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PART III. STARVATION ISLAND
Among the many Marines who left with the transports were the command echelon of the 2nd Marines, the bulk of Company C, 2nd Tank Battalion, the engineers, and the support Marines of the 2nd Service Battalion. With no watercraft to move them to the Lunga perimeter, the Marines of 1/2, 2/2 and 3/2 were stuck in place in their defensive positions on the small islands bordering the northern edges of Sealark Channel. With an estimated 1,400 dead Japanese troops in the areas that the 2nd Marines had fought across, the recently secured battlefields soon became a charnel house. Rotting quickly in the tropical climate, the corpses were soon a breeding ground for maggots and swarms of huge black flies. Soon dysentery and dengue fever began to affect the troops and malaria cut a swath across the ranks. These diseases sapped the strength of Marines, causing untold misery in addition to the dangers of the battlefield. In the book Touched by Fire, Marine Dallas Bennett recalled:
When the supporting transports pulled out of Sealark Channel, dubbed "Ironbottom Sound" by servicemen in the Solomons, they not only took the troops who had not yet disembarked, but also a major portion of their supplies and equipment. This left the Marines already ashore in the dangerous position of being short on rations, ammunition, gasoline, spare parts and just about everything else they needed to fight. Many of them quipped, only half joking, "The only thing we have plenty of is Japs."
The Japanese recognized the importance of Guadalcanal and launched a series of offensives during the month of August 1942 to eliminate the Marine perimeter around the airstrip, named Henderson Field in honor of Maj Lofton Henderson, USMC. American commanders determined that the airstrip must be held at all costs and the enemy was equally committed to defeating the Marines on Guadalcanal. This set the stage for several critical actions as the month of August wore on. On the night of 20-21 August 1942, the Japanese Ichicki Detachment attempted to force the Marine defenses on the eastern side of the Lunga perimeter. In this battle, the First Marine Division smashed the attackers, killing over 900 Japanese troops. Other actions ensued as the Marines patrolled incessantly, making up for their lack of numbers by aggressively hunting down the Japanese. On the night of 12-13 September 1942, the Japanese launched a major attack from the south of the American perimeter. Later known as the Battle for Edson's Ridge, this series of attacks was supported by Japanese air and naval forces, and would later be recognized as the most critical moment of the Guadalcanal campaign. Fortunately, Marine patrols and friendly islanders picked up signs of the impending attack and the Marines were ready. The battle began with Japanese air raids. Then shortly after 2130 on 12 September, the Kawaguchi Detachment of the Japanese Army launched the first of a confused melee of ground actions that lasted until dawn. On the following night, the attacks began just after dusk and continued thoroughout the night. The commander of Marine troops on the Ridge, Col Merritt "Red Mike" Edson, was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic leadership in this desperate battle. On the Ridge and in supporting attacks at other spots on the perimeter, the Japanese suffered over 1,500 casualties.
Finally, after over a month defending their positions on the north shore of Sealark Channel, the Marines of 3/2 were called across the water to Guadalcanal. Their mission was to assume divisional reserve for their hard-pressed brothers there. And back in the United States, events were set in motion that would soon bring the rest of the Second Marine Division to war. In April 1942 MajGen John Marston had assumed command of the division and he received orders in September 1942 to deploy its stateside troops overseas. Back in the Solomon Islands the situation was desperate. The Japanese, intent on recapturing Guadalcanal, threw everything they had at the American garrison. And our forces were equally determined to hold the 'canal at all costs.On September 22, 3rd Battalion, Second Marines, were relieved from divisional reserve and moved into the defensive lines on the First Marine Division's western perimeter facing toward the Matanikau River. Under its skipper, LtCol Robert Hunt, 3/2 took part in the Third Battle of the Matinikau on 7-9 October 1942. Assigned to the provisional Whaling Group, commanded by Col William J. Whaling, Hunt's battalion was part of a larger action to destroy Japanese forces west of the Matanikau. Another important mission was to force the enemy's 150mm artillery pieces further west, outside of their range to harass the Marine defensives positions around Henderson field. War correspondent John Hersey accompanied one of the Marine battalions in this operation and later recorded his memories in the classic book Into the Valley:
The third Matanikau was a confused battle fought in torrential downpours. The attacking Marines suffered 65 dead and 125 wounded in the three-day operation, but they killed over 900 Japanese troops, and set the stage for further offensives on Guadalcanal. In this action, 3/2 lost six Marines dead and 24 wounded. On 1st Battalion, Second Marines was called into action on 9 October for a raiding mission at Aola Bay, about 25 miles east of the Lunga perimeter. Their mission was to mop-up the last remnants of enemy forces from earlier battles. In this action, 1/2's commander, LtCol Robert Hill, earned the Navy Cross for his heroic leadership. His citation stated in part:
Another heroic Marine in 1/2 was Pfc Hurshell Hooker of Charlie Company. His company commander, Capt Richard Stafford, was shot dead by a Japanese sniper. Hooker then moved forward of his company's position into bright sunlight, offering himself as a target to lure the sniper into firing. In this manner, he killed two snipers, then the rest of the company joined in. Soon they were engaged in a hot firefight that killed thirty Japanese troops, captured an antiaircraft gun, maps and documents, and a Japanese officer. Capt Stafford was Charlie's only casualty in the fight, for which Pfc Hooker earned a well-deserved Silver Star. On the same day as 1/2 was raiding Aola Bay, the rear echelons of the Second Marine Regiment finally arrived in Tulagi. Just a few days later, Marines experienced one of the worst night's of the war. On October 12th, the Marine perimeter endured two hours of aerial bombardment. The next night began with heavy artillery shelling of the perimeter. Later in the night, two Japanese battleships launched an 80 minute bombardment of the Marine positions that caused heavy damage and killed 41 Americans, along with many more wounded. The 164th Infantry Regiment of the US Army had arrived on the 'canal that very day and spent their first night on the island under this rain of shells. But the Japanese used the opportunity to land the equivalent of an entire division.
