living Behind enemy lines The man with the cigar was not your average Solomon Islander. Born in Tasimboko village in 1900, or perhaps a few years earlier, Vouza was the son of Loe, chief of the Lengo tribe. Vouza was a wild lad, often giving trouble to the British authorities. His relatives encouraged him to join the police force, hoping that the discipline would settle him down and mature him. It did. By 1927, Vouza had attained the rank of sergeant and was posted to Malaita Island, where he specialised in hunting down violent criminals. By 1942, he had given 25 years of meritorious service, risen to the rank of sergeant major and was eligible for a pensioned retirement. He took it, returning to his village on Guadalcanal in May 1942. Vouza first encountered the Americans when he found a US airman shot down near his village by the Japanese. He guided the man to the US lines. The marines, realising Vouza’s background made him the ideal scout, offered him employment under Clemens.
90 Paradise – Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine
war history
On September 7, 1942, not three weeks after his ordeal, Vouza returned to duty. “After I was discharged from hospital I wanted to fight the Japs and pay them back all what they done to me.” For Vouza, the war had become personal. He next brought Clemens and the marines details of a Japanese force concealed in a village on the coast. The marines decided to attack and Vouza, “who loved a scrap” according to Clemens, insisted on guiding them to the village. With Clemens’ permission, Vouza also organised his own group of islander raiders. In the following months, they ambushed and killed or captured many Japanese. There are any number of stories about Vouza’s exploits in this period. Once, he overheard the officer in command of Divisional Intelligence, Colonel Edmund Buckley, complaining that they were not taking any Japanese prisoners for him to interrogate.
Vouza asked Buckley if he would like him to bring in a prisoner. Buckley said, “Well, yes I would.” Vouza asked, “When you like the prisoner? Would tomorrow be all right?” Buckley said, “Yes that will be fine”. Vouza then asked “What time you want him?” To Buckley’s surprise, at the agreed time the next day, Vouza and his scouts brought in a live Japanese soldier. In November, Vouza joined Colonel Evans Carlson on what became known as Carlson’s Long Patrol, a 29-day march to find and eliminate the Japanese in the Koli Point area. Vouza commanded a 250-man party of local volunteers and armed police. Vouza’s men and Carlson’s marines killed 400 Japanese while losing only 16 men. In February 1943, the Japanese evacuated the remnant of their force, giving up the six-month struggle to retain Guadalcanal. By this time, Vouza’s numerous contributions to the US victory had drawn attention and