A little Naval History. Guadalcanal and the Medal of Honor

[MarAzul]

August 1942 The first offensive action for the Us military in the Pacific War is began with 82 ships, 40,000 Saliors and 16,000 Marines in the Salomon Islands.

The Us Navy would would put the Marines a shore on Guadalcanal. During the next 3 months, some of the most ferocious fighting of the second world war would take place between two equal combat forces. The US force would prevail and stop the expansion of the Japanese Empire for the first time.

Most that will read this short reminder of history will have heard of the Marine Corps valiant effort and success in defeating the enemy and taking control of Guadalcanal.

However,there are likely few that have heard of the Sea battles fought by the US Navy in the battle for the Solomon Islands, one of which is Guadacanal.
The vitory at Guadacanal cost the US Marine Corps and Army 1592 killed in action. The battle for the Solomn Island cost 5041 sailors of US Navy thier lives.
Most of these sailors were lost aboard 24 US Navy Warships sunk in the serounding seas of the Solomn Island, an area nickname Ironbottom Sound. The name was coined during the battle, aptly name in light of the 24 US ships and an equal number of Japanese Navy ships, 24 sunk in the area during the three months the battle raged. Some 700 plus aircraft were also lost to the bottom of this sound counting the losses from both forces.

Six United States Marines and two Army soldiers were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicous bravery during the action leading to this Victory. One US Salior was also was awarded the Honor, an Admiral in command of the battle of Savo Island. Most of the Medals were awarded Posthumously and there can be no doubt all were well earned.

But one can hardly fail to notice the difference in the number of causlties incurred by the services and the awards given. I think the reasons for this is, when ships
die, so do large numbers of saliors and they die with few to tell the tale and those few remember only the horror. There is no celebration, no tales of glory when the ship goes down.

In the case of The Battle of Savo Island, it was a night action within sight of the Marines on Guadalcanal. They could see the hellacious fire works of multiple warships firing, being hit, some blowing up before sinking. The US Navy lost the heavy cruisers Vincennes, Quincy, Astoria, and Chicago. The destroyers Paterson and Talbot damaged. The HMAS Canbera of the Australian Navy was also lost. Very heavy losses indeed, but the Japanese were prevented from landing reinforcements on the Island of Guadalcanal.

The US Marines, watching this action were very much aware of this fact, this time there were many to tell the tale. The Admiral in command, who was killed in the action, was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for his Bravery and that of the thousands of salior who went to Ironbotton Sound that night in October 1942.

 

[MarAzul]

Maybe this post will read a little better.



August 1942 The first offensive action for the Us military in the Pacific War began with 82 ships, 40,000 Sailors and 16,000 Marines in the Salomon Islands.

The Us Navy would put the Marines a shore on Guadalcanal. During the next 3 months, some of the most ferocious fighting of the second world war would take place between two equal combat forces. The US force would prevail and stop the expansion of the Japanese Empire for the first time.

Most that will read this short reminder of history will have heard of the Marine Corps valiant effort and success in defeating the enemy and taking control of Guadalcanal. However, there are likely few that have heard of the Sea battles fought by the US Navy in the battle for the Solomon Islands, one of which is Guadalcanal. The victory at Guadalcanal cost the US Marine Corps and Army 1592 killed in action. The battle for the Solomon Island cost 5041 sailors of US Navy their lives. Most of these sailors were lost aboard 24 US Navy warships sunk in the surrounding seas of the Solomon Island, an area nickname Ironbottom Sound. The name was coined during the battle, aptly name in light of the 24 US ships and an equal number of Japanese Navy ships, 24 sunk in the area during the three months the battle raged. Some 700 plus aircraft were also lost to the bottom of this sound counting the losses from both forces.

Six United States Marines and two Army soldiers were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery during the action leading to this Victory. One US Sailor was also was awarded the Honor, an Admiral in command of the battle of Savo Island. Most of the Medals were awarded Posthumously and there can be no doubt
all were well earned.

But one can hardly fail to notice the difference in the number of casualties incurred by the services and the awards given. I think the reasons for this is, when ships die, so do large numbers of sailors with few to tell the tale and those few remember only the horror. There is no celebration, no tales of glory when the ship goes down.

In the case of The Battle of Savo Island, it was a night action within sight of the Marines on Guadalcanal. They could see the hellacious fire works of multiple warships firing, being hit, some blowing up before sinking. The US Navy lost the heavy cruisers Vincennes, Quincy, Astoria, and Chicago. The destroyers Paterson and Talbot damaged.
The HMAS Canberra of the Australian Navy was also lost. Very heavy losses indeed, but the Japanese were prevented from landing reinforcements on the Island of Guadalcanal.

The US Marines, watching this action were very much aware of this fact, this time there were many to tell the tale. The Admiral in command, who was killed in the action, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his Bravery and that of the thousands of sailors who went to Ironbotton Sound that night in October 1942.

 

[Eastoff]

My grandfather was one of those marines who came out the other end at guadalcanal.