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Monday, August 7, 2017
World War II History - Guadalcanal 75th Anniversary
Today is the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Guadalcanal, the US's first offensive in the Pacific. There is plenty of material out there if you are interested in this battle, a seesaw 6th month battle for an island in the Solomons. It featured just about everything, intense ground combat, amphibious landings, naval battles (there is a reason the area off the coast was nicknamed Iron Bottom Sound), and air to air combat. This campaign has a lot of interest to me, first because my father served in the Marines, so the Corps is always near and dear to my heart. And my great uncle, Donald Johnson, fought on Guadalcanal as part of the 164th Infantry Regiment (nicknamed the 164th Marines) as part of the 23rd "Americal" Infantry Division. He would survive this campaign and continue to fight in the Pacific till he was killed in the invasion of the Philippines (the family is not a big fan of MacArthur). There are a lot of artifacts to be found on the island, including these that are part of an open air museum on Guadalcanal.
My uncle died of a wound he received in the Philippines during an unnecessary action on an island that could have been bypassed but that was not MacArthur's Way. He was a bit to much of a glory hound for mt tastes. Similar to Patton but at least Patton was concerned about his troops.
Interesting, as is your comment about MacArthur.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle died of a wound he received in the Philippines during an unnecessary action on an island that could have been bypassed but that was not MacArthur's Way. He was a bit to much of a glory hound for mt tastes. Similar to Patton but at least Patton was concerned about his troops.
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