Solomon Islands Maps

Library of Virginia sounds reveille for World War II veterans, their families

RICHMOND, Va. — All four Thomas brothers fought in World War II, leaving behind the coal mines of southwest Virginia for battlefields in the faraway Pacific: Fiji, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. One left a leg behind and another survived the sinking of his ship, but all four came home.

For the Thomas family and many others, the extraordinary experiences of the Virginians who served in World War II have been preserved in photos and letters home, often stuffed in boxes packed with mementoes and stored in an attic.

The Library of Virginia is collecting those memories, asking veterans, their spouses and children to submit documents, diaries and photographs that will help keep alive the wartime experiences of those 300,000 Virginians. Some 11,000 never returned from the war.

“This ‘Greatest Generation’ is passing from the scene,” said Sandra Gioia Treadway, librarian of Virginia. “While people are still alive and their records — their letters, diaries, artifacts, medals — are still in family hands, we want to raise awareness that this is history and that this is the perfect place to bring those items.”

Michael Thomas, an attorney with the State Corporation Commission, heeded the call last week. He brought a panoramic photograph of his father, Charlie, taken on July 5, 1943, as his unit departed for the Pacific. He also brought stories of the remarkable Thomas brothers, all coal miners from the Wise County crossroads of Banner.

“My father always joked throughout the rest of his life that the best thing that ever happened to him was World War II because it got him out of the coal mines,” Thomas said.

All the Thomas men found adventure in the Pacific.

Charlie’s anti-aircraft unit was part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s Army “as it leapfrogged from New Guinea into the Philippines,” Thomas said.

Howard Thomas served on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, which lost more than 700 crew members in a Japanese attack. Ray served on the USS Laffey, a destroyer that suffered heavy casualties and sank after a fierce, close-quarters battle with several Japanese warships. John, a Marine lost a leg scrambling out of a foxhole in Guadalcanal.

“We’re probably losing 100 of the World War II vets a day across the United States,” Michael Thomas said. “They have important stories to tell. I felt compelled to come down and at least tell my father’s story.

Map of Solomon Islands

Map of Solomon  Islands

Map of Solomon  Islands, showing Solomon  Islands and surrounding countries with international borders, the country capital, major cities, main roads, railways and airports. It is a simple way to know Solomon  Islands travel, main and big cities, capital, communication，geography, coastlines, regions and bordering countries of Solomon  Islands and other information through the maps below.

Land area: 10,633 sq mi (27,539 sq km); total area: 10,985 sq mi (28,450 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): 609,794 (growth rate: 2.3%); birth rate: 26.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 18.4/1000; life expectancy: 73.9; density per sq mi: 53

Capital and largest city : Honiara (on Guadalcanal), 54,600

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