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thedrifter
08-08-09, 08:07 AM
U. S. Marine Corps’ First Division on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, Aug 7, 1942
A Very Historic Day, for the Country and for the Marines
Jerry McConnell

By Jerry McConnell Friday, August 7, 2009

Today is August 07, 2009. Sixty seven years ago in 1942 a very important event in America’s history took place on an island in the South Pacific.

The reason for my writing this on this date, is that there is great doubt in my mind that you will see any mention about the moment of which I speak in the Mainstream Media, or for that matter probably no other place in the communications world, and I feel an obligation to the few people left among us that participated in its undertaking.

By now there are undoubtedly a number of history buffs who have remembered the occasion and if there are any of the participants tuned in here I am sure they will be aware, just as I am.

The signal occurrence that took place on a faraway and lonely island in the South Pacific was the landing that was made by the U. S. Marine Corps’ First Division on Guadalcanal of the Solomon Islands about 1,200 flying miles from the nearest shores of Australia.

The First Marine Division, reinforced, had a total of approximately 10,000 men who stormed ashore to recover the island from the Japanese military forces that invaded and captured the island from British, Australian and New Zealand military outpost forces sometime prior to the August 07, 1942 landing by the Marines.

This island was of key importance to the Japanese in their pre-world war two quest to conquer all territories from the Japanese home islands to and including Australia and New Zealand. It was to have been the final stepping stone where military bases could be set up and airfields built in order to travel the remaining distance to their goals.

A large airfield was being constructed even as the Marines made their sudden and surprise invasion landing on that Friday morning, eight months after the Imperial Japanese Navy’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 07, 1941.

The world was shocked and surprised that the United States had recovered from its excessive losses, mostly of naval warfare vessels and personnel to mount such an aggressive retaliatory attack on the Japanese.

The Guadalcanal landing was the very first major allied offensive against any foreign enemy, Japanese, Italian or German, in World War Two.

The battle to invade, repulse the enemy, establish positions and hold all re-captured areas began and continued until the Japanese finally withdrew in the dark of night in February, 1943. The Marines had established a toehold on the island that was approximately 90 miles in length and 35 miles in width at their largest points. The toehold perimeter initially measured about 5 miles in length and 3 miles in width, with the Japanese in total control of the balance of the island.

On the second day after the Marines had landed, the Navy transport ships that had carried them and their equipment, heavy weapons, ammunition and most importantly, their food supplies, took off with less than half of the those critically needed for survival items unloaded on shore. Without those items, their survival was very much in doubt.

In the ensuing days and weeks, the Marines were left without any backup protection such as Navy ships and aircraft; they lacked the necessary equipment to muster any long range artillery power against Japanese Navy ships that could be seen further up the coastline unloading troops and supplies without fear of any retaliation.

In a very short period of time the Japanese had landed up to nearly 30,000 fresh new troops complete with equipment, ammunition and food supplies and began new assaults on the American held positions within the small perimeter. With no aircraft nor warships due to the Naval abandonment of the Marines, it seemed that their annihilation was only a matter of days, if not hours away.

But with true Marine grit and determination, they held on to their positions, and in point of fact, even made some land holding gains to the east and west of their initial positions. And then, after about two weeks of constant ‘round the clock’ pounding by Japanese ground troops, multiple overhead bombing runs each day and night and periodic naval shellings, the Marines still survived.

The magic date of August 20, 1942 found a small but determined squadron of Marine aviation fighter planes from a distant aircraft carrier landed on the island and began to challenge enemy aircraft from fighters to bombers and the rout was on.

Well, the word ‘rout’ in the preceding paragraph was probably premature as there was much more intense fighting in store for the Marines for the next several weeks.

I didn’t intend for this to be another chronicle of the battle of Guadalcanal, as there are plenty of those in your local library. No, I just wanted to remind America that this date of August 7 is one of great pride for the U. S. Marine Corps as it ultimately led to total victory six months after its inception.

To thank all of the still living members that participated in that campaign under some of the most deplorable conditions and to remember with gratitude, and honorable respect, those that paid the ultimate price for their part in preventing the Japanese military to advance any farther in its quest for world domination, was my goal.

I salute all of the surviving members of that incomparable fighting unit, the First Marine Division, and my congratulations are extended to the new breed of that illustrious organization who today are protecting us in a different conflagration in other parts of the world.

Though I may no longer be a part of your ranks, my heart and my spirit still stand with you. Semper Fi, Marines.

Anyone wishing to read more of the intimate details of that battle should go to seacoastmarines.com where the online version of my written account, titled, “Our Survival Was Open to the Gravest Doubts” is posted complete with illustrations and photos.

Ellie