Preface

The following “John Frum, he come,” The Novel is based on a subject few people have read much about – the effect of Cargo Cults in the South Pacific prior to World War II. European coconut plantation owners, primarily British, had held the natives in virtual slavery for at least 100 years. While this was a very serious situation, this story (which shares the same title as a 1974 non-fiction book by Edward Rice) takes a satirical and humorous approach, making it “a good read.”

Through extensive and detailed research, I have preserved the historical accuracy of the time. I was ably assisted in understanding the native point of view by an American friend, Donald Chas, who lived in the South Pacific islands for a prolonged period.

John Frum, he come! is about the friendship of two men from opposite sides of the globe who come together in a cultural clash that neither of them fully understands. Yani is a young shaman of a stone-age tribe and Moses McDuff is an inept and naïve Boston missionary who tries to bring the “benefits of civilization” to an island aptly named Christ’s Despair. Christian Missionaries were the unwitting tools of the European exploiters

According to local history and legend, in the 1930s an American named John Frum tried to get the natives to ignore the missionaries, and “go back to custom.” The British Government supposedly put a price on his head. To merely get caught saying the underground code words –“John Frum, he come!” – could earn a Pacific native two years in jail. Yani believes in a Cargo Cult that says John Frum will bring a shipload of food and tools for his people and they will never have to work again. This story is a snapshot of life on one of the Solomon Islands just before the U.S. Marines arrived for WWII’s famous Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.

This story uses humor and irony to tell a tale of a growing crisis that was halted by World War II. It addresses the plight of Pacific Island natives tempted by dreams of wealth, and the white men who did not seem have the slightest notion a problem existed.

Yani and McDuff go through many adventures involving headhunters, self-serving white men, the Imperial Japanese Army, and the U.S. Navy. The surprising outcome will amuse you and cause you to think about the nature of synchronicity.

— Bill Schroeder, November 2011