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Forgotten Heroes
Forgotten Her es
Turning the Tide
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By Avi Heiligman
U.S. marines charging ashore U.S. marines walking back to other Solomon Island bases
The first six months of the American involvement in World War II were mostly defeats. In the Pacific Theater, the Japanese were conquering territory and were bearing down on Australia. The sea power started to shift in June 1942 with the American naval victory at Midway that saw four powerful aircraft carriers sunk in a matter of hours. Back on American soil, many citizens signed up to fight, and the American production facilities started to churn out tanks, guns, ships, and other supplies in quantities that couldn’t be matched by any other superpower. Finally, in August 1942, the American high command was ready to launch a ground attack. The island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands was chosen, and it marked the transition from a defensive war to an offensive campaign that the Japanese could not stop.
A month before the American invasion, the Japanese occupied the Solomon Islands. In addition to the ground troops, Japanese construction workers were sent to Guadalcanal to construct a new airfield from which airstrikes could be launched at American and other Allied bases in the South Pacific. American planners quickly came up with an invasion plan called Operation Watchtower. Although the Japanese had intelligence as to an upcoming landing, they guessed wrong as to the location.
Eleven-thousand marines from the 1st Marine Division under Major General Alexander Vandergrift landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 and soon captured the airfield. Named Henderson Field in memory of marine pilot Lofton Henderson who was killed during the Battle of Midway, the airfield was ready for action on August 18.
On August 9, the Battle of Savo Is-
land took place, resulting in one of the worst losses for the U.S. Navy during the war. Three American cruisers and one Australian cruiser were sunk and three other ships were damaged when the Allied force was caught off guard. After sinking the cruisers, the Japanese commander decided to withdraw his ships without realizing the Americans had withdrawn their carrier fleet. The Japanese missed the opportunity to attack the Allied landing and cargo ships filled with troops and supplies bound for Guadalcanal. However, the marines on shore were left without being resupplied and reinforced.
The Battle of the Tenaru, one of the fiercest engagements on Guadalcanal, took place on August 21, 1942. The fight, sometimes called the Battle of the Ilu River or the Battle of Alligator Creek,
was the first major land offensive by the Japanese on Guadalcanal. Three-thousand marines of the 1st Marine Regiment under the command of Colonel Clifton B. Cates dug in and were facing 900 elite Japanese soldiers under Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki. Cates sent the 1st and 2nd Battalions along Alligator Creek and waited for Ichiki’s Regiment. Ichiki himself was not expecting the marines to be that far from Henderson Field and sent 100 men across a sandbar which was promptly cut down by machine gun and cannon fire. Soon the fighting became so close that hand-to-hand combat ensued in some of the defense emplacements. Another wave of Japanese solders failed to penetrate the American lines, but Ichiki refused to retreat.
Across the Ilu River, Jewish Corporal LeRoy Diamond and his crew from Company H manned a .30 caliber water-cooled hand-fed machine gun and heard the Japanese yell “Banzai” as they made the suicidal charge. One of Diamond’s men was killed, and a marine machine gun nest was put out of action. Soon it was just Diamond and Private Schmid left to defend their positions. Schmid took over the firing position while Diamond fed the bullets into the gun. Diamond was forced to stop loading the machine gun when he was hit by a bullet in the arm. Only Schmid was left to load the gun, and Diamond pointed out targets.
The battle had been raging for four hours when a Japanese soldier tossed a grenade into the machine gun nest blinding Schmid and wounding Diamond’s arm and hands again. They were almost helpless when a sniper started shooting at them in the predawn light. Even though he couldn’t see, Schmid picked up the gun and Diamond directed the fire upon the sniper’s position,
silencing the enemy. Private Whitey Jacobs ran through a hail of Japanese bullets to attend to Schmid’s and Diamond’s wounds before evacuating them to the rear.
The Marines held the line through the night. Another marine battalion crossed Alligator Creek and counterattacked and cut off the path of retreat for the remaining Japanese. Over 800 enemy soldiers were killed and only fifteen were captured – most of them badly wounded. Marine units inspected Diamond’s machine gun nest and discovered over 200 dead enemy soldiers. Forty-one Americans were killed in the battle. For his actions, Diamond was awarded the Navy Cross.
Between August and November, the Japanese made several futile attempts to take Henderson Field. The second Japanese offensive was the Battle of Edson’s Ridge in September 1942. Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi led 6,000 men of the Japanese 35th Infantry Brigade against an American force twice its size under Vandergrift with elite elements fighting under Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Edson. The Raider and parachute battalions had 800 men and withstood a Japanese charge on their positions defending the around Henderson Field. Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that resulted in the attack being repulsed.
Marine legend Lieutenant Colonel Chesty Puller was on the front lines with his battalion along the Matanikau River when they were cut off by a larger Japanese force. He called in naval fire support while a group of landing craft rescued the trapped marines. Puller received the Bronze Star for his actions during the battle. In another engagement, the marines under his command successfully defended Henderson Field from a regiment-sized Japanese attack. The Japanese-coordinated attack came in waves throughout the night but was met with stiff American resistance led by Puller.
By February 9, 1943, all of Japanese remaining forces had been evacuated, and the island was securely in American hands. In all, 60,000 American marines and soldiers defeated a Japanese force of 36,000 men.
Victory came at a heavy cost. Close to 15,000 Americans were killed or wounded, and 29 ships were lost, including two aircraft carriers. Only 10,000 Japanese soldiers were evacuated, and they lost close to 700 aircraft and 38 ships, including an aircraft carrier during the naval campaign of Guadalcanal.
American Marines have taken part in some of America’s toughest battles, and the fighting at Guadalcanal was another in their storied history. It was the Americans’ first major land victory of the war with the stage being set for further advances in the south and central Pacific. The victory at Guadalcanal ensured that the Japanese were no longer making unchecked and lopsided invasions.
This month marks 80 years since the invasion, and the men who fought for the island are heroes to be remembered.
U.S. Marine Al Schmid receiving the Navy Cross Chesty Puller's battalion managed to repel Japanese forces throughout the night
Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.
