View source for British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force

{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
[[File:GuadCoastwatcher.gif|thumb|Captain [[Martin Clemens]] (centre, back) with six BSIPDF scouts, 1942]]

The '''British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force''' ('''BSIPDF''') was a [[British Colonial Auxiliary Forces]] unit raised in the [[British Solomon Islands]] during [[World War II]]. It was created following the outbreak of war with the [[Empire of Japan]] in 1942 and disbanded in 1946. The Solomon Islands has not maintained a military force since independence from British colonial rule in 1976, relying upon the [[Royal Solomon Islands Police Force]] for [[internal security]]. 

==Role in World War II==

Although the BSIPDF was very small, it played a significant role in the [[Solomon Islands campaign]] of [[World War II]]. The BSIPDF was commanded by the Solomon Islands' [[Resident Commissioner]]. During the [[Pacific War]] of 1942–1945
6,232 indigenous Solomon Islanders enlisted in the BSIPDF and served in battles such as the [[Battle of Guadalcanal]], alongside [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces, fighting the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pidgin.ca/www/History/History.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414192955/http://www.pidgin.ca/www/History/History.htm |title=Solomon Islands Pijin |work=pidgin.ca |archive-date=14 April 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another 2,000 enrolled in the separate [[Solomon Islands Labour Corps]]. Allied [[Coastwatchers]] in the Solomon Islands often cooperated with or served alongside BSIPDF personnel during operations throughout the [[Solomon Islands campaign]].

==Leadership==
Prominent members of the BSIPDF included:
*Sir [[David Clive Crosbie Trench]], [[Military Cross|MC]], US [[Legion of Merit]]
*[[Martin Clemens]], [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[Military Cross|MC]], [[Order of Australia|AM]]
*Sir [[Jacob C. Vouza|Jacob Vouza]], [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]], [[George Medal|GM]], US [[Silver Star]], US [[Legion of Merit]]
*Captain [[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]], [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]],<ref name="LH1">{{cite book |author1= Laracy, Hugh |title= Watriama and Co: Further Pacific Islands Portraits |year= 2013 |publisher= Australian National University Press |isbn=9781921666322|chapter=Chapter 11 - Donald Gilbert Kennedy (1897-1967) An outsider in the Colonial Service |chapter-url= http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p260041/pdf/ch113.pdf }}</ref><ref name="MB">{{cite book |author1= Butcher, Mike |title= ... when the long trick's over: Donald Kennedy in the Pacific |year= 2012 |publisher= Holland House, Kennington, Vic. |isbn=978-0-9871627-0-0}}</ref> US [[Navy Cross]]<ref name="DKNC">{{cite web| work= To Foreign Personnel - World War II| title= Full Text Citations For Award of The Navy Cross| url= http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_NX/citations/03_wwii-nc/nc_06wwii_foreign.html| access-date= 25 July 2017| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170702065337/http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_NX/citations/03_wwii-nc/nc_06wwii_foreign.html| archive-date= 2 July 2017| url-status= dead}}</ref>

==Medical facilities==
US Marine medical staff attached to the Guadalcanal landing were less familiar with local medical conditions in the southwest Pacific than they were with tropical Mesoamerica and Caribbean conditions, which they knew very well. The pre-war experience and malaria records of [[Edward Sayers (doctor)|Dr. Edward Sayers]] In the [[Western Province, Solomon Islands|Western Province]] of the Solomon Islands was helpful to the United States forces in reducing malaria rates during the [[Solomon Islands campaign]].<ref name="MDUSA">{{cite web|vauthors = Harper PA, Downs WC, Oman PW, Levine ND |title= Medical Department, United States Army: Chapter VIII , Preventive Medicine in World War II – New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Saint Matthias Group, and Ryukyu Islands |url= http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/Malaria/chapterVIII.htm|archive-url= https://archive.today/20121212033725/http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/Malaria/chapterVIII.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= 12 December 2012|publisher= U.S. Army Medical Department: Office of Medical History|access-date=5 October 2011}}</ref>

Large numbers of sick combatants in their care were initially treated for dengue fever. They were persuaded by two factors to revise this initial diagnosis to favour malaria due to:

* Based on his pre-war medical work in the southern Solomons with the former British Colonial Administration, Lieutenant Frank Stackpool (Lieutenant, AIF Intelligence; later Lieutenant then Captain, British Solomon Island Protectorate Defence Force), an Australian guide to the US Marine landing at Tulagi, was present at Guadalcanal campaign headquarters to explain the British administration’s effective anti-malaria treatment policy and practices in the southern Solomons in the many years preceding the war.
*The Australian was also able to demonstrate that sick indigenous employees, for whom he was responsible, responded very well to malaria treatment in that tropical environment.

On seeing these successful results first-hand, US Marine medical staff very quickly adopted similar malaria treatment practices for their sick combatants in care.

The initial approach to treat for dengue fever instead of malaria is understandable given that deadly Plasmodium falciparum is the predominant malaria in the Solomon Islands but it was not so in places familiar to US Marine medical staff such as Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, where less deadly Plasmodium vivax malaria predominated.

Both Mr Martin Clemens’ (CBE, MC, AM) book “Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story”, Annapolis Maryland, Naval Institute Press, 1998 and also Mr D.C. Horton’s book, “Fire Over the Islands”, Sydney, Reed, 1979, mentions Mr F. Stackpool as the Government Dispenser (i.e. Pharmacist/Chemist). In fact, Mr Stackpool, held this position in the former British Colonial Administration (Medical Service) from the year 1929 until 1942 at Tulagi and then 1943 to 1948 at Aola, later at Honiara in the Solomon Islands.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
*{{cite book
 | last = Clemens
 | first = Martin
 | author-link = Martin Clemens
 | year = 2004|edition=reissue
 | title = Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story
 | publisher = Bluejacket Books
 | isbn = 1-59114-124-9
}}
*{{cite book
 | last = Feldt
 | first = Eric Augustus
 | author-link = Eric Augustas Feldt
 | year = 1991
 | orig-year = 1946
 | title = The Coastwatchers
 | publisher = Penguin Books 
 | location = Victoria, Australia
 | isbn = 0-14-014926-0
}}
*{{cite book
 | last = Feuer
 | first = A. B.
 | year = 1992
 | title = Coastwatching in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series)
 | publisher = Stackpole Books
 | location = Westport, Connecticut, USA
 | isbn = 0-8117-3329-7
}}
*{{cite book
 | last = Jersey
 | first = Stanley Coleman
 | year = 2008
 | title = Hell's Islands: The Untold Story of Guadalcanal
 | publisher = Texas A&M University Press
 | location = [[College Station, Texas]]
 | isbn = 978-1-58544-616-2
}}
*{{cite book
 | last = Lord
 | first = Walter
 | orig-year = 1977| year = 2006
 | title = Lonely Vigil; Coastwatchers of the Solomons
 | publisher = Naval Institute Press
 | isbn = 1-59114-466-3
}}

[[Category:Solomon Islands in World War II]]
[[Category:Military by former country|Solomon Islands]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the British Empire in World War II]]