_Maj Kenneth D. Bailey, commander of Company C, 1st Raider Battalion,
was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for heroic and inspiring
leadership during the Battle of Edson’s Ridge._]
The next night’s attacks were as fierce as any man had seen. The
Japanese were everywhere, fighting hand-to-hand in the Marines’
foxholes and gun pits and filtering past forward positions to attack
from the rear. Division Sergeant Major Sheffield Banta shot one in the
new command post. Colonel Edson appeared wherever the fighting was
toughest, encouraging his men to their utmost efforts. The man-to-man
battles lapped over into the jungle on either flank of the ridge, and
engineer and pioneer positions were attacked. The reserve from the 5th
Marines was fed into the fight. Artillerymen from the 5th Battalion,
11th Marines, as they had on the previous night, fired their 105mm
howitzers at any called target. The range grew as short as 1,600
yards from tube to impact. The Japanese finally could take no more.
They pulled back as dawn approached. On the slopes of the ridge and in
the surrounding jungle they left more than 600 bodies; another 600 men
were wounded. The remnants of the Kawaguchi force staggered back toward
their lines to the west, a grueling, hellish eight-day march that saw
many more of the enemy perish.
The cost to Edson’s force for its epic defense was also heavy.
Fifty-nine men were dead, 10 were missing in action, and 194 were
wounded. These losses, coupled with the casualties of Tulagi, Gavutu,
and Tanambogo, meant the end of the 1st Parachute Battalion as an
effective fighting unit. Only 89 men of the parachutists’ original
strength could walk off the ridge, soon in legend to become “Bloody
Ridge” or “Edson’s Ridge.” Both Colonel Edson and Captain Kenneth D.
Bailey, commanding the raider’s Company C, were awarded the Medal of
Honor for their heroic and inspirational actions.
On 13 and 14 September, the Japanese attempted to support Kawaguchi’s
attack on the ridge with thrusts against the flanks of the Marine
perimeter. On the east, enemy troops attempting to penetrate the lines
of the 3d Battalion, 1st Marines, were caught in the open on a grass
plain and smothered by artillery fire; at least 200 died. On the west,
the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, holding ridge positions covering the
coastal road, fought off a determined attacking force that reached its
front lines.
[Illustration: _The Pagoda at Henderson Field, served as headquarters
for Cactus Air Force throughout the first months of air operations
on Guadalcanal. From this building, Allied planes were sent against
Japanese troops on other islands of the Solomons._
Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 50921
]
The victory at the ridge gave a great boost to Allied homefront
morale, and reinforced the opinion of the men ashore on Guadalcanal
that they could take on anything the enemy could send against them. At
upper command echelons, the leaders were not so sure that the ground
Marines and their motley air force could hold. Intercepted Japanese
dispatches revealed that the myth of the 2,000-man defending force
had been completely dispelled. Sizable naval forces and two divisions
of Japanese troops were now committed to conquer the Americans on
Guadalcanal. Cactus Air Force, augmented frequently by Navy carrier
squadrons, made the planned reinforcement effort a high-risk venture.
But it was a risk the Japanese were prepared to take.
On 18 September, the long-awaited 7th Marines, reinforced by the
1st Battalion, 11th Marines, and other division troops, arrived at
Guadalcanal. As the men from Samoa landed they were greeted with
friendly derision by Marines already on the island. The 7th had been
the first regiment of the 1st Division to go overseas; its men, many
thought then, were likely to be the first to see combat. The division
had been careful to send some of its best men to Samoa and now had
them back. One of the new and salty combat veterans of the 5th Marines
remarked to a friend in the 7th that he had waited a long time “to see
our first team get into the game.” Providentially, a separate supply
convoy reached the island at the same time as the 7th’s arrival,
bringing with it badly needed aviation gas and the first resupply of
ammunition since D-Day.
