Guadalcanal
U.S. Marine’s Legacy of Valor
By Dick Camp (Colonel, USMC, Retired)
The war in the Pacific was a bloody, protracted struggle between the Empire of Japan and the United States and her allies. Read more
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal, an island in the Solomons archipelago in the South Pacific, was the scene of the first U.S. offensive land action against Japan in World War II. American Marines landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942 and were later supported by U.S. Army troops. The Japanese defended Guadalcanal tenaciously, and the Americans did not declare the island secure until February 1943, and the victory was a turning point in the Pacific War. Numerous naval battles occurred off the shores of Guadalcanal as well.
Guadalcanal
The 93rd Infantry Division: The African-American Soldiers in the Pacific
By Stephen D. LutzOn August 2, 1945, two weeks prior to Japan’s surrender, the highest ranking Japanese officer captured during the war in the Pacific was taken on the island of Morotai, Dutch New Guinea. Read more
Guadalcanal
The Battle of Iwo Jima: Red Sun, Black Sand
By John WalkerNo foreign army in the 5,000-year history of Japan had ever successfully conquered Japanese territory. In late 1944, American war planners were about to challenge that statistic on the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Read more
Guadalcanal
Marine Sergeant Mitchell Paige: Valor on Guadalcanal
By William E. WelshAs the 33 men of his machine-gun platoon set up their four s along the ridge facing south toward a jungle-shrouded ravine on Guadalcanal where the Japanese were massing for an attack on the evening of October 25, 1942, Marine Sergeant Mitchell Paige crawled in front of their position and rigged a makeshift trip wire designed to alert his troops should Japanese forces approach their line. Read more
Guadalcanal
The Fight for Bougainville
By Michael E. HaskewThe bloody fight for Guadalcanal, where the string of Japanese conquests in the Pacific had finally run its course, was a turning point of World War II. Read more
Guadalcanal
Night Battleship Action Off Guadalcanal
By David Alan JohnsonRear Admiral Willis Augustus Lee has been called, among other things, “one of the best brains in the Navy.” Read more
Guadalcanal
Rescue Plane Down
By Kevin M. Hymel“Awe c’mon, Mom,” Cecil Petty told his emotional mother before leaving Homer, Illinois, in February 1941. “Who knows, I might be a hero.” Read more
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal: Victory in the Pacific Theater
by Mike HaskewOn August 7, 1942, American Marines landed unopposed on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons chain. The island was the key to future offensive operations in the South Pacific for either side, and the Marines were determined to defeat the Japanese in their first significant ground assault of the Pacific War. Read more
Guadalcanal
Chester Nez, Last Original Navajo Code Talker, Dies at 93
Chester Nez was born on January 23, 1921, in Chi Chil Tah, New Mexico to the Navajo “Black Sheep Clan.” This was a difficult time for the Navajo Nation, and tensions were tough between the U.S. Read more
Guadalcanal
Four Marines on the “Green Hell” of Guadalcanal
By Adam Makos & Marcus BrothertonOn August 6, 1942, the men of Maj. Gen. Alexander Vandegrift’s U.S. 1st Marine Division watched from the railings as their troopship, the USS George F. Read more
Guadalcanal
Bloody Brawl on Guadalcanal
By Mike PhiferThe column of sweaty, exhausted Japanese soldiers trudged single file through the thick, dark jungle. For days they had been pushing inland from the western end of Guadalcanal. Read more
Guadalcanal
The Greatest Disaster
By David H. LippmanAmid rain, lightning, and dark, the British admiral and American general picked their way through choppy seas to the transport USS McCawley, off the coast of Guadalcanal. Read more
Guadalcanal
Last Letter Home
By Phil ScearceOn December 1, 1942, Lance Corporal Kiyoshi Koto wrote his last letter home. By that time, his unit’s command structure was decimated and the battle strength of his army and its supporting navy was ravaged. Read more
Guadalcanal
Bridegrooms of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion
by John W. Osborn, Jr.Spanish Legionaries charged into battle crying, “Long Live Death.” They sang of being “the Bridegrooms of Death” and proved they meant it with over 10,000 killed and 35,000 wounded. Read more
Guadalcanal
LIFE Photographer Ralph Morse’s War
By Susan ZimmermanIn an age before television and instant communications, Americans wanted to see what was going on in the world’s “deadliest conflict in human history,” and LIFE magazine was making a name for itself as THE war magazine during World War II. Read more