From October 21st-28th Japanese launched a series of major attacks against the Marine perimeter. Among these was the Battle of Bloody Ridge on October 23rd and 24th. The heaviest attacks came on the night of the 24th. The night of 25 October saw a continuation of the Japanese attacks against the First Marine Division lines. During the fight, 3/2 went forward to strengthen the perimeter. The action was described in Follow Me! The Story of the Second Marine Division in World War II:
Now began the build-up of American forces on Guadalcanal as the US Navy achieved parity against the Tokyo express. On October 30th, 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Second Marine Regiment along with their supporting elements transited across Iron Bottom Sound, as service members had dubbed Sealark Channel. The very next day they marched out to support attacks on the western side of the Matanikau River.
On October 25th the 8th Marines sailed from Pago Pago in American Samoa, leaving the behind the specter of filariasis for the dangers of a combat zone. They arrived off the 'canal on November 3rd, and went ashore the next day. As the divisional history related,
The third of the Second Marine Division's infantry regiments, the 6th Marines, had been stationed at Camp Elliott since returning from Iceland. Along with all the stateside divisional elements, their call for service across the seas finally came. Their destination—New Zealand. They sailed from San Diego on October 19th-21st and arrived in Wellington on November 1st 1942. In his semi-autobiograpical novel Battle Cry, author Leon Uris described this wonderful land that would become a second home to the Marines of the Second Division:
On Guadalcanal, the situation could not have been more starkly different. Shot through with malaria, covered with jungle rot, the Marines kept going, more on willpower than anything else. Attacking westward toward Kokumbona, the First Marine Division in an attempt to wipe out enemy forces and allow establishment of advanced patrol bases. The indomitable LtCol Robert Hill and his Marines of 1/2 were in the thick of the fighting. As the citation for Hill's second Navy Cross stated:
The Tokyo express came to the 'canal with a vengeance in the predawn hours of November 13th. For 45 agonizing minutes, soldiers and Marines sheltered in their fighting holes as the Japanese pounded them with naval gunfire. But the next night saw a decisive turning of the tide in our favor. In a series of heavy fleet actions, the US Navy decisively defeated the Japanese fleet, opening the way for a major American build-up on Guadalcanal.
Early in December 1942 the First Marine Division, minus its attachments from the Second Marine Division, pulled out of the line and boarded transports bound for Australia. Army units moved in from the Americal Division to join the soldiers of 164th Infantry Regiment, who had been fighting shoulder to shoulder alongside the Marines since the dark days of October.
Elements of the Second Marine Division were called forward from New Zealand, among them the 6th Marines and part of the divisional staff and support echelons. To meet the Army's demands to have overall command on the 'canal in this final phase, MajGen Marston was not permitted to deploy. Instead, the assistant divisional commander, BrigGen Alphonse de Carre, assumed command of the Forward Echelon, Second Marine Division on 4 January 1943. That same month, the Army 25th Infantry Division arrived on Guadalcanal and the XIV Corps was activated. Although the Japanese forces on the island were exhausted and decimated, they had no lack of the will to fight to the death. As Marines and soldiers pushed deeper and deeper into their bastions, the enemy made skillful use of terrain and natural material to construct masterful defensive positions. In overcoming these, the cost to our forces was paid in blood. In Follow Me! The Story of the Second Marine Division in World War II, author Richard Johnston related the following vignette that occured on 12 January 1943:
The 2nd Marines and other elements that had landed back in August finally pulled off the island on January 31st. Mop-up continued in the newly captured areas and Guadalcanal was declared secure on February 9th. That night, the 8th Marines and divisional headquarters troops boarded transports and sailed away for New Zealand. That left only the 6th Marines, who were assigned to a stint of coastal defense duty until they too left the 'canal on February 19th, 1943. As recorded by Eric Bergerud in Touched By Fire, one Marine remembered on leaving the 'canal:
In Battle Cry, Leon Uris summed it up this way:
The campaign for Guadalcanal was over, but the war itself had only just begun. In the fighting on the 'canal, the Second Marine Division had lost 222 Marines killed, 31 died of wounds, 15 missing presumed dead, and 932 wounded. Over 95% of the division had been plagued with one form of tropical illness or another. They needed time—time to rest and recuperate, rebuild the depleted ranks and prepare for the next campaign.
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