The clean wind blew from the Pacific, rippled the Stars & Stripes and the Union Jack flying side by side over the battered Gilberts. By virtue of a bloody conquest, the U.S. Navy had assumed military control over the 16 coral atolls. By virtue of a 49-year rule (1892-1941), broken briefly by the Japs, the British Colonial Office reassumed civil control.
On the second day of the Marines' landing, while the struggle for Tarawa was still nip-&-tuck, two seasoned British Empire servants had come ashore: Lieut. Colonel Vivian Fox-Strangways, India-born, Africa-trained, Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony; and Major...
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