Guadalcanal Diary Page #6

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l"m sorry for everything l"ve done.

When you"re scared like this, the first thing

you do is start trying to square things.

lf l get out of this alive, l"ll probably go out

and do the same things all over again.

The only thing l know is

l didn"t ask to get in this spot.

And if we get it -

and it sure looks that way now -

then l only hope he figures we"ve done

the best we could and lets it go at that.

Maybe this is a funny kind of praying to you

guys, but it"s what l"m thinking and praying.

- Amen.

- Amen.

Seeing your friends hurt and killed

is not a thing you can easily forget.

True, we have killed four, five,

six or even ten for every man we"ve lost.

That"s statistics. But l find it very difficult

to think of these boys as statistics.

They were just Joe and Jim,

Bill and Whiz and Alabam to us.

God rest their souls.

Here they come again.

Hey, wait a minute.

Those ain"t Japs. Those are ours.

That"s our air support.

Thank God. At last.

- Our planes, Taxi.

- Yeah, our planes.

But what"s this? More reinforcements?

More marines coming ashore?

Kids full of big talk, itching for a fight.

Just like us a few months ago.

Hey, they got one of them here too.

""USO headquarters. Big dance tonight.

All marine and navy personnel invited.""

l get it, Spike. FHA project 782.

Hey, good-looking,

how"s the female situation?

- The which?

- The love life, stupid.

What is this love life

the gentleman"s talking about?

Never heard of it. Must be some strange

custom they have back in the States.

You"re killing you, ain"t you?

Don"t look now, but a truck of gas

just came on the field.

Maybe they can stop dishing it out

with an eyedropper.

Perhaps we"ll get out of here by Christmas.

But which Christmas?

- What, no sheeps" tongues?

- No sheeps" tongues.

Hey, Taxi, now maybe

we"ll get three meals a day.

Must be some mistake. This tastes OK.

l don"t like it, boy. When these luxuries start

coming it means us marines has got to go.

- Hot.

- Oh.

- What"s up?

- Your guess is as good as mine.

You can bet one thing.

We"re not geting all that stuff for nothing.

We"ve learned not to underestimate them.

We know now they won"t surrender.

We also know they aren"t supermen either.

We outshoot them, we outfight them

and we usually outguess them.

lt"s taken us a while to get rid of our

cockiness, but l think we"re ready now.

Here"s the enemy, with strong points

stretching all the way through here.

About 10,000, as near as we can determine.

They"ve been building up their forces.

The terrain"s in their favour.

There"s jungles and rivers and up here, caves,

like those on Tulagi, in which they holed in

in the first days of our invasion.

Don"t make the mistake of underrating them.

They"re good. But we"re beter.

So far we"ve been on the defensive.

We"ve done very well at

Matanikau, Tenaru and Bloody Ridge.

But our ultimate success requires

that we extend the area we occupy.

To do this we have three jobs.

One:
to eliminate the Japs

already on the island.

Two:
to wipe out their heavy artillery,

which is a constant menace to our airfields.

Three:
to establish new bases from which to

carry the fight to other enemy strongholds.

This will require an all-out effort,

and l can think of no beter date

to begin it than tomorrow.

November 10th, the 167th

anniversary of the Marine Corps.

Tomorrow, the battle.

But tonight, the last night

for many of us perhaps,

there are other things to think of, to do.

A song. One we used to sing

of an evening back home -

Bill and Joe and the rest of the gang.

Home. Most of all, home.

Things that are never

very far from our thoughts.

That a letter managed somehow

to bring closer to us, even here.

Little things that may give us

the courage to face that tomorrow.

These boys are perfectly wonderful.

Makes me proud to serve with them.

lf the other millions they"re training

at home are anything like these,

then we have nothing to worry about.

Dear Mom. l"m fine and l hope

you and Dad are not worrying,

because everything"s OK - no kidding.

Well, girly, l bet you never expected

to hear from me again.

But ha-ha! l fooled you.

Because when a gentleman like l tells

a lady like you something, that"s something.

They say that if we clean them out this time

they"ll take us out of here for a rest.

That means l might see you

for Christmas after all.

And l mean see.

- All set, Malone?

- Aye-aye, sir.

- Tell the men to fall in.

- Aye-aye, sir.

All right, you guys. Fall in!

Come on. On the double.

Left face.

Forward march.

At last the great offensive is under way,

an offensive this time in force.

This will not be the last fight for Guadalcanal,

but it is the beginning of the end.

Of that there can be no doubt.

And how the picture has changed.

The difficult early days, the critical days,

from August 7th when we landed

through October 26th when reinforcements

and supplies began to pile ashore,

those grave days are past.

No longer are we to be content

merely to hold what we have.

With the army at our side we are out to get the

Jap, to give him a dose of his own medicine.

To make Henderson Field, our first objective

on the island, a real offensive base

from which to strike closer and closer

to the heart of the Japanese octopus.

The plan is very simple.

Three detachments -

one by the shore road,

one by boat and a third through the jungle.

Those who go by shore

will fight a holding action.

Those who go by boat will land far to the west

and attack the enemy in the rear.

The main action on the Jap positions

will come from the jungle.

And what of the men who are now advancing?

Those sorely tried marines

who fought so gallantly in the first days,

and who are now proceeding to the grim

business of taking the fight to the enemy.

The long-awaited day

of all-out action is at hand.

Gone now is the loud

surface toughness of last summer.

ln its place is the cool, quiet fortitude

that comes only with battle experience.

There is to be but one command.

Attack, attack and attack.

Ain"t that General Vandegrift

with Colonel Grayson?

Yeah.

- Don"t he know it"s dangerous up here?

- Why don"t you go tell him?

Hey, Jap. You forgot something.

You forgot something. Funny.

That"s one you taught me, Tojo.

Today, December 10th 1942,

will be our last day on the island.

The job is done. We are going out.

lt"s from Admiral WF Halsey,

commander of the South Pacific force.

lt says:
""Never throughout

the history of the Marine Corps

have your deeds been surpassed.""

""Your courage and tenacity

make for a fighting spirit

that has surmounted every hardship

and conquered a treacherous enemy.""

""No commander could ask more than you

have given each hour of the day and night.""

""By your accomplishments you have added

a new verse to the Marine Hymn,

set the patern for our victory and tower

as an inspiration for every American.""

""Today as never before

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