Guadalcanal Diary Page #3

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This lingo they talk.

They keep pointing to the hills.

l guess that"s where the rest of them went.

- Are they praying?

- They think we"re going to shoot them.

Corpsman.

Fix "em up.

Arigato.

We ain"t got no avocados.

Let"s get going.

Turn these prisoners over to the MP.

There"s the airfield.

They appear to have moved out,

so we"ll move in.

Pots, Anderson.

This flag belonged to Lieutenant Snall.

He carried it all the way through China.

He"s had a heart atack.

lt"s his ambition to see his flag

flying over captured territory.

- Run it up.

- Aye-aye, sir.

Maybe we should have waited.

Let the Japs finish it up.

Ahh, l bet there ain"t a Jap

within ten miles of here.

Hit the deck.

Where"s me helmet?

Corpsman.

Corpsman.

- ls he dead?

- Yeah, he"s dead.

Amen.

May God have mercy on his soul.

Yes, he is dead. And now we know

that not all the enemy have fled.

That in the jungle surrounding us

men are lurking.

Silent, dangerous, with weapons.

How many? Where are they hiding?

How grave is the danger?

No man can say.

We"ll have to wait and watch in the rain.

Each man with his own thoughts,

caught and held in the grip of unseen danger.

And into the night too, with only

the drip of the rain through the palms

and distant thunder of naval guns in our ears.

Knowing that if our people lose the battle,

the enemy will be ashore before morning

and we"ll have to fight for our lives.

Suddenly most of us know

the awful feeling of being pitifully small.

Know for a moment that we"re only tiny

particles caught up in the whirlpool of war,

the terror and power and magnificence of

man-made thunder making that point real.

And so, wet, miserable and sleepless,

at the mercy of great forces

more powerful than anything human,

we face the first night of occupation.

- The Navy isn"t doing much sleeping either.

- Not from the sound of that firing.

- Suppose they"ll come in here and shell us?

- Could be.

Help!

lt"s a Jap. He"s got me. Help!

Help!

- What is it?

- A Jap.

l"m asleep there.

A Jap jumped out of a tree with a knife.

- Tojo himself.

- (babble of voices)

All right, pipe down. Shove off.

Honest, Sarge.

l could have sworn l felt his buck teeth.

Here"s your first Jap prisoner.

Who"s there?

Who"s there?

Jap snipers?

What"s the mater out here?

l heard something. l thought it was a Jap.

Knock off that shooting at every shadow.

These men are trying to get some sleep.

- Next time, go after him with your bayonet.

- Aye-aye, sir.

Right through the back.

Hiding up in the trees like apes...

Why don"t they come out

in the open and fight?

There you are, Father.

ln his pell-mell retreat, the enemy

has not even destroyed his equipment.

Already we are converting it to our own use.

Constructing runways, erecting hangars,

setting up defences against the day

when we"ll have our own air support.

Knowing that until that day comes

we"ve but one course to follow-

to dig in and wait.

Come on, Taxi, step it up. Dig in, will you?

Maybe if we dig deep

we"ll come up at Ebbets Field.

Sure. l"m practically standing on

second base right now.

We lost four cruisers last night off Savo.

We beat them off, though, but good.

- And our casualties in Tulagi and Gavutu?

- Heavy. The Japs fought to the last man.

- How many did we get, sir?

- About 400 on Tulagi. 800 on Gavutu.

We took them by surprise.

Knocked them off like ducks.

Any way of geting our stories out?

There"s a navy plane scheduled in.

l"ll see if l can get them aboard.

Thank you, sir.

The first hectic days are over,

but we have not been idle.

Day and night our patrols have been out,

pushing deeper and deeper into the jungle.

Catching occasional glimpses of the enemy.

Waiting, eager and expectant,

for our first contact with the Jap.

The Japs have been parachuting them

inside our lines.

They need supplies.

Bring these men into my camp.

Lieutenant, you can read this. What"s it say?

Listen to this.

""The enemy before your eyes is collapsing.""

Look, l"m collapsing.

Wait, listen. ""A relief landing party is near.""

- What did l tell you?

- Go ahead. l"m frightened.

""We are convinced of help

from the imperial heaven.""

Only God"s children go to heaven.

Listen. ""Respect yourself. By no means

run away from the encampment.""

lt make Tojo very unhappy.

""The enemy has suffered enormous losses.""

""All transports have been sunk and

his choicest troops have been annihilated.""

- l guess we"re dead and we don"t know it.

- We must be. How about that, Padre?

lf we are, at least we"re not

in imperial heaven.

lf we ain"t, it ain"t the cook"s fault.

- Sergeant.

- Yes, sir?

- Ask Captain Davis to come here.

- He"s in the sickbay. A touch of cat fever.

Anything l can do?

These natives tell me there"s a big bunch

of Japs at a village five miles from here.

The prisoner thinks they"ll surrender.

Seems they haven"t any food

and most are without weapons.

Take a patrol and see what it"s all about.

- But don"t take any chances.

- Yes, sir. lt"ll be a pleasure.

l suggest you go by boat and stay far enough

off so they can"t snipe at you from shore.

- Malone.

- Yes, sir.

Take this fella down to sickbay

and get him fixed up. He"s a friend of ours.

The hair on them guys!

What a spot for a matress factory.

Captain Cross, can l go with you?

l know the woods pretty good.

- Sure. l"m glad to have you, Alvarez.

- Thank you, sir.

Aren"t you the lucky stiff?

Lying here with a pretty nurse waiting on you

while l"m off hunting Japs.

lf there"s any hunting of Japs to be done,

l"m going to be in on it.

No, you go right ahead and goldbrick.

l"ll do your dirty work for you.

Our first crack at the enemy.

Not just hiding in foxholes as he flies over,

taking cover every five minutes, shaking

our fists at something we can"t even see.

At Matanikau there are Japs.

Men of flesh and blood like ourselves.

We will see them face to face.

And as Captain Cross has put it,

it"ll be a pleasure.

Hey, Captain, look.

He"s moving away from us.

He"s spoted us. He"s turning this way.

- Let"s turn back.

- No, he"ll head us off.

- We can"t make it.

- Coxswain, make a run for it.

Get your heads down.

- We may have to swim for it.

- Well, boys, it"s been a great life.

lf you want my opinion,

it"s ending a litle too soon.

Go alongside.

Those are our shore bateries.

They"re on the target.

Certain that the sounds of firing

have revealed our presence,

Captain Cross has decided to wait for cover

of darkness before landing near Matanikau

despite the insistence of the Jap prisoner

that all will be well,

that his friends,

starving and without weapons,

are waiting in the village eager to surrender.

Turn back. We"ll make our way back by land.

All right, men, dig in. Right on the beach.

- What are we digging in here for, Captain?

- l"m not taking any chances.

Let"s have a look around.

We got to get back to the beach.

- Can you make it?

- Sure.

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