The Navy covering force for the American reinforcement and supply
convoys was hit hard by Japanese submarines. The carrier _Wasp_ was
torpedoed and sunk, the battleship _North Carolina_ (BB 55) was
damaged, and the destroyer _O’Brien_ (DD 415) was hit so badly it
broke up and sank on its way to drydock. The Navy had accomplished
its mission, the 7th Marines had landed, but at a terrible cost. About
the only good result of the devastating Japanese torpedo attacks was
that the _Wasp_’s surviving aircraft joined Cactus Air Force, as the
planes of the _Saratoga_ and _Enterprise_ had done when their carriers
required combat repairs. Now, the _Hornet_ (CV 8) was the only whole
fleet carrier left in the South Pacific.
As the ships that brought the 7th Marines withdrew, they took with them
the survivors of the 1st Parachute Battalion and sick bays full of
badly wounded men. General Vandegrift now had 10 infantry battalions,
one understrength raider battalion, and five artillery battalions
ashore; the 3d Battalion, 2d Marines, had come over from Tulagi also.
He reorganized the defensive perimeter into 10 sectors for better
control, giving the engineer, pioneer, and amphibian tractor battalions
sectors along the beach. Infantry battalions manned the other sectors,
including the inland perimeter in the jungle. Each infantry regiment
had two battalions on line and one in reserve. Vandegrift also had the
use of a select group of infantrymen who were training to be scouts and
snipers under the leadership of Colonel William J. “Wild Bill” Whaling,
an experienced jungle hand, marksman, and hunter, whom he had appointed
to run a school to sharpen the division’s fighting skills. As men
finished their training under Whaling and went back to their outfits,
others took their place and the Whaling group was available to scout
and spearhead operations.
Vandegrift now had enough men ashore on Guadalcanal, 19,200, to expand
his defensive scheme. He decided to seize a forward position along the
east bank of the Matanikau River, in effect strongly outposting his
west flank defenses against the probability of strong enemy attacks
from the area where most Japanese troops were landing. First, however,
he was going to test the Japanese reaction with a strong probing force.
He chose the fresh 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, to move inland along the slopes of
Mt. Austen and patrol north towards the coast and the Japanese-held
area. Puller’s battalion ran into Japanese troops bivouacked on the
slopes of Austen on the 24th and in a sharp firefight had seven men
killed and 25 wounded. Vandegrift sent the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines,
forward to reinforce Puller and help provide the men needed to carry
the casualties out of the jungle. Now reinforced, Puller continued
his advance, moving down the east bank of the Matanikau. He reached
the coast on the 26th as planned, where he drew intensive fire from
enemy positions on the ridges west of the river. An attempt by the 2d
Battalion, 5th Marines, to cross was beaten back.
About this time, the 1st Raider Battalion, its original mission one of
establishing a patrol base west of the Matanikau, reached the vicinity
of the firefight, and joined in. Vandegrift sent Colonel Edson, now the
commander of the 5th Marines, forward to take charge of the expanded
force. He was directed to attack on the 27th and decided to send the
raiders inland to outflank the Japanese defenders. The battalion,
commanded by Edson’s former executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel
Samuel B. Griffith II, ran into a hornet’s nest of Japanese who had
crossed the Matanikau during the night. A garbled message led Edson to
believe that Griffith’s men were advancing according to plan, so he
decided to land the companies of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, behind
the enemy’s Matanikau position and strike the Japanese from the rear
while Rosecran’s men attacked across the river.
The landing was made without incident and the 7th Marines’ companies
moved inland only to be ambushed and cut off from the sea by the
Japanese. A rescue force of landing craft moved with difficulty through
Japanese fire, urged on by Puller who accompanied the boats on the
destroyer _Ballard_ (DD 660). The Marines were evacuated after fighting
their way to the beach covered by the destroyer’s fire and the machine
guns of a Marine SBD overhead. Once the 7th Marines companies got
back to the perimeter, landing near Kukum, the raider and 5th Marines
battalions pulled back from the Matanikau. The confirmation that the
Japanese would strongly contest any westward advance cost the Marines
60 men killed and 100 wounded.
