A U.S. Return to Guadalcanal, in Another Tense Historical Moment at a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of a crucial battle in the Pacific, two daughters of men who served there reflected on the lessons of war.
Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Australia, and Wendy Sherman, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, stood together at dawn on Sunday on the island of Guadalcanal to honor the 80th anniversary of the World War II battle there that nearly led to the death of their fathers, and that redefined America’s role across Asia.
Then and now, there was violence, great-power competition and jittery concern about the future. Their visit occurred as China’s military finished 72 hours of drills around Taiwan simulating an invasion. And in their remarks at events with officials from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Solomon Islands, both officials emphasized that the region — and the world — finds itself at another crossroads.
Ms. Kennedy, surrounded by local well-wishers, promised to “honor those who came before us and to work and do our best to leave a legacy for those who follow.”
Ms. Sherman was more pointed. “It is up to us to decide if we want to continue having societies where people are free to speak their minds,” she told a group gathered on a leafy ridge above Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara. “If we want to have governments that are transparent and accountable to their people. If we want an international system that is fair and orderly, where everyone plays by the same rules and where disputes are solved peacefully.”
In many ways, the Guadalcanal visit was the bookend to a tense week that started with trips to Asia by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, whose brief time in Taiwan set off China’s military exercises. Across the region, history, diplomacy and a crisis intertwined, as they often do when great-power competition surges.
As Hal Brands, a global affairs professor at Johns Hopkins University, recently wrote, the early years of the Cold War were also defined by “diplomatic collisions and war scares,” when Russia and the United States jockeyed for position in a still-unsettled world order.
Today’s superpowers are different, and the contested locations are too, with new proving grounds like Ukraine and Taiwan. But some spots on the map — including the Pacific islands — seem destined for repeat roles.
The men seemed to disappear, but when Kennedy returned to Olasana late that night, the same two were there. They were teenage scouts, working for the Allies: Biuku Gasa and Mr. Kumana. After another effort to find a friendly boat failed, Mr. Gasa had an idea. Kennedy scrawled a message on the husk of a coconut that included the words: ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT KENNEDY.