European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse The 76th army band during a practice Melon below French Horn player Dean f. Russian secondary Mission is defending Panzer Cavern and the commending Gener Al of the 21sl support come. Its photos by Gus Schuettler celebrating on Christmas Island associated Pressi n the tiny sell Lemens of London. Pans and Poland on Christmas Island in the Central Pacific. The few who can Allord Tho luxury will feast this Christmas on roast pig. Most will celebrate with fresh of a. Local vegetables like bread Ruil and a powerful alcoholic drink made from Coconut milk for the 1.700 people of Christmas Island dec 25 is a Day of religious significance and the anniversary of european discovery. On that Day in 1777. As the British warship Resolution Rode at Anchor in the Turquoise Blue Lagoon explorer James Cook named the world s largest Coral atoll. As we kept our Christmas he recorded in the ship s log we called it Christmas this Day he went on the people his Crew were served fresh pork fish and double allowances of liquor which enabled them to spend the evening with mirth and today Christmas now spelled Kinli Mali Island is part of the Remote and poverty Slacken Republic of Kiribati formally the British Gilbert group in 933, she u s. Senate formally ended a Long running dispute with Britain Over ownership of the atoll and recognized the sovereignly granted by London o Kiribati pronounced Kir Bass upon its Independence in 1979 nearly 2,000 Miles from the National capital of Tarawa Christmas Island is often described As nothing More than a Flat dry Sand Heap. It s the Only Pacific Island i have Ever seen said an australian Aid officer that suffers from droughts and them is one Light a week from Hawaii and according to an australian Diplomat it would be Foolhardy to rely on the copra boat from Tarawa you could end up being stuck there for a year or More the Diplomat said. The Only on the Island is the 24-room Captain Cook hotel and those who need urgent hospitalization must wait Lor a us. Coast guard shop to arrive irom Hawaii. In Tho 209 years since Cook s Visil the atoll i isl 145 Miles North of Iho Equator has been ravaged by Waves of europeans. First there Weie the whalers then phosphate miners. With world War ii came troops from the United Stales and new zealand. The Advent of the nuclear age brought scientists and technicians. A series of British and american experiments during the 1950s and 1960s led Christmas Island looking like a nuclear graveyard the Aid officer said to the Side of the Island s Only Roadway and beneath the Palms the Coral Sand is filtered with rust Irig while the discarded pieces of equipment and the old Litick bodies decay in the tropical heal he said thai much of the abandoned Iron and Limber has been recovered and used to build Homes locally produced materials Ara nonexistent and imported goods Are prohibitively expensive the average per capita income of the Micron asians who migrated to it Vilmas Island during the past two centuries is less than $250 a year. There is Small fishing Industry but the Kiribati government is the Only Large Lull time employer and life generally is Etc nah ii As precarious " despite the hardships. Christmas Day will he again this year by All but a few followers of the i to the British and american missionaries most of the people Are a deeply Christian lot. The australian Diplomat said. They do like to celeb rain Christmas the Way we do in the although he general stores Don t Stock expensive artificial Christmas Trees he said the people will decorate their Homes with tinsel lights and pieces of Silver paper. They will go to Church they will s no hymns in me Street and they will probably Pool their resources to buy a fat roasting he said the nil Denu Olch Rittu Leland celebrate the surf Iyo la to Torf � ffcmniio�6�mfc�f. A 19. 1986
