J. Walter Isaacs

J. Walter Isaacs (1896-1943) was a Capricornian army commander.

Biography
Isaacs was born in Regal Town at 228 Berm Street, on 7th November 1896. He was born to a Capricornian father and a British mother, and was given the birth name Jalea Walter Isa'au. This became anglicised to J. Walter Isaacs over time.

Isaacs was schooled in the U.K. and received his military training at Sandhurst in Buckinghamshire. He served briefly towards the end of World War I in France, before returning home to the Capricorn Islands, which was still under British control.

Isaacs had excellent leadership qualities and soon rose through the ranks to be a lieutenant by the time World War II broke out in the Pacific Ocean.

The British were driven out of the Capricorn Islands on 13th March 1942 by the Japanese, reaching their outer limit on their Pacific expansion. The government and leading armed forces officials, including Isaacs, were evacuated to the nearby U.S. controlled Altarea.

Following the Japanese reversal at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Isaacs was at the forefront of the invasion plan which was to start at the Capricorn Islands and work north-westward. Under cover of night Capricornian forces, allied with the U.S.A. landed on 9th January 1943, claiming the western portion of the island. That night, Isaacs famously wrote in his diary;"From my vantage point in the clouds, I look down and survey my country. It falls on me to defend our nation and our honour; what prouder achievement can there be for a man. The beauty of our nation filleth my heart, this tropical heaven to which no mortal man is worthy of laying eyes upon. To those who doubt, I ask, who did bestow these jewels amongst the ocean? The Lord is with us. Let us dream of salvation and, as one man, if the hour comes, enter the kingdom of heaven."The following day Isaacs led the attack force which drove the occupiers out of the country and into the sea. Nearing the end of the battle, Isaacs however was killed in heavy shelling from the retreating Japanese.

Legacy
Isaacs received great praise for his bravery and leadership and over time became a national hero as a liberator. His closing words in his diary, written above, later were adapted to become the national anthem of the Capricorn Islands, Capricorn's Beauty.

The airport on the islands is named after him; the J. Walter Isaacs International Airport.

He is buried in the army cemetery on Green Valley Street on the outskirts of Regal Town.