Coming of Age in the Cannibal Isles: A Peace Corps Memoir, Fiji 1969-72

by Fred Bell

In 1969, a naive young Berkeley graduate, determined to make the world a better place, joins the Peace Corps. He finds himself living in the tropical paradise of Fiji, formerly known as the 'Cannibal Isles', as a full-time forester, - with a hundred employees to supervise. Inexperienced, yet self-confident to the max, he embarks on a 4-year-long adventure during which he dives deeply into the culture, becoming fluent in the Fijian language, eating everything from fruit bats to raw fish, earning the nickname 'Vuku Levu', or spiritually inspired one, and finding that dancing with Rotumans is better than 'Saturday Night Fever'

Like most Peace Corps Volunteers, he learns that the Peace Corps is far more than sending educated and enthusiastic young Americans to use Western science and technology to help solve problems in third world countries. It is a two-way educational process where the volunteers learn about life from people they live and work with. The Fijian culture had only recently turned its back on witch doctors still put curses on people, and some individuals could walk on fire, leading Fred to question strict adherence to the precepts of Western science.

With the wisdom and candor borne of distance and maturity, Fred admits to experiences that are funny, sometimes embarrassing, occasionally scary. With the help of his friends and neighbors he learns 'to listen to learn', to tread the difficult waters of blatant racism, to maneuver the tricky business of female relationships, and to build skills useful to his future career of international forestry. This is the author's story of coming of age, but it is also about bridging greater understanding of different cultures to the reader. As we understand each other better, we have a chance at peace.

145 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2022

About the author

Dr. Fred Bell was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on August 10, 1943. Fred’s lineage was science-based and Fred’s father, Allan Bell, was a scientist who worked with the late Henry Ford, Senior. Allan Bell assisted in bringing the London Bridge from England to the middle of the Arizona desert and built a city around it, today called Havasu City.


At age 14-15 Fred studied at the University of Michigan in the Randolph Laboratory (now demolished), where he was mentored by Dr. Donald L. Katz, a physicist brought to the United States of America from Germany after World War II as part of Operation Paperclip, who later won 24 national and international awards. While working for Dr. Katz in the Randolph Laboratory, Fred Bell worked on a magnetic disintegration project (later known as the Philadelphia Experiment), a high temperature fusion experiment, bubble project (later known as Cold Fusion), and shockwave experimentation that led to the classification of high altitude nuclear blasts, nuclear explosions over water, underground nuclear blasts, and nuclear explosions at ground level. One included the latter part of the Manhattan Project (in the late 1950s).


In addition, Fred Bell worked with the University of Michigan's Cyclotron, doing experiments with the bombardment of nuclear particles and their collisions involving reverse time—as observed in a Wilson Cloud Chamber. As a result of this, Dr. Bell built the world’s first time machine, called the T-1 Time Travel Transposer, that allows time travel into the future, in increments of microseconds.


At age 16 and younger, Fred went by the name "Bill", short for his middle name, William. In 1960 Fred enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked on highly classified projects including early warning radar defense systems. The sister SAGE site to Dr. Bell’s was later known as “Montauk”.


Fred was one of the first to bring public awareness of the famed DDS Form 332, which was used by the U.S. military to report to higher command about any unidentified aircraft activities (unidentified flying objects). Once such a report was processed in a strategic air command center (SAC), a computerized profile was run on the sighting and a determination was made whether to scramble fighter aircraft for international defense.


At 18, Fred worked in the private defense sector with companies such as North American Aviation, Autonetic, and Rocketdyne, on projects such as Star Wars (military version), laser development, Saturn Rocket second stage development, the Eyelass Project (a subdivision of Star Wars where a laser beam is fired to Earth from satellites), submarine and missile guidance systems, and finally, the lunar lander project known as the Apollo missions.


In 1967 Fred left his NASA-related position and worked in the private sector for 7-8 years, consulting companies, government agencies, defense contractors, chemical companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and mental institutions, on topics such as: computer science, biological science, medical science, environmental testing, quality control, weaponry, aircraft research, advanced propulsion technologies, and a variety of other technical issues.


Next he left the defense sector, studied Eastern philosophy, and trained with Himalayan teachers. He became a practicing chiropractor and naturopath after receiving his Ph.D in Homeopathic Medicine. He began lecturing with the National Health Federation worldwide. He continued working as a scientist, studying quantum mechanics, quantum physics and quantum biology. Knowing about technologies and corporate and government actions that are detrimental to the human body, Dr. Bell began looking at ways to protect human beings.


For this reason in 1975 Dr. Fred Bell founded his company, Pyradyne. He invented and patented the famed first wearable original Nuclear Receptor seen below—a miniature satellite dish worn as a pendant on a necklace. The Nuclear Receptor utilizes te