AS 96-year old Jale Bainisika joined in the Remembrance Day commemoration service for his fallen brothers in arms yesterday at the National War Memorial Site in Nasese, there was but one main thing he was thankful for.
Being one the last four surviving members who fought during the World War II in Solomon Islands, Mr Bainisika said Fiji was blessed not to have tasted the turmoil of World War II. Speaking in the iTaukei language, Mr Bainisika said what they saw in Bougainville, Solomon Islands still haunts him to this day. He said he and the other Fijian soldiers could only cry and pray as they saw the destruction that met the natives of Solomon Islands.
He remembered how men had their eyes gouged out and women had their breasts removed.
“Keimami raica, keimami tagi, ia keimami vosota. Sa dua na ka vinaka ni sega ni yaco mai Viti na ka yaco mai Solomoni.” (“We saw and we cried, yet we had to endure it. It is a very good thing that what happened in the Solomon Islands did not happen in Fiji.”)
He is adamant that Fiji was kept safe from the heartbreak of WWII because of its God-fearing status.
