This is excellent so you even managed to get some space for romance and took an Aussie lady back to the USA. That's must be quite rare, or isn't it? I heard that many English girls maried Americans, but I didn't know about Australian women.
So basically you had to stay on the islands with the humidity and the bugs, or face a long travel to australia. Quite a challenge. Was it dangerous to commute like this, because of Japanese subs or aircrafts, or were they absent form this zone for good in 1944?

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