A Marine stands alone

[thedrifter]

A Marine stands alone <br />
<br />
Veteran judge remembers role in historic battle <br />
<br />
Just hours before Japanese bullets struck his head and arm, Marine 2nd Lt. Edward Campbell Farmer Jr. of Muskegon could...

[thedrifter]

Guadalcanal battles turned tide of WWII

Fought over seven months, from August 1942 to February 1943, the campaign was a series of vicious land, sea and air battles that collectively changed the direction of World War II in the Pacific.

Before then, the fortunes of war had been firmly in the grasp of the Japanese Empire. Following its devastating Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese swept through the south and west Pacific in an unprecedented and powerful land-sea offensive designed to knock America out of the war before it could recover.

Military disasters in the Philippines and Southeast Asia wiped out not only U.S. ground forces and air power throughout this vast oceanic region, but the attack on Pearl Harbor and other naval victories crippled the U.S. and allied fleets. Only three U.S. aircraft carriers and scattered supporting ships escaped to fight another day.

That "other day" arrived during June 4-6, 1942, when the Japanese, emboldened by their conquests, attempted to enlarge their empire by moving against Midway Island. But U.S. carrier forces inflicted a major defeat on the Imperial Navy, ending the threat of a renewed offensive aimed directly at the western United States.

The United States was determined to reverse the tide of war on land as well. Planners ultimately decided that Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain, where Japan was building an airfield whose planes could cut off links to Australia, was to be the target. The problem for the Americans was that a ground offensive at that time was a risky gamble since the necessary fighting forces, naval transport and logistics to support them were not yet fully in place in the summer of 1942.

What carried this bold attack through were the Marines, and in particular the men of the 1st Marine Division.

Acting as an independent service force for the first time, the Marines established their legend as a fighting force on Guadalcanal, an inhospitable, malarial island that few in America had ever heard of.

The Japanese were taken by surprise by the invasion of Guadalcanal. But within a day, the situation for the triumphant Americans had changed -- for the worse. A Japanese naval victory forced the Navy to withdraw having offloaded only a few of the Marines' supplies.

The Navy's exit meant the Japanese navy could shell and bomb the Americans at will, and send in reinforcements anywhere.

It meant the Marines were completely alone on Guadalcanal, facing the entire might of Japan.

Bloody Ridge

If Guadalcanal was the turning point of the war in the Pacific on land, the battle of Bloody Ridge, or Edson's Ridge, was the turning point of the battle for that island.

Over two and a half days, Sept. 12-14, 1942, the Japanese attacked with everything they had at the heart of the Marines' defensive perimeter on a set of hills that protected Guadalcanal's tenuous lifeline to the outside, Henderson Field.

The Marines had used captured Japanese construction equipment to roughly finish the airfield to accommodate fighter planes to help defend the island against Japanese naval attack.

This imported "Cactus Air Force" of Guadalcanal, small as it was, was so effective that recapturing Henderson Field was made an urgent priority by the Japanese. Hence, the enemy designated three separate, powerful, elite forces to move at night through the jungle and roll up the Marines' defenses in a coordinated, multi-pronged attack.

Author Michael Smith, author of "Bloody Ridge: The Battle that Saved Guadalcanal," writes that this fight was "the closest the Japanese would ever come to recapturing Henderson Field."

Leading the defense atop the ridge itself was Col. Merritt A. Edson, who commanded the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, an early-era special forces unit that was attached to the 1st Marine Division.

During the first night of the battle, wave after screaming wave of frenzied Japanese hurled themselves against the outnumbered Marines, only to be turned back.

The attacks continued over the next day-and-a-half, with the last effort made against the right flank on the Matanikau River, held by the Marine 3rd Battalion including 2nd Lt. Edward C. Farmer and the men of Company L.

Army soldiers were killed; 31,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.

When it was over, more than 1,000 Japanese were dead. The outmanned Marines crushed the Japanese offensive.

Over the course of the seven-month fight for Guadalcanal, and its series of naval, land and air battles, Japan lost ships, men, trained pilots and planes it could not afford to lose. Guadalcanal proved to be the anvil against which the Japanese hammer of war was damaged behind repair.

Historians almost unanimously agree Guadalcanal was the decisive campaign of the war in the Pacific.

The 1st Marine Division -- minus Lt. Farmer, who was sent to a naval hospital to recover from his severe wounds and deadly case of malaria -- went on to take Peleliu Island in one of the most terrifying actions of the Pacific War, and then was assigned to capture Okinawa, another bloodbath.

