The 6th Marines on Guadalcanal

	THE SIXTH MARINE REGIMENT

II. GUADALCANAL

The call for service across the sea came soon enough. The Sixth boarded transports at San Diego for the long voyage over the Pacific. The destination: New Zealand. Billeted in camps around Wellington, the Marines of the Regiment began honing their combat skills. They also went on liberty and soon fell in love with New Zealand and its friendly people.

While the Sixth trained in beautiful New Zealand, its sister units in the 2nd Marine Division were fighting and dying in the brutal jungles of Guadalcanal. At Christmastime 1942, the Regiment sailed away to join them. Arriving on 4 January 1943, the 6th Marines began its first combat assignment in World War II.

	(left) Action on the River by Dwight Shepler, depicting movement through the jungle on Guadalcanal. US Navy Art Collection

On 10 January, the final phase of offensive operations began. Combined Army and Marine forces received the order, "Attack and destroy the Japanese forces remaining on Guadalcanal." Under the command of Col Gilder D. Jackson, the Sixth moved into the line and relieved the battered and bloody 2nd Marines on 15 January 1943.

(above) Pencil study of a Marine on Guadalcanal—Capt Donald Dickson, USMCR
USMC Art Collection

Fighting west along the northern coast, Marines and Soldiers leapfrogged westward toward the last enemy positions. In the first eight days of the offensive, the American line advanced 5,000 yards west. During this operation, Marine engineers made the first use of flamethrowers in the Pacific.

On 26 January 1943, a large force of enemy aircraft, including fighters and bombers, appeared over the island. They swept in and scattered their ordnance across the American perimeter. The Sixth had a ringside seat to this action, the last enemy air attack on Guadalcanal.

The fighting was still deadly. Moving forward through brutal tropical heat, infantry Marines pushed against an unseen enemy. Across streams, over mud-covered hills, through trackless jungles, the Sixth kept driving. Late in January, they crossed the Kokumbona River, nearly twenty miles west of Henderson Field. The end was in sight.

(above) A patrol of the 6th Marines takes a break late in the campaign. USMC Photo

The 6th Marine moved into support positions near Tassafaronga Point on 2 February. The drive continued west until the last Japanese bastions near Cape Esperance were smashed on 9 February 1943. The island was reported secure with the message: "Total and complete defeat of Japanese forces on Guadalcanal…"

(left) A rough-hewn grave on Guadalcanal. The epitaph states, "Here lies a Devil Dog—RIP."

USMC Photo

As the rest of the battered 2nd Marine Division departed, the Sixth took over coastal defense missions. After six weeks on the 'canal, they sailed for New Zealand on 19 February to. Riddled with dysentery, malaria, and rampant fungal infections, the 6th Marines was bound for the green hills of New Zealand.

"It was all over but the shouting. My squad didn't feel much like shouting, though. We didn't have the strength—or the inclination. After Guadalcanal it was never quite the same. They weren't kids anymore. They had seen it and taken it, and they knew there was more to come…

My boys lined the rail for a last look at Guadalcanal. She was calm and peaceful, like the day we first found her. Like an exotic Hollywood scene. But she had the body of a goddess and the soul of a witch."

Battle Cry by Leon Uris

SIXTH MARINES INDEX

SOURCED USED:

Battle Cry by Leon Uris
Volume I, History of USMC Operations in World War II by LtCol Frank Hough, USMCR
The 2nd Marine Division in World War II by Richard Johnston