War Veteran hails Sukanaivalu
Maciu Malo
WAR veteran Peni Nailiko will never forget June 23, 1944 ù the day his friend Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu died.
It was a day he witnessed valour.
Yesterday, as ex-servicemen marched to remember the fallen around the country, the memories came flooding back for Mr Nailiko.
A bullet still lodged in his shoulder to remind him of that fateful day, Mr Nailiko, of Malevu in Nadroga, said the annual Remembrance Day parade was a special and emotional day for him.
As a member of Fiji's armed forces, he was part of a contingent fighting Japanese forces in Bougainville in the Solomon Islands during World War II.
He said he had never missed participating in commemorating the event since his retirement and always dedicated the day to his late friends who willingly gave their lives for their country.
Mr Nailiko said despite his shoulder wound, a result of being shot in the shoulder during the Japanese invasion, all accolades went to the late Cpl Sukanaivalu for his courageous act that enabled him to escape death.
"If not for Corporal Sukanaivalu, I won't be here today," he said.
"That 1944 event will never disappear from my memory. I was one of the Fijian soldiers ambushed by Japanese soldiers and many of my friends were killed, including Sukanaivalu.
"I can still recall the voices of my fellow Fijian soldiers screaming 'Oilei tamaqu, Oilei nau'. Because of Sukanaivalu, some of us were saved."
Mr Nailiko recalled that Cpl Sukanaivalu crawled forward to rescue wounded Fijian soldiers after the ambush.
After rescuing two men, he volunteered to face heavy gunfire to rescue another soldier before being shot in the knees and falling to the ground.
"While he was on the ground, the Japanese soldiers approached and the courageous Sukanaivalu raised himself up in front of us before the enemy and told us to withdraw. He was then shot dead," said Mr Nailiko.
Salute for the fallen
Ioane Burese
SENIOR members of the military, the police, navy and corrections, and military attaches from France, Australia and Japan joined military Chief of Staff Brigadier General Mohammed Aziz at the Remembrance Day dawn service yesterday at the Military Cemetery in Suva.
The service was held to honour permanently the valiant men and women of both world wars including those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, in the many theatres of conflict since.
There was a church service led by RFMF Chaplain Reverend Major Josefa Tikonatabua, followed by the reading of the Binyon lines, a most famous and enduring war poem written at an historic moment to remember those who had fallen in the line of duty.
Then the age old custom of the Last Post was sounded signalling to those who were still out and wounded or separated that the fighting was done, and to follow the sound of the call to find safety and rest.
Two minutes of silence were observed, followed by the sounding of the rouse a, ritual done as a pledge to guard the honour of war dead.
Indebted ... Peni Nailiko recalls the events of June 23, 1944, in Sigatoka yesterday.
March for the brave
Samisoni Nabilivalu
LED by the army's marching band, ex-servicemen, their families and friends, and members of the RFMF marched through the capital yesterday to mark Remembrance Day.
The marchers gathered at the Suva Flea Market where they were divided into two groups, the first led by the RFMF's marching band and the second by the police band.
The two groups marched from the Flea Market to the Suva Civic Auditorium where some members of the group boarded buses which took them to the RFMF's war memorial site beside the old parliamentary complex.
Kelepi Mataitoga stood out like any other 10 year-old among the mostly senior ex-serviceman but wore his father's medals proudly nonetheless as family and friends, guests, members of the diplomatic corps, and government officials paid their respects to the fallen.
Kelepi Mataitoga, his seven year-old brother and their mother travelled from Narere to be part of Remembrance Day celebrations with both brothers admitting they missed their father more with each passing year.
Their mother, Akanisi Mataitoga, said: "Our father passed away in 2005 while preparing for a tour of duty in Iraq. Last year was the first time we attended the memorial service. We really enjoyed the program."
"We came to remember our father. I also wanted the boys to know that they were not alone.
"I wanted them to understand just how important their father's work was and how the army remembered soldiers who died during service."
The program begin shortly after the arrival of President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.
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