Passing the torch

World War II veteran finds help returning hand-made candleholder to Solomon Islands

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Nov 10, 2009, Updated Nov 12, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Jim Clark / The Outlook

Don Chalmers holds a WWII-era Japanese rifle he brought home from Guadalcanal. He recently returned an ornate candle holder he found in a war-destroyed chapel in the Solomon Islands in 1942.

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While stationed on Gavutu Island during the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II in August 1942, Don Chalmers wasn’t exactly on a treasure-hunting mission.

He was therefore amazed when, amid the rubble of a chapel ransacked by Japanese soldiers, he came across two wooden, ornately hand-carved candleholders.

“We were rummaging around,” he says of the Florida Islands house of worship. “The chapel was trashed. The candlesticks were so out of place in this rubble. It was amazing they weren’t damaged.”

As best as Chalmers can recall, one of the sublime souvenirs was damaged by water while he was stationed on the USS Coxswain.

The other one, however, ended up gracing the mantel of his and his wife Donna’s Gresham home for decades.

“It was an item of interest to share with people,” the Boeing retiree says from his well-appointed living room. “We did put a candle in it. It was part of our living room for a long time.”

Despite its appeal and symbolic value, Chalmers, 87, had always thought about returning the souvenir to its rightful home. A long-discussed return visit never materialized, but with the help of a San Diego, Calif., physician, Chalmers finally fulfilled his mission.

Dr. Eileen Natuzzi returned the artifact to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Dr. Derek Sikua in late June. Chalmers contacted her after reading an article she wrote in the Guadalcanal Echoes newsletter.

“Her father had been in the Navy in Guadalcanal as well,” Chalmers says of Natuzzi. “She took her mother back there to visit.”

Don and Donna Chalmers carefully wrapped and packaged the candleholder – likely made of coconut wood, they suspect, with mother-of-pearl inlays – and shipped it to Natuzzi in California.

“She was enthusiastic about it,” Don Chalmers says. “It’s amazing she was willing to carry it on the plane with her.”

Knowing they were doing the right thing mitigated any nostalgia the couple had about parting with an object that had been part of their lives for 60 years.

“There was a little touch of that,” Don Chalmers says, “but we were glad it got where it belonged.”

The Solomon Times newspaper documented the return event in its June 22 edition, complete with a picture of Natuzzi handing over the artifact to Sikua. The prime minister offered the candleholder as a gift to the country’s National Museum.

Museum Director Lawrence Foanaota expressed appreciation for the gesture.

“Sometimes some of our leaders do not see such returned artifacts as important to our national heritage,” he told the Solomon Times, “and would rather keep the artifacts themselves. It is only proper that all Solomon Islanders should also have the chance to share and own this object of great historical value.”

Chalmers, who has yet to actually meet Natuzzi, says connecting with her before her visit seems serendipitous.

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