All is well on Lexington. The winds have been moderately consistent at 14-17 from the southeast. We have a velocity made good of 6.6 knots over the past 24 hours which is great for us. The best VMG is 7.6 by Aurora Polaris.
Most of my post tonight will be a copy of information sent by my sister-in-law, Sue Cole. My father-in-law who was her father was stationed in Vanuatu during WWII. Below is the information she sent to me:
"Your arrival at Vanuatu will be amazingly coincidental with the World War II, 75th anniversary year arrival of the 25th Evacuation Hospital from West Suburban Hospital, Chicago. Departing from Port Vila, the 25th landed in Surendu Bay, Espiritu Santo on Nov. 29, 1942. The 25th Evacuation Hospital was a team of nurses, enlisted men, and 37 physicians, including a 29 year old Army Captain and surgeon, leaving behind a wife and six month old baby, our Dad, Howard Dorton. The unit was assigned to set up a hospital, and care for our wounded boys brought in from fighting the Japanese in Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and Bougainville campaigns. The 25th left the Boschfontein, a Dutch ship, in a motor whaleboat, moved up to their camp site 4 miles from bomber strip #1 via the jungle and chopped down trees near their tents. The ship carrying all the supplies for the hospital would not be coming due to risk of Japanese bombing. They were still ordered to build a hospital at the site for 750 patients. They had nothing. They scavenged and scrounged, board by board, planks and 2x4's, corrugated metal and begged, borrowed and procured from the Navy already scarce tools, nails, saws, mosquito netting, medical supplies and instruments. In the sweltering jungle doctors, enlisted men, and natives worked side by side digging post holes, hauling cement, laying flooring, weaving palm fronds for rooftops, built cabinets, shelving, and furniture and slowly erected the hospital structures--mess hall, wards, makeshift showers, latrines, and their quarters--pyramidals on stilts. Quonset huts back to back served as the O.R., lab and x-ray. Casualties came in for months from Guadalcanal, Rabaul, and Munda--sometimes 100 to 200 a day with burns, macerations, shattered limbs, gas gangrene, and massive orthopedic wounds required reconstructive surgery. Most were ill with blackwater fever, hepatitis, dengue, and malaria. The team labored long hours day and night doing the easier shrapnel surgeries last. Penicillin was not available then, and without quinine, atabrine was used to treat malaria. They saw many psychoses from shock and exposure. The team suffered continually with G.I. flux,--50% of the officers, and 20% of the nurses at one point. Trying to function in the rains, mold, and mud was dismal--flies and mosquitos were fierce. Lizards, ants, and rats chewed everything. Shelling by the Japanese made waiting it out in foxholes. Fatigue, sickness, and loneliness often made for low morale; however, the 25th persevered in caring for thousands of sick and severely wounded soldiers until the Japanese were defeated at Guadalcanal, a turning point of the War in the Southwest Pacific. In 1989 the U.S. Senate honored the 25th by presenting a plaque to West Suburban Hospital recognizing the supreme sacrifice of the physicians of the 25th Evacuation Hospital. It still hangs there. No physical evidence marks the site of the hospital on Santo, however, the South Pacific World War II Museum encompassing the Luganville area may show the history of Buttons, the massive military and support base there, and Million Dollar Point. During this time, Navy Lt. Commander, James Michener, assigned to Espiritu Santo, wrote "Tales of the South Pacific", later a play and movie. Bali Ha'i, the island paradise, was modeled after Ambae Island."
May fair winds fill your sails with recognition of the supreme sacrifice of the physicians of the 25th Evacuation Hospital! Bob