Many of the friends Farmer went to war with in 1942 died in those battles.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Guadalcanal battles turned tide of WWII
Sunday, September 21, 2008
By David J. Kolb
dkolb@muskegonchronicle.com

The epic struggle for Guadalcanal is one of World War II's most compelling stories.

Fought over seven months, from August 1942 to February 1943, the campaign was a series of vicious land, sea and air battles that collectively changed the direction of World War II in the Pacific.

Before then, the fortunes of war had been firmly in the grasp of the Japanese Empire. Following its devastating Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese swept through the south and west Pacific in an unprecedented and powerful land-sea offensive designed to knock America out of the war before it could recover.

Military disasters in the Philippines and Southeast Asia wiped out not only U.S. ground forces and air power throughout this vast oceanic region, but the attack on Pearl Harbor and other naval victories crippled the U.S. and allied fleets. Only three U.S. aircraft carriers and scattered supporting ships escaped to fight another day.

That "other day" arrived during June 4-6, 1942, when the Japanese, emboldened by their conquests, attempted to enlarge their empire by moving against Midway Island. But U.S. carrier forces inflicted a major defeat on the Imperial Navy, ending the threat of a renewed offensive aimed directly at the western United States.

The United States was determined to reverse the tide of war on land as well. Planners ultimately decided that Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain, where Japan was building an airfield whose planes could cut off links to Australia, was to be the target. The problem for the Americans was that a ground offensive at that time was a risky gamble since the necessary fighting forces, naval transport and logistics to support them were not yet fully in place in the summer of 1942.

What carried this bold attack through were the Marines, and in particular the men of the 1st Marine Division.

Acting as an independent service force for the first time, the Marines established their legend as a fighting force on Guadalcanal, an inhospitable, malarial island that few in America had ever heard of.

The Japanese were taken by surprise by the invasion of Guadalcanal. But within a day, the situation for the triumphant Americans had changed -- for the worse. A Japanese naval victory forced the Navy to withdraw having offloaded only a few of the Marines' supplies.

The Navy's exit meant the Japanese navy could shell and bomb the Americans at will, and send in reinforcements anywhere.

It meant the Marines were completely alone on Guadalcanal, facing the entire might of Japan.

Bloody Ridge

If Guadalcanal was the turning point of the war in the Pacific on land, the battle of Bloody Ridge, or Edson's Ridge, was the turning point of the battle for that island.

Over two and a half days, Sept. 12-14, 1942, the Japanese attacked with everything they had at the heart of the Marines' defensive perimeter on a set of hills that protected Guadalcanal's tenuous lifeline to the outside, Henderson Field.

The Marines had used captured Japanese construction equipment to roughly finish the airfield to accommodate fighter planes to help defend the island against Japanese naval attack.

This imported "Cactus Air Force" of Guadalcanal, small as it was, was so effective that recapturing Henderson Field was made an urgent priority by the Japanese. Hence, the enemy designated three separate, powerful, elite forces to move at night through the jungle and roll up the Marines' defenses in a coordinated, multi-pronged attack.

Author Michael Smith, author of "Bloody Ridge: The Battle that Saved Guadalcanal," writes that this fight was "the closest the Japanese would ever come to recapturing Henderson Field."

Leading the defense atop the ridge itself was Col. Merritt A. Edson, who commanded the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, an early-era special forces unit that was attached to the 1st Marine Division.

During the first night of the battle, wave after screaming wave of frenzied Japanese hurled themselves against the outnumbered Marines, only to be turned back.

The attacks continued over the next day-and-a-half, with the last effort made against the right flank on the Matanikau River, held by the Marine 3rd Battalion including 2nd Lt. Edward C. Farmer and the men of Company L.

When it was over, more than 1,000 Japanese were dead. The outmanned Marines crushed the Japanese offensive.

Over the course of the seven-month fight for Guadalcanal, and its series of naval, land and air battles, Japan lost ships, men, trained pilots and planes it could not afford to lose. Guadalcanal proved to be the anvil against which the Japanese hammer of war was damaged behind repair.

Historians almost unanimously agree Guadalcanal was the decisive campaign of the war in the Pacific.

The 1st Marine Division -- minus Lt. Farmer, who was sent to a naval hospital to recover from his severe wounds and deadly case of malaria -- went on to take Peleliu Island in one of the most terrifying actions of the Pacific War, and then was assigned to capture Okinawa, another bloodbath.

Many of the friends Farmer went to war with in 1942 died in those battles.

Ellie