The FReeper Foxhole Remembers "Operation Watchtower" - Guadalcanal (8/1942-2/1943) - Aug. 28th, 2003

grunts.net ^ | Joseph Leach

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

God Bless America
...................................................................................... ...........................................

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The Battle of Guadalcanal

Shortly after defeating the Japanese at the battle of Midway, the United States decided to push into the strategically important area of the southwest Pacific. Now that Hawaii was deemed secure from immediate attack it was time to take the fight to the Japanese. Both American C.O.'s in the Pacific,General Douglas MacArthur (SW Pacific) and Admiral Chester Nimitz (Pacific Ocean) were offensive minded, aggressive leaders, and welcomed the directive that came from the Joint Chiefs on July 2, 1942. This directive called for parallel attacks on Rabaul Island, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands Chain. Plans were started for attacking in these areas immediately.

Just as fast the plans had to be looked at from a different angle, when air recon showed that the Japanese were moving troops from Tulagi to Guadalcanal and building an airfield on the latter. These islands were next to each other in the lower Solomon Chain. The Americans had been warned earlier by Australian Coast watchers that the Japanese were starting to occupy Guadalcanal,an island 90 miles by 25 miles and covered mostly by rain forests,mountains, and swamps. A Japanese airfield here would jeopardize all U.S.forces in the area. Guadalcanal had to be taken and taken right away. Normally the island would fall under the command of MacArthur,but for now the boundary between the two commands was moved, giving command of the operation to Nimitz.


Marines quickly exit their landing craft directly in the palm tree line. Landing close to the trees gave the Marines cover from possible Japanese defenses.

Preparation and training started at a feverish pace. Nimitz assiagned three carrier groups (Saratoga, Wasp, and Enterprize) under the command of Admiral Fletcher to support the operation. Fletcher was in over-all command of the operation. Admiral Turner was in command of the landing force. This force consisted of the lst Marine division and a regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.(19,000 men) General Vandergrift commanded these troops. Lastly the operation was backed up by a joint force (TF44) of American and Australian cruisers and destroyers.


Raising the Colors on Guadalcanal after the initial landings, circa 7 August 1942.
Officer standing second from right in this group appears to be the First Marine Division commander, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC.

At 0900 hours on 8/7/42 (8 months to the day after the sneak attack on Pearl harbor) 11,000 Marines landed on Guadalcanal after a lengthy naval and air bombardment. The landing was not contested by the Japaese and the airfield was secured that first day. Tulagi was also hit by a force of 1,000 Marines and it was a different story. The Japanese resisted fiercely and in two days fighting the Marines killed just about all of them.

On the 2nd day things became more difficultt for the Marines on Guadalcanal. Fletcher withdrew the Carrier groups for fear of air attacks from Rabaul. Turner did the same with the transports. The Marines were now on their own in enemy territory. To make matters worse for them, Turner's transports held much needed supplies and equipment. In addittion to the supplies there were also 1,000 Marines still on the transports that would be sorely needed in the coming hours. The only naval force in the area were the patrolling ships of TF44. Vandergrift put the Marines in a five mile long defensive perimeter and started to finish building the airfield with the equipment he had, plus that which the Japanese left.


Captain Warren Frederick Martin Clemens, British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defense Force (BSIPDF), with six members of the BSIPDF Scouts, on Guadalcanal circa the later part of 1942.
Clemens identifies these men as (standing beside him): Daniel Pule (left) and Andrew Langabaea. Those seated are (left to right): Olorere, Gumu, Chaparuka and Chaku.
Each of the Scouts is armed with a British SMLE #1 rifle. Clemens, the British Colonial Service District Officer on Guadalcanal, had remained on the island throughout its May-August 1942 occupation by the Japanese.

The Japanese Commander in the area, Admiral Mikawa, sent a naval force from Rabaul down between the islands of the Solomon Chain (known as "The Slot") on the night of the 8th and hit TF 44 by suprise. In two quick battles off savo Island the allied force lost the Canberra, Quincy, Astoria, Vincennes, and the Chicago with a great loss of life.




