Guadalcanal 'A Darkness Without Time'-- Part 5: Marines Proved Themselves Here

The Battle of Guadalcanal began when the Marines landed there on August 7, 1942.

I am writing about the Marines at the Battle of Belleau Wood during Wold War, a fight which earned them the name "Devil Dogs" and proved they could fight the best troops in the world.  Guadalcanal did essentially the same thing during World War II.

Correspondent Richard Tregaskis was with the Marines and his book "Guadalcanal Diary," published in 1943, remains a classic.

There were other journalists along as well.  John Hersey nearly drowned there in a plane crash.  His account of a patrol he went on "Into the Valley," is another classic.

--GreGen

Guadalcanal 'A Darkness Without Time'-- Part 1: 75th Anniversary

From the August 10, 2017, Chicago Tribune by Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post.

The Marines began lining the rail of the troop ship before dawn to peer at the distant shape as they approached.

War correspondent Richard Tregaskis remembered things being so quiet he could hear the swish of the water as his vessel steamed toward the island.

It was 6:14 a.m. Friday, August 7, 1942, eight months to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor.

"Suddenly ... I saw a brilliant yellow-green flash of light coming from ... a cruiser on our starboard side.  I saw the red pencil lines of the shells arching through the sky, saw flashes on the dark shore ... where they struck."

It took a second for the booming sound of the guns to reach him, and when it did, he jumped.

They were the opening salvos of the epic World War II battle for the island of Guadalcanal.

--GreGen