memorials

DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL:
BETIO, TARAWA, KIRIBATI — 11 NOVEMBER 2002

A memorial commemorating the execution of 22 British subjects, mostly coast watchers, by the Japanese military in October 1942 was unveiled by the President of the Republic of the Republic of Kiribati, HE Mr Teberoro Tito, in Tarawa on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2002. The imposing 2.4 metre high stainless steel memorial is located at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio, part of Tarawa atoll, and commemorates the murder of the men 60 years ago on 15 October 1942, by the Japanese who had occupied the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (part of which is now the Republic of Kiribati). Two Australians are listed as victims on the memorial in addition to three from Great Britain and 17 from New Zealand.

	The front of the new 2.4 metre stainless steel memorial to 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers murdered by the Japanese in October 1942 on Betio, Tarawa, now part of the Republic of Kiribati

HE Mr Colin Hill, Australian High Commissioner in Tarawa said that the new memorial replaces a monument on the same site which was showing its age and is a fitting tribute to these brave men who were on duty in the region at the outbreak of war in the Pacific. ‘The memorial will be a lasting reminder of the work these brave men did and their ordeal. It will be the focal point for future ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day activities.’

	above: The Tarawa Australian Defence Team and the new memorial. L-R LCDR Chris Hewitt (Maritime Surveillance Adviser), CPO Ross Fitzgerald (Technical Adviser), WGCDR Leigh Collins, Defence Adviser South Pacific, Mr Colin Hill, Australian High Commissioner in Tarawa and CPO David George (Technical Adviser)

Mr Hill was the driving force behind the new memorial which was designed and constructed for the Office of Australian War Graves in conjunction with the three Commonwealth High Commissions in Tarawa (Australia, New Zealand and the UK) and with support from Australian corporate entities which do business in Kiribati — RHK Kiribati Limited and John Swire and Sons.

While many may be aware of the famous Battle of Tarawa in which over 1,100 US Marines and nearly 4,700 Japanese died over three days between 20–22 November 1943, the earlier phase of the war in the Gilbert Island is less well known, including the fate of the local inhabitants and the activities of the mainly New Zealand coast watchers who remained behind after the Japanese occupied the Gilbert Islands at the outset of the war in the Pacific.

Many Europeans escaped from the Gilbert Islands during the early months of the Japanese occupation before the garrison was expanded and treatment by the Japanese was less harsh. By October 1942, however, the Japanese had fortified Betio in anticipation of a US attack and had less tolerance for the remaining Europeans, particularly British subjects. Eyewitness accounts record that the men commemorated by the memorial were executed following an American air raid on Betio.

Although their place of interment was known for a time, the heavy naval bombardment before and during the Battle of Tarawa the following year obliterated their common grave, although they are believed to have been originally buried a few hundred metres from the memorial site.

In addition to the murdered coast watchers, the new memorial commemorates the hundreds of Gilbert and Ellice Islanders who died during the Pacific War. Although there is a commemoration plaque on the island of Banaba (previously known as Ocean Island) recording the deaths of local inhabitants during the war years 1942–45, this new memorial provides the first formal recognition on Tarawa.

Thank you for putting a memorial on Betio Kiribati for the 22 Coastwatchers who were murdered by the Japanese on the 15th October 1942. One of those Coastwatchers was a family member and our family says thanks. The cross was rotting but now with the new memorial that you put there it will be a place that family can go. I was up there in 1994 on Anzac Day and saw the wooden cross not painted, rotting. It brought tears to my eyes. You have given me faith that they will never be forgotten. Thank you from the McCarthy family.