Vintage Military - Part 14

World War II - Solomon Islands

While the Army was recapturing New Guinea from the Japanese, the Navy and Marines were recapturing the Solomon Islands, a string of Japanese-occupied islands to the east of New Guinea.  Guadalcanal, which we've already seen, was the first.

After Guadalcanal, the adjacent Russell Islands were seized without opposition.  An allied base was constructed there as well as a training center and staging area for future operations.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout.  These LIFE photos were not published in the magazine.)

Men training on the Russell Islands were able to take advantage of the beaches.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout)

Of course, swimsuits were unnecessary.

(Photo by LIFE photographer William Shrout)

The island of New Georgia was taken in fighting from June to August, 1943.  These are Marines on New Georgia undressing to bathe

The Treasury Islands were taken in October, 1943, and an airfield was built to assist in attacks on the Japanese base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain to the north.  This photo from the National Archives shows Marines enjoying a shower at the Treasury Island base.

The next major island captured was Bougainville.  This photo from the Australian War Memorial shows troops of the 2nd field regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, unloading ammunition from an LCT.  Note that some of the troops worked naked.

Another photo of troops unloading supplies at Bougainville.  Working naked in the water was purely practical; that way your uniform didn't get wet.

After Bougainville was captured, it also became a base to attack the next major target, the Japanese base at Rabaul, as this 1944 British Pathé newsreel clip explains.  At the end of the clip, some naked American and New Zealand airmen are shown enjoying a brief holiday on the beach.  Note that showing rear views of naked men in a public newsreel, and even a distant frontal view of a guy wading toward the shore, was perfectly OK.  Somehow, we have become much more prudish than people were in the 1940s.