In his later years my dad told me about many of the famous Marines from the war. It was interesting, so many of the heros were fish out of water in peacetime. Misfits until the next war.
God be with all of them.
Posted on 08/07/2005 5:00:08 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
This Day In History | World War II
August 7
1942 U.S. forces invade Guadalcanal
On this day in 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division begins Operation Watchtower, the first U.S. offensive of the war, by landing on Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands.
On July 6, 1942, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal Island and began constructing an airfield there. Operation Watchtower was the codename for the U.S. plan to invade Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands. During the attack, American troops landed on five islands within the Solomon chain. Although the invasion came as a complete surprise to the Japanese (bad weather had grounded their scouting aircraft), the landings on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tananbogo met much initial opposition from the Japanese defenders.
But the Americans who landed on Guadalcanal met little resistance-at least at first. More than 11,000 Marines had landed, and 24 hours had passed, before the Japanese manning the garrison there knew of the attack. The U.S. forces quickly took their main objective, the airfield, and the outnumbered Japanese troops retreated, but not for long. Reinforcements were brought in, and fierce hand-to-hand jungle fighting ensued. "I have never heard or read of this kind of fighting," wrote one American major general on the scene. "These people refuse to surrender."
The Americans were at a particular disadvantage, being assaulted from both the sea and air. But the U.S. Navy was able to reinforce its troops to a greater extent, and by February 1943, the Japanese had retreated on secret orders of their emperor (so secret, the Americans did not even know it had taken place until they began happening upon abandoned positions, empty boats, and discarded supplies). In total, the Japanese had lost more than 25,000 men, compared with a loss of 1,600 by the Americans. Each side lost 24 warships.
The first Medal of Honor given to a Marine was awarded to Sgt. John Basilone for his fighting during Operation Watchtower. According to the recommendation for his medal, he "contributed materially to the defeat and virtually the annihilation of a Japanese regiment."
Wow..............by himself????????
ok
Look at those totals. How did the administration ever get this quagmire by a "dutifully watchful" congress?
What kind of exit strategy did this administration have that allowed them to continue to fight in spite of obviously being bogged down here?
How were the prisoners (the Japs of course-no need to worry about how the evil, war mongering Americans were treated-they probably deserved what they got) treated. Guadalcanal is tropical isn't it? Did the Jap prisoners have the proper air-conditioninig?
We could probably learn a lot about how a war should be properly fought by looking at how we handled these issues in the past when we knew how to fight and win wars.
The only enlisted Marine in WWII to recieve the Navy Cross, The Purple Heart, and the MOH-read his bio from his MOH citation-
Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, they will tell you, endures as "the Pride of the USMC." When the USMC began the long, bloody process of rooting the Japanese from the islands of the Pacific, Basilone was known as "Manila John."
He had soldiered in Philippines in 1930s, and Manila was his favorite topic of conversation - that and his family in Raritan, NJ, where he was 1 of 10 children of an Italian tailor. But for one long night in October 1942, Manila John had little to think about except an overwhelming force of Japanese. He was on Guadalcanal, trying to preserve a thin USMC and Army defense line around Henderson Field. A wave of Japanese soldiers knocked out the machine guns on his left. Basilone lifted a machine gun and its tripod - 90 pounds of weaponry - raced 200 yards to the silenced gun pit and started firing. Japanese bodies began stacking up in front of the emplacement. Enemy soldiers attacked his rear. He cut them down with his pistol. Short of shells, he dashed 200 yards amid a stream of bullets to an ammunition dump and returned with an armload of ammo. Flares lit up more swarms of grenade-tossing attackers. Basilone fired till heat blistered his hands and kept shooting. At dawn, he rested his head on the edge of the pit. Nearby lay 38 enemy bodies. The line had held.
For proving the Japanese not invincible, Basilone came home with the Medal of Honor. The Government sent him across the country on a tour that prompted $1.4 million in war-bond pledges. The USMC offered to make him an officer and let him spend the rest of the war in Wash, DC. His response: "I ain't no officer, and I ain't no museum piece. I belong back with my outfit."
By 1944, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California, where he met and married Lena Riggi, a fellow USMC Sgt. Before Christmas, he kissed her goodbye and shipped out.
On February 19, 1945 - the day the USMC invaded Iwo Jima -was again in action. Enemy gunfire pinned his platoon to the black sand - everyone, that is, but Basilone, who walked straight up, kicking butts and yelling, "Get off the beach! Move out!" His men moved. An enemy mortar round exploded in their midst. Manila John, among the wounded, he died an hour and a half later. He was 27. NY Times noted in an editorial that there always had been Americans like Basilone, men willing to fight for their country even when they knew their luck couldn't last. "The finest monument they could have," the Times said, would be an enduring resolve by all of us to this time fashion an enduring peace." KIA, Iwo Jima. "Manila John."
Pathetic isn't it how far we have fallen. I fear for our future.
It'd be nice if the Times would write editorials like that today.
In his later years my dad told me about many of the famous Marines from the war. It was interesting, so many of the heros were fish out of water in peacetime. Misfits until the next war.
God be with all of them.
Let's just be thankful the idiots running the Times today weren't around back then.
Couldn't he have done so much more good by coming home and in John F'ing Kerry, anti-war fashion betrayed his fellow soldiers? Perhaps married a wealthy lady or two, joined the Democrat Party and gotten himself elected? Maybe even run for President?
Now that's a story that today's NYT would love to write.
The Japanese thought that was the attitude of the Americans they were facing in 1942. Unfortunately for them they were in for quite a surprise.
The ironic thing is that my 16 year old grandson wanted to hear some of my brothers war stories and for the biggest part of a day we three sat around while my brother unloaded (first he ever really did that). We joked that he and the other brother probably saw each other but they were so shabby and dirty they wouldn't have known each other. They did have a big discussion after the war when they got home.
One thing that was interesting was that several days before my brothers visit I saw a program telling of the entire campaign of Guadalcanal and my brother described some of the incidents that were shown in the documentary.
The ironic thing is that my 16 year old grandson wanted to hear some of my brothers war stories and for the biggest part of a day we three sat around while my brother unloaded (first he ever really did that). We joked that he and the other brother probably saw each other but they were so shabby and dirty they wouldn't have known each other. They did have a big discussion after the war when they got home.
One thing that was interesting was that several days before my brothers visit I saw a program telling of the entire campaign of Guadalcanal and my brother described some of the incidents that were shown in the documentary.
Awesome story.
The Marines did land on the beach with little or no resistence.But the Japs found out they sent aircraft to attack the supporting fleet.The merchant marine fleet turned tail and ran leaving the abandoned Marines on the beach with VERY little amunition and practically no food.
There was a point during the battle that the Navy brass wrote the battle as lost and was about to tell the President the bad news.They just didn't tell the Marines on the Island that who knew by that time if they didn't win they would all die.The Japanees didn't take prisoners there.
How lucky for your grandson to hear this history right from the source, his Great Uncle!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.