On the night of the 20th of August the Japanese that had been landed earlier hit the Marine line at the Tenaru River in a fanatical "Banzai" attack. The young Marines held their ground and slaughtered the attackers. When the sun came up the ground before the Marine line was littered with over 800 dead Japanese. These young Americans who had been civilians a short time ago had stood up to a professional, experienced army and beat them.

Their hardships and heroism was just starting though.

August 20th was also the day the first Marine fighter planes landed on the now usable airfield. They quickly dubbed themselves "the Cactus Air Force." The field itself was named Henderson Field in honor of Major Lofton R. Henderson killed in the Battle of Midway.


Temporary grave with marker which reads, "Here lies a Devil Dog",

The Japanese kept underestimating the strength of the Americans on Guadalcanal and kept putting their troops ashore piecemeal. They also kept up the pressure on the U.S. Navy which returned to the area. In ensuing sea battles the Enterprise was crippled by bombs. The Japanese lost a seaplane carrier(the Chitose) and over 70 planes. A Jap troop ship was also sunk, and the USS Saratoga was put out of action for 3 months by torpedoes. The Wasp and the battle ship North Carolina were also sunk. The loss of life inflicted upon the sailors engaged was extremely high.

The battle for the island continued with the Americans landing troops and supplies during daylight hours and the Japanese doing the same after dark. This procedure the Japanese used with ships (mostly destroyers) shuttling troops in at night became known to the Marines as "the Tokyo Expess." The night of the 21st of August was the scene of another "Banzai" attack against Henderson Field. l,000 Japanese ran screaming into the Marine positons and 800 were killed before morning.


Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (later nicknamed "Betty") fly low through anti-aircraft gunfire during a torpedo attack on U.S. Navy ships maneuvering between Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the morning of 8 August 1942.
Note that these planes are being flown without bomb-bay doors.

The "Tokyo Express" dropped off another 6,000 troops and on the 13th of September 3,500 of them hit the south perimeter of the airfield. This area was defended by the lst Marine Raider Battallion under the command of Lt.Col. Merritt (Red Mike) Edson. They were dug in on a ridge and bore the brunt of wave after wave of "banzai" attacks. Edson was all over the field of battle, exhorting his men, and fighting right in the line wih them. At one point the Japanese breached his line and he ordered a pullback and then called in artillery strikes on their previous positions catching the attackers in the open. This area became known as "Bloody Ridge."

Dawn broke over the bodies of l,000 Japanese lying in and around the Marine positions. The balance had fled back into the jungle. After the battle, Vandergrift sent large patrols into the jungle after the retreating enemy. There was almost a serious setback when a battallion of Marines were hit by a large body of Japanese and were pushed back to the beach. It looked like they'd be overrun until a destroyer responded and bombarded the attacking Japanese while the Marines were evacuated by landing crafts. It was during this operation that Coastguardsman Douglas Munro put himself in harms way while evacuating the Marines and received the Medal of Honor posthumously. He was the only member of the Coast Guard to receive this honor.

[New Zealander]

Yet another fantastic foxhole thread!
I've been reading and enjoying these treads for such a long time - I want to say cheers.

I was in the Sollies about three months ago - managed to see the sites on Guadalcanal - but spent most of the time elsewhere in the islands. Landed at Henderson, and stayed most of the time on Guadalcanal down by the beech where the supplies for the airfield must have been brought ashore. There are the remains of pontoons and piers there, which may have been built by my grandfather (by adoption), who was at Henderson through some of the hard times.

I noticed the battle of Alligator Creek is referred to as the battle of the Tenaru - I've been told this is a very common mistake - if you look on the map posted on the thread of the perimeter, only the first river to the east of the airfield is defended (where the battle took place), and the Tenaru is the next river over.

[SAMWolf]

No Problem.

Half the time I don't remember doing a thread until someone mentions it. It's hell getting old. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Thanks New Zelander. I thank your grandfather for his service.

