JFK'S CAROLINE VISITING SOLOMON ISLANDS
"I know that our countries are the strongest of allies,
and that our parents and grandparents fought side by side for more than 100 years.
In 1943, my father's boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.
If not for the help of two Solomon Islanders and an Australian coast watcher,
he and his crew would not have survived."
It's extremely exciting news that Caroline Kennedy has arrived in Australia to begin her new role as USA Ambassador. No doubt JFK is smiling proudly from the spirit world.
Caroline, daughter of former US president Kennedy, takes up ambassador post in Australia
Straits Times, July 22, 2022
Caroline Kennedy arrived in Australia on Friday, July 22, to take up her post as US ambassador, vowing to end a period of US "absence" in a region increasingly influenced by China. With Washington stepping up diplomatic engagement across the South Pacific to counter growing Chinese influence, slain US president John F Kennedy's sole surviving child touched down in Sydney to present her credentials. "There is a big agenda and I can't wait to get started," she said, effectively ending a stretch of more than 500 days in which the United States had no ambassador in the country. "I think everyone feels that it is unfortunate that it is taking so long to confirm ambassadors," she said, referring to the now laborious and fraught process of the US Senate confirming key diplomatic appointments.
Ms Kennedy, a former US ambassador to Japan, hailed moves to open three new embassies in the Pacific Islands, while admitting "there has been a lot of absence". "There has been a lot of work ongoing even though there hasn't been an ambassador, so now we'll see if having an ambassador makes a difference, I hope I can show that it does". Her arrival comes more than halfway through President Joe Biden's term. Many of Mr Biden's diplomatic nominations have been delayed by Republican rivals in the now hyper-partisan Senate.
On arrival, Ms Kennedy, 64, recalled her honeymoon to Australia, her father being rescued during World War II off the nearby Solomon Islands by locals, and championed the planned return of the peace corps - which her father founded - to the Pacific. Ms Kennedy was three years old when her father entered the White House in 1961 and, along with her younger brother John Jr, charmed the public, with Neil Diamond later inspired by her to write the song "Sweet Caroline".
JFK's daughter Caroline honoured to carry forward father's legacy
New Daily, July 21, 2022
As USA Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy touches down in Canberra later this week to take up her diplomatic post, she has vowed to ensure Australia and the USA will work closely for peace, unity and prosperity in the region. She will also be the first USA ambassador to Australia with the unprecedented celebrity of America's most high-powered, influential political family. In a pre-recorded speech on Wednesday before her highly anticipated arrival on Friday, Ms Kennedy, 64, spoke about her late father, former president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963 when she was just five years old. She lamented that he never got to visit Australia, a country she is now eager to embrace. "I know that our countries are the strongest of allies and that our parents and grandparents fought side by side for more than 100 years. Their sacrifices have made it possible for us to live in two of the world's greatest democracies, countries that share a commitment to individual freedom, the rule of law and economic opportunity. For me, it goes beyond that. In 1943, my father's PT boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. If not for the help of two Solomon Islanders and an Australian coast watcher, he and his crew would not have survived. He wanted to be the first sitting president to visit Australia, so I am honoured to carry his legacy forward in my own small way".
Ms Kennedy first came to Australia on her honeymoon in 1986 after her marriage to Edwin Schlossberg, an exhibit designer she met while working at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. They "fell in love" with the country and the people they met along the way and in 2014, they brought their three children -- Rose, Tatiana and John -- out for a visit. During that trip, she was serving as USA Ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017 under the Obama administration. "We always dreamed of coming back -- we fell in love with the people we met, the places we went and I can't wait till my new grandson comes to visit", she said this week.
Caroline was three years old (born November 27, 1957) -- when her father was elected president of USA on November 8, 1960 -- and two weeks later her brother John-John was born (November 25, 1960). The two of them -- because they lived in the family quarters of the White House -- visited JFK in the Oval Office almost every day. See JFK'S HOME LIFE AT WHITE HOUSE
I don't have any proof but I sometimes wonder and speculate that maybe JFK was thinking of the Solomon Islands when he named Caroline. JFK knew that part of the world intimately and the Caroline Islands are in close proximity.
Upon hearing the news that Caroline had arrived in Australia, I immediately thought of the hope and happines this would inspire in the families of the native rescuers of JFK and PT-109 crew. We've become friends over the years since they, upon discovering the PT-109 stories on ORWELL TODAY, reached out to me -- through the miracle of the world-wide-web -- and contributed first-hand stories of their personal connections to JFK. See JFK RESCUER KUMANA HONOURS JFK and RESCUER KEVU IN JFK OVAL OFFICE
Recently I had emails back and forth from Solomon Islands. See KUMANA FAMILY KEEP JFK ALIVE IN MEMORY and JFK SAY KEVU SPOKE BRIT ENGLISH
In her first speech as USA Ambassador to Australia, Caroline gave a shout-out to the Solomon Islander natives and the Aussie coastwatcher who saved her father's life.
