[The following is transcribed from a transcript of a portion of a letter dated May 9, 1945. While the last name is not on the faded and yellowed transcript I have, I am fairly certain that it was from Marvin Sanger, mentioned in my March 15, 2011 post on Charles Fleury Taschereau as the husband of Maude Isobel (Taschereau). He was a flight officer in the U. S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command at the time. This is from one of several family albums kept by my mother over the years, and was not part of the Ross Family Record. Places in bold have linkes to Google Maps at the end of this transcript.]
From Marvin's letter of May 9, 1945
Now to give you a quick look at my journey, or should I say flight, into the South Pacific. This trip has probably given me the most enjoyment of any that I've experienced as yet. First because it is by far the longest, secondly it went into several foreign countries. The size of the Pacific is beyond one's power of expression, it just goes on mile after mile, thousands of miles, after thousands of miles. It's endless miles continue to get bluer and bluer, the nearer one gets to the equator. 'Till all the coral beaches stand out with a whiteness that is nearly blinding, when approaching for a landing. Then there is the deep green of the jungle, which also stands out against all the other distinctive features of the great southwest Pacific.
As you know we had several days over, on our first stop at Honolulu. From Honolulu we went to Christmas Island, which is just a pin point in the blue. It used to be a penal island of the British, and proctor and Gamble raised coconuts using this prison labor to get the oil for their soap. I collected some very nice specimens of shells, and did some swimming in the nude while there. From Christmas our next stop was Canton in the Phoenix Group. Canton is nothing but a coral reef just big enough for an air strip. The only tree is one imported just for the sake of being able to say there is one on the island. We captured a fair sized octopus while there. Something a little different in the fishing business. We used a short spear, and were scared to death. However it does make a good story.
Our next stop was on Nadi, in the Fiji Islands. This is the most beautiful place I've ever been in, by far. It is in the same latitude south of the equator as the Hawaiians are north. It is more or less the same kind of climate, but for some reason it appealed to me much more than did the Hawaiians. The natives are the cleanest and the most intelligent of any of the native tribes we came across. In fact they are considered the finest jungle fighters in the world. The Japs are scared at even the thought of them. I really fell in love with this place. You have heard of the exotic tropical nights, well this place seems to have an unlimited supply of them. From here we went to New Caledonia, which is another fascinating place, especially from a naturalist's, or a geologist's point of view. I had quite a hike up the Tontouta river, from the evidence along this stream, there is quit a lot of mineral, and there should be quite a little free gold along it. They mine chrome and nickel extensively in some parts of the island. In fact, all of the islands, with exceptions of the coral reefs, are quite rich in minerals, including Australia.
From Tontuta, New Caladonia, we were just a little over three hours getting to Amberly Field, which is about thirty miles inland from Brisbane. There we were given 24 hours rest. Actually we were there almost three days the first time and nearly two days the last time. So you see we had time enough to look around a little.
Our return journey took us up to Townsville, Aust., and from there to Finschhafen, New Guinea. Here we stayed over for two nights awaiting further transportation. The next stop was on Manus in the Admiralties where Everett has been for so long, Again we stayed overnight, which gave me time to look this place over a little. Immediately upon arriving here, I set out to find Everett. This turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the whole trip, as he had been shipped on out to the Philippines, leaving just thirty-six hours before I had arrived, by boat to Zamboanga on the Island of Mindanao.
From Manus we turned and headed for home, our next stop was Tarawa. Both times we stopped there it was in the middle of the night, so didn't get to see much of the place. There isn't so very much to see, as it isn't much larger than the airport I'm told. From here, after an hour's rest and something to eat, we were on our way to Johnston Island. Again we were given only enough time to eat, but it only took four more hours to put us into Hickam Field, Honolulu.
The first time we back to Hickam we were informed that we were going to have to take another ship to Australia. So we laid over for three days getting ready to go back down under again, test hopping the ship and getting some rest. We went right back over the same route, with no variations in stops. This second trip really gave me the opportunity to look most of these places over fairly well, as it was a little easier to get around having been there once before.
link to Christmas Island at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Christmas+Island,+Poland,+Line+Islands,+Kiribati&aq=4&sll=-2.077334,-176.926575&sspn=0.916746,1.171417&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Poland,+Line+Islands,+Kiribati&ll=1.801461,-157.513733&spn=0.916895,1.171417&z=10
link to Canton, Phoenix Islands at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Canton,+Phoenix+Islands,+Kiribati&aq=0&sll=41.10793,-81.170055&sspn=2.706795,1.560059&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kanton+Island&ll=-2.815486,-171.608505&spn=0.443722,0.33783&z=11
link to Nadi, Fiji Islands at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Nadi,+Fiji+Islands&aq=&sll=-2.815486,-171.608505&sspn=0.443722,0.33783&ie=UTF8&hq=Nadi,+Fiji+Islands&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=-17.523583,178.352051&spn=3.252603,3.999023&z=8
link to New Caledonia at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=New+Caledonia&aq=0&sll=-17.523583,178.352051&sspn=3.252603,3.999023&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=New+Caledonia&ll=-22.105999,166.025391&spn=6.572438,7.998047&z=7
link to Amberley, Queensland, Australia at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Amberley,+Queensland,+Australia&aq=0&sll=-27.554547,152.53006&sspn=0.787735,1.025848&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Amberley+Queensland,+Australia&ll=-27.507053,152.707214&spn=0.788076,1.025848&z=10
link to Townsville, Queensland, Australia at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Townsville,+Australia&aq=&sll=-27.620273,152.004089&sspn=1.603709,0.678406&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Townsville+Queensland,+Australia&ll=-19.273554,146.880341&spn=0.827048,0.961304&z=10
link to Finschhafen, New Guinea at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Finschhafen,+New+Guinea&aq=&sll=-6.506357,148.326416&sspn=3.345171,3.845215&ie=UTF8&hq=Finschhafen,+New+Guinea&hnear=&ll=-6.604587,147.854004&spn=1.672427,1.922607&z=9
link to Manus in the Admiralties at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Manus+in+the+Admiralties&aq=&sll=-6.604587,147.854004&sspn=1.672427,1.922607&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Manus+Island&ll=-2.152814,146.969604&spn=1.751014,1.922607&z=9
link to Tarawa at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Tarawa+Island,+Gilbert+Islands,+Kiribati&aq=1&sll=-6.571846,147.854004&sspn=1.672538,1.922607&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tarawa+Island&ll=1.438543,173.078785&spn=0.109485,0.120163&z=13
link to Johnston Island at GoogleMaps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Johnston+Island&aq=&sll=2.635789,-169.804687&sspn=97.553609,123.046875&ie=UTF8&hq=Johnston+Island&hnear=&ll=16.724331,-169.521618&spn=0.104887,0.120163&t=h&z=13
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