I've always heard the battle referred to as the battle of the Tenaru. I think only the American Civil war has more confusing names (Depends on where you grew up on what you know tha battle as)

I remember the recent flap about wanting to rename Henderson Field. Glad they settled that.

[snippy_about_it]

Good Night SAM.

LOL!

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

[New Zealander]

I've always heard the battle referred to as the battle of the Tenaru. I think only the American Civil war has more confusing names (Depends on where you grew up on what you know that battle as)

I remember the recent flap about wanting to rename Henderson Field. Glad they settled that.

Yeah - I heard the name Alligator Creek from a local historian, who is an expat. Kiwi. His knowledge of the battles is pretty good - he's managed to identify the unknown warrior buried at the main US war memorial in Honiara. He also managed to get an assurance from the Solomon’s PM over retaining the name of Henderson, and helps maintain the war memorials there.

I've only heard it called Tenaru in history books - but what he is saying stands to reason - Alligator Creek is right at the end of the present day airfield, which has been extended out that way from the old original strip, and is where the Japanese memorial is to the battle. Of course the memorial is on the opposite bank - about where they found the three or so Japanese survivors who were still present the next morning (if memory serves me right, they had to shoot all of them where they were after they killed some Marines).

[SAMWolf]

We still call it the battle of Bunker Hill even though it was fought on Breed's Hill. Once a name gets put on to a battle it tends to stick, right or wrong.

Growing up in Chicago, I meet mostly European theatre vets when I was growing up. It'd be great to hear some of the stories the Pacific vets have to tell.

[Iris7]

This is the story of what happened to me one night back in the RVN, and I originally wrote it aimed at Freeper Squantos, who has somewhat the same background as yourself. This is the story of the time that my life was saved by EOD.

Back in about November of '67 the boat I was on, about 120' long, with ten swabbies but no officer aboard, the commander being an E7, was tied up to a bouy in the Da Nang harbor. There was a name for the place, which I've forgotten, "something or other basin." We were waiting for cargo.

This place was considered safe, and had a barge load of bombs tied up to the next bouy south, maybe 250 yards away. There were a bunch of bombs on that barge, waiting to be brought upriver to the airbase. I don't know bombs that well, but they were maybe 30" diameter and 15' feet long, stacked in two rows, about six high, maybe 90' long. Something like 720 bombs, still with shipping covers on the fuze holes, no fins. 2000 pounders, maybe?

Well, I had the mid watch, and was up by myself, trying to see what was around me past the flood lights shining outward in all directions, wrecking my night vision, powered by a diesel engine generator putting out enough noise I coudn't hear anything. Just me and my Thompson M1A1 waiting for relief.

A YTB (Navy yard tug big) pulled up alongside the bargeload of bombs, preparatory to moving the load up river. Per SOP the YTB shined it's searchlite thoroughly looking of signs of out the ordinary sort, a slow process. The YTB spent maybe five minutes on my side, then circled around to the outboard side to continue the search. When he got to the middle of the barge on the far side the YTB started moving much slower, making repeated small motions trying to get light down between the rows of bombs. They did this for twenty minutes, and then left. They said nothing on the main harbour vhf net I monitored.

In a half hour a boston whaler came skipping over the waves, and pulled up and tied up to the same area on the far side of the bomb loaded barge that the YTB had searched so carefully. I could see their work lights, and once a guy climbing on the load. I figured those boys were probably EOD, and some number of bombs had improvised fuzes in them, probably tied together with some of our det cord.

I figured if I awoke the petty officers, they would freak out and want to move the boat, which meant I would loose my sleep I had coming from 4AM to hopefully 8AM. Besides, Eod had the situation in hand, and if the barge load of bombs did go off we all would not have anything to complain about because we wouldn't have any thing to complain with, as you can see. Might as well just stay there. So I did. Shortly after that the three guys left in the whaler. All this time someone on the harbor net had been trying to reach EOD, breaking in every ten minutes or so. Finally someone told this fellow that EOD had just left "so and so basin" where I was. Sure enough proof that the bombs had been wired, and I had been moments from death! Gave me a chuckle, that did. A few minutes later the YTB came back and moved the load up the river. I was relievedfrom watch at 4 AM, and slept till 8 AM, O Caloo, Calay.

