[Britton J Wingfield]

This has probably been on here at somepoint, but it's new to me. Enjoy.

[ArrogantBustard]

I've seen this before, but many thanks for posting it again. Some may disagree with me, but I consider this to be far and away Vin's best column ever.

AB

[WhyToKay]

Thanks very much. Printing this out for my son, a junior in High School, a Lt. in the Marine Corps Junior ROTC, a Texas A&M hopeful and (also hopefully), a future Marine Corps Officer.

[mrsmith]

here
I'm glad to see it posted again.
The way John, God bless him and I know he has good reasons, is changing the way this place works, it's advisable to repost some of these inspiring articles.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[patent]

Bump.

[Iron Eagle]

There were so many great stories of personal courage by individuals acting selflessly. Here is another:

Cpl. Anthony Casamento

[Mr. Lucky]

But who remembers...

I wonder if there's a public school system in America where battles such as Guadalcanal or the heroism of such as Sgt. Paige are even mentioned, yet alone studied.

[bluetoad]

bump

[Dawntreader]

Bump to read later...

[topher]

while the South Dakota — known throughout the fleet as a jinx ship — managed to damage some lesser Japanese vessels but continued to be plagued with electrical and fire control problems.

The real problem with the USS South Dakota was the time between when it was laid down and put in service. There were not enough time spent making the ship "battleship worthy". When those 16 inch guns fire, they can cause havoc on a battleship -- in terms of vibration.

Basically, it got down to the fact that USS South Dakota took only about a year to put in service, and others, such as USS Washington and the Iowa class ships, took well over two years.

It wasn't a jinx'ed ship, but rather, the engineering was poor in terms of making the electrical systems withstand the pounding of those 16 inch guns.

But an important part of the Naval battle was omitted.

When cruisers and other ships were peppering the USS South Dakota because she was ablaze with fires and an easy target, the USS Washington manuevered in front, to block the enemies, and put the USS Washington in danger.

A truly heroic act, as this caused the USS Washington to come under fire. But not for long. The Japanese lacked any stomach for battle when they saw their battleship hopelessly sinking... They turned tale and ran...

[RaceBannon]

No, I never read it like that. That is a great story!

[backhoe]

I greatly appreciate your posting this story. I'm familiar with it from books I read long ago, but it's good to be reminded, and a fine thing for those who have not heard this tale.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Oh Yea! That's the stuff. Thanks.

[MadelineZapeezda]

Inspirational bump to a true hero of mine.

[Nitro]

[fnord]

Semper Fi bump

[SunkenCiv]

This is not the same topic (at least, I don't think so), but this one must be older (2001 I think) than the other one, and you will like it.

As Paige — then a platoon sergeant — and his riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled Brownings, it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

[...]

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings — the same design which John Moses Browning famously fired for a continuous 25 minutes until it ran out of ammunition at its first U.S. Army trial — and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went.

The weapon did not fail.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley first discovered the answer to our question: How many able-bodied Marines does it take to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat?

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring.

One hill: one Marine.

[Tribune7]

The Japanese Army had not failed in an attempt to seize any major objective since the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.

Most are unaware of this.

[ThanhPhero]

This should probably be posted at least annually.

[bert]

Two years ago I studied the Soloman’s campaign in detail. Beside my chair was my laptop with Google Earth with which it is possible to see all these obscure places......they are all still there.

Amazingly, the ridge noted above, the two rivers bitterly and bloodily fought over in what was ancient jungle, are all within the boundaries of a modern city of some 40,000 people.