged to Japan. Oh, yes, the Japanese saw the value of the Bonines. The Bonine Islands were discovered by Augusto Guara in 1593. They conveniently overlooked the fact the Spaniards had discovered the Bonines 50 years before that. The United States and Britain are now quibbling over the Bonines, but the United States is fighting for its rights in civil war, and the British actually have greater interest in the islands. The Japanese saw their opportunity. This is the time for us to move in. They made careful plans. They knew that Nathaniel Savery and a colony of Americans and Britishers were occupying the islands. Well, as daylight was breaking one fine morning, one of the settlers at Port Lloyd came hurriedly to Nathaniel Savery. Mr. Savery, Mr. Savery, down on the beach. Hmm? What about the beach? Down on the beach there's a whole party of... Calm yourself. What is it? A whole party of strangers. Who are they? A ship put them off and... Who are they and what have they done? I can't understand what they say, Mr. Savery. Men and women and children and they're strange. Well, let us go down to the beach and have a look at them. Down at the beach they saw a ship heading out to sea. And on the beach was a party of about 25 Japanese families. Had all the belongings with them. They'd come to stay. Oh, there are people here on these islands? We've been here for more than 30 years. Oh, we did not know these islands had people on them. You people came here with the idea of living here? The captain of the ship put us off here. Must have put you and your people ashore here before daylight. Oh, yes. We thought there was a know-all here. That ship captain didn't waste any time. Just put your party ashore and pulled out right away. Oh, yes. You can't show us where we can't leave? I don't know what we're going to do with you. We'll have to look around and see if we can... Well, Savery had the 25 Japanese families on his hands. He had no vessel to send them away. Had to make some kind of arrangement for them. So he gave them quite a plot of land, told them to work it. Raise their own food. They went to work on it and developed it. Probably Savery watched the Japanese and knew what they were up to. And maybe he didn't. But anyway, one day the head of the Japanese group came to Savery. We are very happy to have you here on these islands, Mr. Savery. What do you mean, have us here? Oh, there has been a small mistake. These islands really belong to the Imperial Government of Japan. Japan? Well, we've been here for over 30 years, and Americans and British landed here before that. Oh, sorry to misunderstand. Ogatawara landed here years ago, in 1593. From now on, these islands will be called Ogatawara Islands. But we are very happy to have you here. And under the Imperial Japanese Government, you are now the Commissioner of the Ogatawara Islands. The Japanese had worked out their plans well. They knew that the government of the United States was in no position to throw them out. The Civil War was on. And as for Britain, our subjects never had any business there in the first place. The Japanese took over. From that time, they worked to make the Bonines as Japanese as Japan itself. As the years went by, more and more Japanese came in, and the white settlers really became the outsiders. You could see it was only going to be a matter of time until no more white people would be admitted at all. Hereafter, no people but Japanese will be permitted to settle in Ogatawara. Only people from Japan itself will have entry. Most of the white settlers saw what was coming. No, there's nothing here for us anymore. Ah, these Japanese aren't going to interfere with you? All the schools are Japanese. They teach Japanese to everyone, whites, Japanese alike. Well, when you're in Rome, you have to do as the Romans do. I don't want my children to grow up Japanese. I'm leaving with my family. Wherever you go, you'll have to start all over. Are you going to stay? Yes. In another generation, there won't be one white person in the Bonines who will be able to speak anything but Japanese. Everything about them will be Japanese, even the way they think. No, I'm taking my family out. I took out a good many of the whites who left the Bonines. On the long voyages, they told me what was happening there. They told me about the people. Some of them even remembered Nathaniel Savery himself. Most of them felt as Savery had felt about the coming importance of the islands. They not only felt that they'd lost the home they'd worked for so long, but that their country had made a mistake. They're really remarkable islands, Captain. Yes, yes, I've thought that a good many times. Take Peel Island, the main island. The beaches are beautiful. The climate's wonderful. Seventy-five degrees all year round. And Port Lloyd on Peel Island could be made into a wonderful naval base. Ah, it sickens me, Captain. It's not only Peel Island, the 26 other islands. Probably 60 or 70 islands. Even if there were just Peel Island, it would be a valuable base for us to have. Nearly all of the settlers that I took out of the Bonines felt the same way about it. One of them was a geologist. You see, Captain, the islands are high and full and rocky. That's one of the valuable things about them. Yes, Port Lloyd on Peel Island is a sort of a shelter cove, all those hills around it. It is actually the crater of a volcano. All the Bonines are of volcanic formation. You've probably noticed that sometimes the sea comes surging up on the beaches. Sometimes it's so low that boats are left high and dry. I've noticed that, yes. That's because of the submarine earthquakes, upheavals and disturbances on the floor of the ocean. Do you recall that one of the islands I saw one year was missing when I came back the next year? That's happened a number of times. The smaller islands have changed in the passing centuries, but the Japanese have shown that they know the value of the bigger islands. Yes, I remember when they gave all of them Japanese names. They named them after members of the family, father, mother, elder sister, younger brother and so on. Members of the family, huh? Yes. He named Peel Island Chichijima, which means father island, and they named another Hauhajima, which means mother island, and still another Ototojima, which means mother island. In those last years when I called in the Lottie Dee at Port Lloyd, I got to know Mr. Hunnicar quite well. He was a typical Japanese official, pleasant, a little conscious of the responsibility of his office, sort of always a little standoffish. Didn't occur to me until the day he told me that the islands were thereafter to be closed to all foreign ships, that in the several previous visits he cleverly avoided showing me around the island, as he'd always done before. I am so sorry, Captain, that the pressure of official business keeps me at my desk. Oh, sure, sure. I understand, Mr. Hunnicar. I'll just take a look around myself, you know, stretch my legs. You will, you'll find some of the streets and roads are torn up. If you will be good enough to wait until tomorrow, perhaps I shall have the pleasure of showing you around. But when the next day came, there were other excuses why he couldn't spare the time with me. And so it went until sailing time came. I never got outside of Port Lloyd. When the war broke out in the Pacific, the attention of important men turned to the Bonines. Did you notice any changes in the islands in the course of your last few calls, Captain? Well, I remember that the tops of the hills looked changed. Many of them had been graded off. There were installations on them. Did you see any gun mounts? No, I didn't actually see the guns, but now that I look back, I'm sure that those were heavy gun emplacements on tops of the hills commanding the approaches. What about airfields? There were always planes over the islands, but I never got inside to see if there were airfields. They must have made an early start on fortifying the Bonines. I remember seeing quite a number of soldiers in Port Lloyd. That confirms what we've thought for a long time. Japan pledged at the Washington Conference in 1922 not to fortify the Bonines, but she fortified them anyway. Japan knows that the Bonines command her southern approaches. As a matter of fact, Port Lloyd is the only harbor of any importance between Guam and Japan. You've sailed in and out of that harbor many times. Would you say, Captain, that it has possibilities as a naval base? Oh, it's an excellent harbor. They were working on it when I made the last call there back in 1939. They've probably worked on it a great deal more in the years since then. Ah, undoubtedly. How many Japanese would you say were there in 1939? Oh, about 5,000 civilians. 5,000, hmm, and there's no telling how many troops were there. It's my guess that we're going to have to keep our eyes on Bonines. For the next few months I was so busy that I didn't have a chance to think of the Bonines. The Japanese took the Philippines and Singapore and the Dutch Indies, and the Bonines were thousands of miles behind their lines. And during those months in the Lottie Dee, we carried war supplies to the southwest Pacific. We kept on carrying them until this happened. Submarine! Submarine! Don't point out the solid miles! Submarine! Fiddle station! Man your guns! Hard right rudder! Hard right rudder! Tuxedo! On the solid miles! Tuxedo! Tuxedo, sir! Coming straight ahead, Mr. Martin! Hard right rudder! Yes, sir! Tuxedo on the solid miles! Mr. Martin, go back out and see how badly we're hit! Yes, sir! Tuxedo! Tuxedo! Another tuxedo! Tuxedo on the solid miles! The Tuxedo Ladies and gentlemen, I was the mate on the Lottie Dee. The second torpedo exploded under the bridge, and almost immediately the focusle and most of the topside forward were in flames. She started to settle by the bow. The captain gave the order to abandon ship, but he refused to leave the vessel until every man, all who were living, were in the boats. The Lottie Dee sank in a few minutes. It wasn't until we got the captain into our boat that we saw how badly burned he was. Well, we talked about everything during those days we were drifting, about our hometowns, people we knew, going to Sunday school, experiences we'd had, women, places we'd been, everything. The captain told about the many ports he'd called on. On the fifth day, he started telling about Fort Lloyd and the Bonine Islands. He talked about the Bonines, all the things I've told you, for nine days, how they looked, the harbors and the hills, about the people, about savory and mozzarella and all the rest, and how the Japs came there and took over. On the fourteenth day, he started to get worse. We did everything for him we could. On the seventeenth day, he died. We slid him over the side. If he could have lived four days more until we were picked up, he'd probably be here now. He made the Bonine Islands mean something to me, something special. I watched the war move back toward the Bonines. American forces have stormed the shore of Kwajalein. Landings are being made on an away trunk. Bonapay and Truk are being blasted by waves of American bombers. I watched them push westward, through the marshals and over the Carolines, back toward the Bonines and Japan. I traced their progress on the map. The power of the American passports is rated Marcus Island. Americans are storming forward on Saipan and the Marianas, just 1400 miles from Japan. Strong American formations of bombers have struck at Bonine Island, the advanced base of the Japanese, just two hours flying time from the coast of Japan. Well, as the captain said, maybe one of these days we'll find out that that fellow Savory and Commodore Perry were right about the Bonine Islands. The Bonine Islands lie on the road to Tokyo. As the war closes in on them, greater importance attaches to them. The importance is not only immediate, but also of long reign. To tell the significance of the Bonine Islands in the broad Pacific picture, the National Broadcasting Company presents Willard Price, noted authority on the Pacific and writer of Japan's Islands of Mystery. Mr. Price. Japan began this war with one great advantage. She already possessed stepping stones to the equator, the Bonine Islands, Marianas, and Carolines. Japan was a small comet with a great tail. California is about the size of Japan and lies in the same latitude. Suppose California possessed a string of islands stretching all the way to the equator, so that no one from the other side of the Pacific could get at Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, or any other country this side of Ecuador without California's consent. Or suppose New York were a sovereign state plotting aggression against lands to the south and protected by an island barricade extending all the way to Brazil. Then you get an idea of how Japan's great sea wall of 1,500 islands reaching to the equator covered her conquests in China, Indochina, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, and even shut off part of the Netherlands Indies, so completely guarding Japan's operations that we were forced to go way around Robin Hood's barn to Australia before we could get started toward Japan. The islands are like the spirit screen that stands just inside the front door of a Japanese house. The spirit screen is always plumb in the middle of the vestibule. As you come in the front door, you must turn either to the right or to the left and go around this screen to get into the house. Its purpose is to keep out evil spirits. The superstitious Japanese believe that an evil spirit can travel only in a straight line. So when a devil enters the door, he bumps into the spirit screen and bounces back outdoors. Japan's labyrinth of South Sea islands was a spirit screen that Japan relied upon to keep the foreign devils from getting to Asia. And for two years, it bounced us back. We had to go around it, either on the left by way of Australia or on the right by way of the Aleutians. But now, at last, we are breaking straight through the screen. The foreign devils are at the throats of the sons of heaven. MacArthur's flames are pulverizing Palau, and yet our troops have landed on Saipan and our task force has shelled the Bonines. It is not likely that we will ever again forget the importance of this screen of islands. We never took them seriously before because we heard little about them. Japan did not encourage foreign visitors. Only through pressure from the League of Nations was I able to arrange passage, and then the Japanese tried to make the trip turn out badly. What I saw was, of course, made available to our Navy. One must see the islands to realize the size of the Navy's job. Our newspapers announcing victories may give us the impression that we have almost won the island world of Micronesia. But the hard fact is that we still have just about a thousand islands to clean up. Many can be bypassed. Many cannot. Japan's islands will be a thorn in our flesh for the better part of another year. But after that, they will be a rose in our hair, a plume in our helmet. We shall have them to thank largely for our triumph over Japan. True, the final blow may come from the China coast. But long before we get bases on the China coast, we shall be bombarding Japan around the clock from the Marianas and Bonines. It may begin this summer. As I stood on the ship's deck in the Bonine harbor of Port Lloyd, set in an ancient crater surrounded by low hills and a busy Japanese town from which small boats were putting out to the ship, bearing people who spoke Japanese but showed in their features American, British, Danish, or Italian ancestry, I thought of Commodore Perry on the deck of his paddle wheel warship in this same harbor, receiving Nathaniel Savery on board and saying to him, Savery, these islands are in a position to dominate Japan. I want you to help me hold them for that purpose. Savery did his best, but only now is his dream and Perry's coming true. A few months more we'll see the Marianas and Bonines become springboard to Tokyo. After the war, the Japanese inhabitants should be sent back to Japan. Those of partly American or European blood may be allowed to remain if they wish. They will no longer suffer cruel discrimination. For years Bonine girls of American descent have been abducted to the Yoshihawas of Japan. That will stop. The strategic location of the Bonines will make them suitable as a control station for the Western Pacific. The government will probably be American, but whether it is American, British, or international, it will be a government by free men for free men, and Nathaniel Savery's ghost will be happy. Thank you, Willard Price. You have been listening to the Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent station, as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific Basin. A reprint of this Pacific Story program is available at the cost of ten cents. Send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquis. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your narrator, Joseph Kern. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.