[Illustration: _Shortly after becoming Commander, South Pacific Area
and Forces, VAdm William F. Halsey visited Guadalcanal and the 1st
Marine Division. Here he is shown talking with Col Gerald C. Thomas,
1st Marine Division D-3 (Operations Officer)._
Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 53523
]
The Japanese the Marines had encountered were mainly men from the
_4th Regiment_ of the _2d (Sendai) Division_; prisoners confirmed
that the division was landing on the island. Included in the enemy
reinforcements were 150mm howitzers, guns capable of shelling the
airfield from positions near Kokumbona. Clearly, a new and stronger
enemy attack was pending.
As September drew to a close, a flood of promotions had reached the
division, nine lieutenant colonels put on their colonel’s eagles and
there were 14 new lieutenant colonels also. Vandegrift made Colonel
Gerald C. Thomas, his former operations officer, the new division
chief of staff, and had a short time earlier given Edson the 5th
Marines. Many of the older, senior officers, picked for the most part
in the order they had joined the division, were now sent back to the
States. There they would provide a new level of combat expertise in the
training and organization of the many Marine units that were forming.
The air wing was not quite ready yet to return its experienced pilots
to rear areas, but the vital combat knowledge they possessed was much
needed in the training pipeline. They, too--the survivors--would soon
be rotating back to rear areas, some for a much-needed break before
returning to combat and others to lead new squadrons into the fray.
[Illustration: Japanese Model 4 (1919) 150mm Howitzer]
[Sidebar (page 22): Sergeant Major Sir Jacob Charles Vouza
[Illustration]
Jacob Charles Vouza was born in 1900 at Tasimboko, Guadalcanal,
British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and educated at the South Seas
Evangelical Mission School there. In 1916 he joined the Solomon Islands
Protectorate Armed Constabulary, from which he retired at the rank of
sergeant major in 1941 after 25 years of service.
After the Japanese invaded his home island in World War II, he returned
to active duty with the British forces and volunteered to work with
the Coastwatchers. Vouza’s experience as a scout had already been
established when the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal. On 7
August 1942 he rescued a downed naval pilot from the USS _Wasp_ who was
shot down inside Japanese territory. He guided the pilot to friendly
lines where Vouza met the Marines for the first time.
Vouza then volunteered to scout behind enemy lines for the Marines.
On 27 August he was captured by the Japanese while on a Marine Corps
mission to locate suspected enemy lookout stations. Having found a
small American flag in Vouza’s loincloth, the Japanese tied him to a
tree and tried to force him to reveal information about Allied forces.
Vouza was questioned for hours, but refused to talk. He was tortured
and bayoneted about the arms, throat, shoulder, face, and stomach, and
left to die.
He managed to free himself after his captors departed, and made his way
through the miles of jungle to American lines. There he gave valuable
intelligence information to the Marines about an impending Japanese
attack before accepting medical attention.
After spending 12 days in the hospital, Vouza then returned to duty
as the chief scout for the Marines. He accompanied Lieutenant Colonel
Evans F. Carlson and the 2d Marine Raider Battalion when they made
their 30-day raid behind enemy lines at Guadalcanal.
Sergeant Major Vouza was highly decorated for his World War II service.
The Silver Star was presented to him personally by Major General
Alexander A. Vandegrift, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division,
for refusing to give information under Japanese torture. He also was
awarded the Legion of Merit for outstanding service with the 2d Raider
Battalion during November and December 1942, and the British George
Medal for gallant conduct and exceptional devotion to duty. He later
received the Police Long Service Medal and, in 1957, was made a Member
of the British Empire for long and faithful government service.
After the war, Vouza continued to serve his fellow islanders. In 1949,
he was appointed district headman, and president of the Guadalcanal
Council, from 1952-1958. He served as a member of the British Solomon
Islands Protectorate Advisory Council from 1950 to 1960.