For all you landlubbers, I didn't say a word to anyone of my crew about the bomb incident. There was no point, for it had ended well, and this sort of thing happened often enough that there was no novelty about stuff like that. I forgot all about it for about ten years until when racking my brain for a real, but not gruesome or sad, story to tell folks who had no experience, this story came to mind.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing taht story Iris7.

God was watching over you and your crew members that night.

Night time guard duty was some of the lonliest and scariest times. Your mind and eyes play all kind of tricks on you.

[PhilDragoo]

ASL Operation: Watchtower Guadalcanal Historical Study

SCR 268 radar deployed on Guadalcanal by 3rd Defense Battalion

1st Marine Division Guadalcanal Assault 1942

1st Marine Division Guadalcanal Jungle Fighting 1942

Airfield construction by the Seabees on Guadalcanal

Pier construction by the 26th Seabees at Lunga Point, Guadalcanal.

Anti-aircraft battery at Guadalcanal commanded by Robert A. Earle Early use of C&GS by Marines

[SAMWolf]

Evening PhilDragoo

I didn't know they had an Guadalcanal module for ASL.

The only game I remember was "Guadalcanal" by Avalon Hill.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Iris7 for sharing that with us.

I forgot all about it for about ten years until when racking my brain for a real, but not gruesome or sad, story to tell folks who had no experience, this story came to mind.

Please don't let that stop you from sharing stories with us at the Foxhole.

War is what it is and the stories need to be told. Any service experience be it during war time or peace time are welcomed here. You can see we don't hesitate to post pictures or tell the stories in our threads and wouldn't want our readers to either.

Unless it is troublesome for you then anytime you want to share an experience with us you go right ahead.

SAM and I appreciate the exchange of experiences and sharing of memories here and welcome discussion as part of our mission to not only learn for ourselves but also to educate others on the sacrifices made and efforts given by our Veterans so that we continue to live in liberty.

So please feel free to speak openly whenever you wish.

All are welcome at this little place we call home, the FReeper Foxhole.

[snippy_about_it]

Great pictures Phil. Thank you.

[U S Army EOD]

Thanks for the story.

[Iris7]

Thanks, Snippy,

I appreciate what you said. Some of that old stuff my mind just skitters over, like skipping a rock on a pond! It is not that I don't remember, for sure!

You are a sweet Lady. Please accept my respects. Thanks for liking SAM. He is my comrade in arms.

[Iris7]

And thanks for what you and your pards did. I'll still stand any VN EOD guy a beer or three or fifty if he wants them. Even is they are Army! :-)!!!

[Iris7]

The only thing that bothers me about that incident, and something I have never before talked about, is that the barge had to have been booby trapped between 9 PM when it got dark and about 2:30 AM when the YTB guys found it. The harbor was pretty active until nearly midnight. Those VC sappers must have done it on my watch. They worked on the other side of the barge from me to make it harder for me to see them. I don't think they could have used any normal kind of boat or I would have seen it. Maybe they swam with some kind of very awash rig to carry their gear, like a little telephone pole. Still bugs me.

[U S Army EOD]

Watch Elvis Prestly in "Girls, Girls, Girls", sometime, he is Navy EOD. Maybe I can take you up on the beer sometime.

[SAMWolf]

Like we used to say "It don't mean nuthin".

It all turned out well.

We had one incident at basecamp where we opened up at "movement in the wire" one night. Next morning we checked for a body count and there were two dead sappers, already through the wire. If any number of things had gone different they would have made it all the way into camp.

That's just the way things were, those VC sappers where good. More luck than anything else that we got them.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Iris7 for your kind words.

As far as thanking me for liking SAM, I just can't help myself. LOL.

Meeting SAM and his family in person and spending that week driving around Oregon and just hanging out with him was the best thing I ever did. He's a good friend and someone I truly cherish. I'm glad you like him, too!

He's everything he appears to be and more, all good.