Guadalcanal Diary Page #4

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Hey, Corporal. There comes Captain Cross.

Cease firing.

Captain, what happened

to Lieutenant Thurmond?

l don"t know.

Soose, go in and see if you can find him.

Aye-aye, sir.

l found Lieutenant Thurmond dead, sir.

(rails in Spanish)

We got to get word back

to Colonel Grayson we"re in trouble.

- l want a volunteer.

- l"ll take a crack at it, sir.

- All right, son. Go ahead.

- Aye-aye, sir.

Slowly the night is dragged through.

Somehow our men, even the wounded,

have managed to fight on

against an unseen enemy

whose perfidy and deceit are now all too clear,

hoping against hope that help would come.

But with the rising sun

the last hope fades.

Three men out of

the entire patrol remain alive.

The others, to many of whom Guadalcanal

was not even a name a few short months ago,

now lie dead in their shallow foxholes,

over which an indifferent sea

is already beginning to roll.

We"d beter make a try for the palms.

OK, Captain.

We"d beter go back to Matanikau.

This time we"ll go in force. And for blood.

Yes, we"re going back to Matanikau.

And this time for blood.

Men, boys, going into battle

for the first time in their lives.

Untried, new to the jungle.

High-school athletes,

grocers, clerks, taxi drivers.

Men with memories of friends

ambushed, tricked, slaughtered.

Those bayonets. l saw them.

l saw them.

Soose, they never knew it.

Beter get that bar off your collar.

Don"t want to go round inviting trouble.

Thanks, Captain.

- How you doing? Still trigger-happy?

- You"d beter wait and ask the Japs.

Here.

- There you are.

- Thanks.

- Hey, Butch, you got a cigarete?

- Sure. Help yourself.

- Jap cigaretes.

- Half tobacco, half stinkweed.

Now l"ll enjoy them more than ever.

l thought they were all stinkweed. Ew!

That"s one for Captain Cross.

Dig in light for a mortar barrage in this area.

Colonel Grayson says to watch your fire.

Only fire toward the beach.

Some of our men are moving in below.

Pass the word along. They"re not to fire

into the palm grove. Only toward the beach.

OK.

Pass the word.

Keep your heads down.

- Hey, Hook.

- Yeah.

How do you feel about killing... people?

lt"s kill or be killed, ain"t it?

Besides, those ain"t people.

- Yeah, l know, but the first time?

- Well, it was kind of rugged l guess.

Then it"s just repetition.

Quit thinking about it. You"ll go crazy.

Hey, look.

- That"s for me.

- Wait. You nuts?

All we ever shoot at is privates.

That"s a major.

You got enough to think about without going

for souvenirs. And keep your head down.

Stay here.

- Yeah, Tex?

- You see what l see?

Oh, yeah.

- Are you Sergeant York or Gary Cooper?

- They were good too.

Scratch one squint-eye.

Hook.

- Hook.

- What the...?

- Hook.

- Yeah, take it easy.

Corpsman.

Corpsman!

l thought he was dead.

Yeah, l know.

- Hook, am l going to...?

- Nah. You"ll be all right.

Beautiful sword.

l promised a certain party...

Yeah, l know.

lt ain"t possible.

We gota get outa here.

Think you can walk?

l guess so.

Hold it. l"ll lift you up.

OK.

- Hook. The sword.

- Yeah, l know. You promised it.

Look, l"ll go back and get the sword for you.

You will? Thanks.

l"ll get you a couple of Japs to put on it too.

- There"s an ambulance. Can you make it?

- Yeah.

- Hook, what time is it?

- Told you to save your breath.

l mean, back home.

l never thought this would happen to me.

What time is it, Hook?

Where"s the doctor? Doctor!

Yes.

Corpsman, plasma.

- You"d beter get back. l"ll watch out for him.

- Thanks, Father.

The Battle of Matanikau is over.

And this war of mighty armies, of masses

of men, of tank and plane and armour,

has been just an episode, a skirmish.

A few score men killed or wounded.

But the enemy has been defeated, almost

wiped out, and one thing we"ve learned.

Colonel Grayson was right-

it"s not going to be a picnic.

The first emotion, elation, is gone.

Veterans now, blooded

bush-fighting specialists,

their bravado gone, or at least subdued,

with a new respect for the Japs.

Weary, silent, stunned.

Men with glazed eyes holding their sides.

Limping along, shock-blast victims,

staggering, sometimes falling,

the only sound an occasional groan.

Moving like drunken men or men in a dream.

Heads, legs bandaged, clothes torn.

Unlit cigarettes dangling from their lips.

Old before their times.

Boys with the memory of death in their eyes.

Staring, remembering friends

they"ve left back there.

- You know what them monkeys say?

- Nah.

They didn"t even know

they was on Guadalcanal.

As for them killing themselves

rather than get caught,

l saw a couple of these skivvies

making a motion to commit hari-kari.

Did they break out in grins

when nobody tossed them a knife.

- l ain"t got no use for this one.

- Mail.

- Mail.

- Mail.

Yahoo! Mail.

Come and get it.

- Dubosky.

- Here.

- Jensen.

- Coming up.

- Malone.

- That"s me.

Gimme that, will you?

Captain Cross.

- l"ll take it.

- Here"s two more, sir.

- Father Donnelly.

- Here.

- Bibles.

- lt"s heavier than that. More like a cake.

- Harold Grayson.

- How about Aloysius T Pots?

Take it easy. We"ll get around to you.

Mcllvoy.

Mcllvoy.

Oh, that"s me.

""Querido Jesus.""

""Aqu tengo tu retrato cerca...""

Conchita or Lolita?

Margarita.

From the Flatbush Athletic Club.

""Are you keeping fit in these difficult days?

You owe it to yourself to exercise regularly.""

""Course in body-building, $25.""

- lt"ll be a bargain.

- Yeah.

Yeah, l know. She"s some hunk of woman.

And she don"t give you no arguments either.

Hey, fellas, l"m a mother. Her name

is Geraldine. She"s three months old.

He got up too soon.

Now, boys, l want you

to study these. Diligently.

Thank you, Father.

Now maybe we can find out how we"re doing.

From dear Mom - and no bills.

l wonder if Edith knows yet.

- What"s that?

- My future publisher. Book Of The Month.

- What have you got?

- Long Remember.

- What"s it about?

- The Batle of Gettysburg.

- You know. Gettysburg Address.

- Gettysburg Address?

Where Lincoln lived. Civil War, remember?

You mean the war they had

in Gone With The Wind. Boy, that was a war.

That"s all.

Oop, one more.

- Dubosky.

- Hey, that"s another one for me.

Are you sure there"s nothing for me?

Sammy Klein?

Sorry, Sammy, that"s all there is.

They wrote to you. ltjust missed the boat.

You know how mail is.

Let"s go, mac.

Hey, Sammy.

Come here. l want you to read this.

""From the future Mrs Malone.""

She must be some dame

if you want to marry her.

The trouble with you guys is

you never met a lady. Go on, read it.

What makes you think l can read?

- Taxi, how"s about lending me that razor?

- What for?

l must have lost mine coming ashore.

Let me see.

Right there.

Oh, yeah.

- Hey, Tex, Soose, fellas.

- Cut it out, Taxi.

We got to investigate this. Come over here.

- Look, a whisker.

- Where?

Right there.

You can see it with the naked eye.

- Think we ought to shave it off?

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