He made many friends during his long association with the U.S. Marine
Corps and through the years was continually visited on Guadalcanal by
Marines. During 1968, Vouza visited the United States, where he was
the honored guest of the 1st Marine Division Association. In 1979,
he was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. He died on 15 March
1984.--_Ann A. Ferrante_
]
[Sidebar (page 23): M3A1 37mm Antitank Gun
The M3 antitank gun, based on the successful German _Panzer Abwehr
Kanone_ (PAK)-36, was developed by the U.S. Army in the late 1930s as
a replacement for the French 37mm Puteaux gun, used in World War I but
unable to destroy new tanks being produced.
The M3 was adopted because of its accuracy, fire control, penetration,
and mobility. Towed by its prime mover, the 4×4 quarter-ton truck,
the gun would trail at 50 mph on roads. When traveling crosscountry,
gullies, shell holes, mud holes, and slopes of 26 degrees were
negotiated with ease. In 1941, the gun was redesignated the M3A1 when
the muzzles were threaded to accept a muzzle brake that was rarely, if
ever, used.
At the time of its adoption, the M3 could destroy any tank then being
produced in the world. However, by the time the United States entered
the war, the M3 was outmatched by the tanks it would have met in
Europe. The Japanese tanks were smaller and more vulnerable to the
M3 throughout the war. In the Pacific, it was used against bunkers,
pillboxes and, when loaded with canister, against banzai charges. It
was employed throughout the war by Marine regimental weapons companies,
but in reduced numbers as the fighting continued. It was replaced in
the European Theater by the M1 57mm antitank gun.
The 37mm antitank gun, manned by a crew of four who fired a 1.61-pound
projectile with an effective range of 500 yards.--_Stephen L. Amos and
Kenneth L. Smith-Christmas_
[Illustration]
]
[Sidebar (page 29):
The President of the United States
takes pleasure in presenting
the Medal of Honor posthumously to
Douglas Albert Munro
Signalman First Class
United States Coast Guard
for service as set forth
in the following citation:
[Illustration:
Painting by Bernard D’Andrea, Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard
Historical Office
]
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above
and beyond the call of duty as Officer in Charge of a group of
twenty-four Higgins boats engaged in the evacuation of a battalion
of Marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz,
Guadalcanal, on September 27, 1942. After making preliminary plans
for the evacuation of nearly five hundred beleaguered Marines,
Munro, under constant strafing by enemy machine guns on the island
and at great risk of his life, daringly led five of his small craft
toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signalled the others
to land and then in order to draw the enemy’s fire and protect the
heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft, with its two
small guns, as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese.
When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro
was instantly killed by enemy fire, but his crew, two of whom
were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and
cleared the beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning,
and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades
undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have
perished. He gallantly gave up his life in defense of his country.
/s/ Franklin Roosevelt
]
_October and the Japanese Offensive_
On 30 September, unexpectedly, a B-17 carrying Admiral Nimitz made an
emergency landing at Henderson Field. The CinCPac made the most of the
opportunity. He visited the front lines, saw Edson’s Ridge, and talked
to a number of Marines. He reaffirmed to Vandegrift that his overriding
mission was to hold the airfield. He promised all the support he could
give and after awarding Navy Crosses to a number of Marines, including
Vandegrift, left the next day visibly encouraged by what he had seen.
[Illustration: _Visiting Guadalcanal on 30 September, Adm Chester W.
Nimitz, CinCPac, took time to decorate LtCol Evans C. Carlson, CO, 2d
Raider Battalion; MajGen Vandegrift, in rear; and, from left, BGen
William H. Rupertus, ADC; Col Merritt A. Edson, CO, 5th Marines; LtCol
Edwin A. Pollock, CO, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines; Maj John L. Smith, CO,
VMF-223._
Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 50883
]
The next Marine move involved a punishing return to the Matanikau,
this time with five infantry battalions and the Whaling group. Whaling
commanded his men and the 3d Battalion, 2d Marines, in a thrust
inland to clear the way for two battalions of the 7th Marines, the
1st and 2d, to drive through and hook toward the coast, hitting the
Japanese holding along the Matanikau. Edson’s 2d and 3d Battalions
would attack across the river mouth. All the division’s artillery was
positioned to fire in support.
[Illustration: