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A letter from Chris Cowx in Vancouver to COFEPOW

Ballale is actually much bigger than it gets credit for. It is about a kilometre across. The runway is the entire length of the island and just seems to trail off into the water at each end, long enough to operate heavily loaded bombers off of. The rest of the island is now covered in thick jungle with trees about 15' in diameter. I actually saw a tail section of a Japanese bomber that had been lifted up into the air about 30' in a tree. During the war years the undergrowth was cleared away, likely by the POWs. The island is very strange to walk around on. It is very quiet. It has no large animals unless you count the spiders that are about 6" in diameter! The island is uninhabited currently. Everywhere you look it has bomb craters and it is actually fairly swampy. There are some very nice beaches and there are the remains of a concrete dock that was put in by the British in the early 70's.

The "terminal" is a little concrete thing that looks like a bus shelter flanked by two propellers. It has a plaque in it that says that the Airfield was re-opened as a special project by the Royal Engineers in 1971 (The Solomon Islands were a British protectorate until 1978).

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Terminal Building in distance

If you look around there is nothing obvious from the war years but if you look along the sides of the runway there are numerous bits of aircraft laying here and there. Also there is a steamroller and a truck that I saw. There are also a few concrete bunkers along the shore with coastal defence guns in them. I understand that there are also several sea planes in the water nearby and I have heard of bombs in the water, which was not an uncommon way to dispose of munitions at the end of the war.

Airstrip as it is today

One thing that I noticed is that the island is infested with stinging red ants. I had to be careful where I stopped so that I did not end up sitting on a nest. At risk of sounding dramatic, I had a very strange moment of empathy with the POWs last time I was there. I had been in the sun for far too long the day before and I was severely sunburned and dehydrated. I had blisters on my ankles and the undergrowth and ants were tearing them up a bit. Rather painful! If I ever read anything now about "tropical ulcers" I understand, as they took a month to heal (with modern antibiotics) and I still have deep purple scars on my ankles. I was exploring the island by taking an hour to explore and then going to the terminal building and resting for half and hour or so. You have been to the tropics and you know the kind of bright sun at noon that looks like a flashbulb and just bleaches everything out. I was feeling a bit surreal, probably due to my physical state as well as my surroundings. I even had what looked like a buzzard circling overhead for the added melodramatic touch. I just remember thinking how beautiful it was and also what a miserable place to be working at hard labour. Being in a bit of discomfort I imagined what it would be like to be there for months. I am sure you had a similar feeling when viewing the Railroad that your father built.

As for the rest of the nearby islands, I saw a good many things from the war years there. I saw trucks, searchlights, guns, a motorcycle and sidecar, bunkers and a live artillery shell. My guide wanted to use a bush knife to clear the bush away from around it, but I politely declined! The locals still use the old Japanese water system. The harbour nearby used to have seaplane bases and there are numerous wrecks in the water. I snorkelled over some of them and they were fascinating. But these are haunted places and for those that are aware of the history it is an eerie experience to be there. Mrs Canwell sent me a map of the island in wartime and I have walked right over the place where the British camp was. Just for the record the island is actually very nice and is, other than those bloody ants, not bad to visit. It is however a miserable place to be if you are dehydrated, over worked, sun stroked etc.

I have often thought that it must have been strange for the local people to have an entire military machine show up and be there for about 4 years and then suddenly disappear. Ballale and vicinity for example had about 40,000 troops, two seaplane bases, three airbases, a naval base and a harbour that had up to 60 ships in it at a time. Then all of a sudden it was gone! Many of the local people still have Japanese names though, funnily enough.

Chris




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