NEW CALEDONIA COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Robert Lyle Brown 1944-1948 Principal Officer, Noumea Claude . Ross 1949-1952 Principal Officer, Noumea Lewis M. Wright 1955-1957 Vice Consul and Principal Officer, Noumea Samuel . Wise, ,r. 195--1957 Vice Consul, Noumea Lester .dmond 1977-1979 /.S. Representati0e to the South Pacific Commission, Noumea ROBERT LYLE BROWN Principal Officer Noumea ( 944- 948) Robert Lyle Brown entered the Foreign Service in 1944. His career included positions in Morocco Japan Taiwan and Washington DC. Mr. Brown was interviewed by Charles S. Kennedy in 1990. 12 (ou had a very interesting first assignment almost unique. (ou went to Noumea New Caledonia from 1944-194.. Did you get any training before you went overseas/ BROWN2 We met in the old War 3epartment Building which had become the new State 3epartment which is now the old State 3epartment which is the new .4ecuti0e Office Building near the White 5ouse. We were in a training class on the ground floor of about twenty-fi0e new 6oreign Ser0ice officers. A fellow by the name of 6oster, a former Consul eneral who had ser0ed in South Africa. 5e had pic8ed up some of the Southern African brogue. We had to learn accounts, 0isa and passport issuances and all the other 6oreign Ser0ice functions. We had two or three boo8s to wor8 with, called 96oreign Ser0ice Regulations.9 That was it. We had tests and we had fi0e wee8s of training. I had said that I be assigned o0erseas where the troops were. I didn't care where or what as long as it was near troops. When the assignments were posted, I saw Paris and a lot of places I 8new. And then there was Noumea. Nobody 8new where Noumea was. I didn't as8 the head of the course because he would ha0e told me to go to the library. So I went down the hall where there were a lot of 6oreign Ser0ice old-timers who tal8ed in a 0ery precise manner. I as8ed one whether he 8new where Noumea was. 5e loo8ed at me in complete disdain. I told him that I had just been assigned there. 5e said2 9In that case, you should certainly 8now that it is in New Caledonia.9 I than8ed him profusely, although I still didn't ha0e the 0aguest idea where that was. I finally went to the library to find out where I had been assigned. I did get near the troops and it was an absolutely unique e4perience because it was a one man post. .0entually, our .mbassy in Australia ga0e up on trying to 8eep the New 5ebrides because I got too far ahead of them on my reporting. It recommended, and the 3epartment agreed, that the New 5ebrides be put under my consular jurisdiction. I reported directly to Washington. I had the pri0ilege of signing my own name to the telegrams. I had no one to consult. I had no telephones. I was the pouch cler8, the communications officer who encrypted and decrypted messages, the 0isa issuing officer--which was a struggle in itself because the requirements at that time required 51 percent Caucasian blood and I was in a melting pot. We had a 3e aullist appointed as go0ernor of the Island. The 3e aullists did not li8e Americans that much in any e0ent. We had the Army and Na0y ma8ing certain presumpti0e mo0es because they were bigger than e0erybody else on the Island, in including the go0ernment. There were as many as 100 ships sitting out in the port at one time. So I had a lot of seaman-shipping wor8. I also had to negotiate on behalf of the military on things that had to be done or trying to protect the military while the 6rench were trying to mo0e in. 12 0ive us an illustration of the problems created by our military. BROWN2 6or e4ample, they wanted to e4pand their bases, because they needed more room, or they wanted to mo0e some hea0y equipment o0er some roads which were then left in gross disrepair or the military decided to go on a Sunday to shoot some deer and shot some cows also or you had a murder by an American Colonel of a Polynesian nati0e. On that one, I was called at three o'cloc8 in the morning. I was the first person on the scene and 8ept the 6rench out of it until I found out the facts. Then I had to resol0e the matter. It was a potpourri of things. I had /S Na0y ships coming into the New Caledonian waters without permission after the war was o0er. I had not been ad0ised and neither had the New Caledonian go0ernment. I then had to try to pic8 up the pieces. The Na0y had a big base with a lot of people. I was only twenty-four when I went to Noumea, but I was a lot older when I left. I had to 8eep the accounts for all the other /S go0ernment agencies ha0ing offices in Noumea, including the .conomic Cooperation Administration and the War Shipping Administration. There were about si4 different go0ernment agencies for whom I had to 8eep the accounts, pay the bills, write orders, and implement all the telegraphic transfers and other communications. 12 How did you deal with the French government in New Caledonia/ BROWN2 It was one of the times that I had the proper insight. I was smart enough to 8now that I had a lot to learn and didn't ha0e many resources at my command. If I couldn't get people to wor8 with me and help me, I 8new that many matters would not proceed as well as they should. We had admirals and generals by the dozens, flying in and out. I had studied 6rench in college, although I ne0er had used it orally, but I could communicate with the 6rench go0ernment officials, including the Mayor and his entourage. At times my lac8 of e4perience was a handicap, but my sincerity, youth, good faith and the will--ne0er say 9No9, but rather 9I'll try9--wor8ed out 0ery well. People might assume that I was ta8en ad0antage of because of the drawbac8s. Some could ha0e ta8en ad0antage of me, but I found that the relationship with both the /S military and with the 6rench, including two go0ernors, Chiefs of Staff, the 6rench military, and the local go0ernment, were e4cellent. The good wor8ing relationship with the military was to pay off subsequently when the bases were closed. As I loo8 bac8 on it, I now realize how luc8y I was and how well it wor8ed out, simply because of attitude. 12 Were the French officials fighting with the American military/ BROWN2 They were not fighting the Americans because they too were in a far away place with a war going on, but you can imagine what happened with all of the Na0y ships in port coming and going and the aircraft landing and ta8ing off and all the good things--the Army-Na0y clubs not to mention the war material. The importation of ci0ilian goods to maintain the Red Cross and the Army personnel was passi0ely agreed to by the 6rench e4cept when they got pushed and things got so gross that they had pull the system up to let them 8now there was a 6rench go0ernment. Our military of course couldn't wait and always had to things immediately. When the war in the Pacific ended and Americans began to lea0e it become e0ident that many did not want to see the /S withdraw but rather replace 6rance as the political power. The 9colonials,9 as differentiated from the 9metropolitan9 coming directly from 6rance to manage the country Aboth politically and economically), wanted us to stay Abasically for economic reasons)C the indentured laborers from Indonesia and Indochina felt that we Athe /S) was a friend and that their interests rested far more with us than the 6rench, and the Melanesian nati0es who considered their interests would be better under the Americans than the 6rench. In short we had earned the respect of a 0ariety of nationals, many of whom wanted us to stay. I remember well sending dispatch to the 3epartment on this subject and concluding that the bottom line for the 6rench was that their heads said 9yes9 but their hearts said 9no.9 The bottom line was that after all that had transpired we were departing a Pacific island nation where we had gained the respect of a 0aried number of foreign nationals. 12 How did the departure of the Americans ta2e place/ BROWN2 When the war in .urope was o0er--V. 3ay--that was a big deal for us in the Pacific, but we still had a war to fight in the Pacific. On the other hand, the war had continued to mo0e through the Solomons to the north and we were becoming a supply and training base and e0en those ser0ices were beginning to mo0e north and our presence was being drawn down--fewer ships, fewer personnel. At the beginning, we were in one of the centers of the action, but as time passed, so did the role of New Caledonia. When V, 3ay came in August, 1945, e0erybody wanted to get home, including me. My commitment to myself was that the day the war was o0er, I would send a cable of resignation. But there was too much to do. When the American military started to mo0e--it can mo0e into battle and out of it pretty quic8ly.