Captain Allen Leading a Group of Guadalcanal Natives in the Rendition of a Hymn in Pidgin

Image size: 1600 x 1191 pixel. 601 KB
Date: Friday, 11 May 1945
Place: Henderson Field, Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Photographer: Unknown

Captain Allen leading a group of Guadalcanal natives in the rendition of a hymn in pidgin. Captain Spencer M. Allen was formerly associated with WGN Radio, Chicago. The eight Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS) stations set up in the south Pacific were called the Mosquito Network of the American Expeditionary Stations (AES). These stations were: WVUQ Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands (1000 watts, 690 kilohertz, second & key station); WVUS Noumea, New Caledonia (1000 watss, 975 kilohertz, first station); WVUR Esperitu Santo, New Hebrides (1000 watts 1040 kilohertz); WVUT Nandi, Fiji (50 watts 660 kilohertz); WVTI Cebu City, Philippines 500 watts (1340 kilohertz); WVTM Manila, Philippines 1000 watts (1300 kilohertz); WVUV Pago Pago, American Samoa 50 watts (1270 kilohertz); and Navy Radio Tutuila, Samoa 10 watts (1270 kilohertz). At Guadalcanal, the radio station studio and transmitter sites were in a coconut grove about one-half mile from Lunga beach. A dallas hut was divided into a control room and a studio. There was a large plate glass window and some sound proofing between the two rooms. AES staff dubbed their small studio shack in the coconut grove, Radio City, an ironic reference to the imposing headquarters of the NBC network in New York City.Mosquito's weekly broadcasting included 13 hours of U.S.-made AFRS transcriptions and 28 hours of decommercialized U.S. network shows—flown in from the States. The rest was local material, ranging from the reading of war correspondence in the area to burlesques such as McGoo's Booze Hour ("Next time you visit your PX take home a handy family-size container of McGoo's Old Man in the convenient 60-gallon drum") or the Atabrine Cocktail Hour to encourage the taking of anti-malarials. On the evening of March 2, 1944, AES-Guadalcanal, first broadcast a test signal. Regular broadcasts started March 13 and lasted throguh 1946. Two days before this photo was taken, WVUQ broadcast news of the German Surrender.\ Of the 300 AFRS stations in operation worldwide in 1945, only 60 remained in 1949. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1082

"Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels" Watch American Wounded Rest Before Carrying Them to the Rear

Image size: 1600 x 1201 pixel. 762 KB
Date: Tuesday, 1 December 1942
Place: Coconut Grove, Buna, Oro, New Guinea
Creator: Unknown

Wounded American soldiers of the 32nd Division are carried to the rear by "fuzzy wuzzy angels" the name for Papua New Guinea natives who helped the Allies by bringing up supplies and carrying back wounded. The battle for Buna, Gona, and Sanananda was a learning process for MacArthur's command, and he relieved US Army General Edwin F. Harding on December 2, 1942, replacing him with General Robert L. Eichelberger. MacArthur famously told him, "Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders; if necessary, put sergeants in charge of battalions and corporals in charge of companies ... Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive ... And that goes for your chief of staff, too." Eichelberger reorganized the dispirited Americans, and with superior air cover from the Fifth Air Force and additional troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, The Allies cleared the last Japanese resistance on January 22, 1943. The natives were invaluable during the Kokoda and Buna campaigns, carrying much of the supplies in and the wounded out. An Australian soldier is reported to have said: "They carried stretchers over seemingly impassable barriers, with the patient reasonably comfortable. The care they give to the patient is magnificent. If night finds the stretcher still on the track, they will find a level spot and build a shelter over the patient. They will make him as comfortable as possible fetch him water and feed him if food is available, regardless of their own needs. They sleep four each side of the stretcher and if the patient moves or requires any attention during the night, this is given instantly. These were the deeds of the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' – for us!" 

Source:

US Army Signal Corps, Library of Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buna1942-wounded.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8e00422/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1023