And now -- within two weeks of her arrival in Australia -- Caroline will be travelling to Solomon Islands. She'll be participating in official ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of the USA/AUS/NZ victory in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Caroline's father's life-and-death and spiritual connection to those sacred waters of Guadalcanal -- Iron Bottom Sound -- is described in detail in an article I posted just the other day. See RED CHINA INVADING JFK'S SOLOMONS
Ambassador Caroline Kennedy among USA delegation to visit Solomon Islands
(will be there August 6 to 8)
US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy will be among a second USA delegation to visit the Solomon Islands in recent months, after the April visit by a team led by senior White House official Kurt Campbell. USA Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and USA Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy plan next month to visit the Solomon Islands, where their fathers fought in World War Two and the United States is in a modern-day battle for influence with strategic rival China. The Secretary of State and her delegation will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal during her 6-8 August visit and meet with senior officials "to highlight the enduring relationship between the United States and Solomon Islands" and plans to open a US embassy in the capital, Honiara, a senior State Department official told Reuters on Sunday... The delegation will also attend memorial events organized by the Solomon Islands and Japan, now a close USA ally. "These events will recognize the service and sacrifice of those who fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal, including USA and Allied forces, the people of Solomon Islands, and the people of Japan", the official said...
China has been seeking to boost economic, military and police links with Pacific island nations hungry for foreign investment. Washington has stressed its historical ties to the Pacific, especially shared sacrifices during World War Two, and vowed to commit more resources. Beijing's growing influence was highlighted by its security pact with the Solomon Islands this year, a move that fanned concerns in Australia, New Zealand and the United States...
...An Australian coastwatcher, Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Reginald Evans, saw PT-109 explode and sent two Solomon Islander scouts from his team to search for survivors. Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana found the Americans and showed Kennedy how to carve a message into a green coconut husk. They took that back to Evans, who sent a larger party of Solomons scouts to bring in the crew to his post. The coastwatcher arranged for American PT boats to rescue the 11 survivors...
At a last post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial on Wednesday, the new ambassador, JFK's daughter Caroline, met members of the families of surviving Australian coastwatchers. Two veterans, Ronald George Lee and James Burrowes, were unable to travel to Canberra but joined by video link. Kennedy said it was a great honour to talk to the two coastwatchers, who played an essential role in keeping the region secure during World War II. 'I owe personal gratitude to an Australian coastwatcher and two Solomon Islander scouts who saved my father's life', she said. 'These men represent the best of their generation and are an amazing example of the bonds of the US-Australia alliance'... Ambassador Kennedy presented Lee's daughter, Eve Ash, and Burrowes's son, Tom Burrowes, with replicas of the coconut on which her father had carved his rescue message...
In August 2014, the ABC reported that Kumana and Gasa were both invited to JFK's inauguration in January 1961, but a British colonial officer reportedly stopped them from leaving the Solomons capital of Honiara on the grounds that their English was not good enough. The John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has a series of photographs from a meeting between Evans and the president in May of that year...
Kennedy will complete a historical circle on 6 August when she accompanies US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to Honiara to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal and to meet Solomon Islands officials.... Caroline Kennedy is no stranger to the strategic complexities of the Indo-Pacific. During her time as USA ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017, she advanced the realignment of the USA forces in Okinawa, promoted women's empowerment and increased student exchanges. In November last year, she was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest honour Japan awards foreigners, for her efforts to strengthen the US-Japan alliance.
~ end quoting ~
Surprisingly, in reports about Caroline's upcoming visit to the Solomon Islands, there's been no mention of the USA Ambassador meeting with and hosting commemorative ceremonies with the families of the native scouts who rescued JFK and his crew. Last week Caroline officiated at a memorial ceremony with families of the Australian Coastwatchers involved in the rescue of her father. See JFK'S SOLOMON SWIMS SAVED SURVIVORS and OZ COASTWATCHER EVANS RESCUED JFK
Caroline mentions the Solomon Islands rescuers all the time in her speeches since arriving in Australia. She's been in contact with them over the years and has received special gifts like the Kumana family heirloom above on JFK's grave. The "shell money" is now on permanent display -- next to JFK's coconut -- in the JFK Library and Museum.
Symbolically there's no better time than now for Caroline to travel to the Solomon Islands. Godcidently, August 1st, 1943 is when PT-109 went down -- and August 7th is the day JFK and the crew were discovered -- and August 8th is the day they were rescued. Caroline is scheduled to be in Solomon Islands from August 6th thru 8th -- exaclty 79 years later. The stars will never be aligned this way again.
Maybe, behind the scenes, and in a personal, off-duty capacity, Caroline is making arrangements to meet with the Solomon Islands rescuers with whom -- through JFK -- she is spiritually connected. I can't help but believe it will happen.
All the best,
Jackie Jura, August 3, 2022
[Note to readers: Links to the articles referenced in red in this article can be connected from the JFK TRUTHS & UNTRUTHS section of the website]
JFK SOLOMONS PROTEST RED CHINA
watch PT-109 SONG listen
KUMANA SON JFK's LETTER TO CAROLINE
JFK'S CAROLINE VISITING SOLOMON ISLANDS
(79 years after rescue of PT-109 crew)
JFK SAY KEVU SPOKE BRIT ENGLISH
KUMANA FAMILY KEEP JFK ALIVE IN MEMORY
(will Caroline visit JFK native scout rescuers?)
August 1-8, 1943-2022
watch Put the Lime in the Coconut by 5th Beatle listen
RED CHINA INVADING JFK'S SOLOMONS
(China leasing strategic island of Tulagi)
July 31, 2022
JFK TRUTHS & UNTRUTHS and JFK ASSASSINATION PUZZLE PIECES
Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~
email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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