Guadalcanal. August 7, 1942

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Guadalcanal. August 7, 1942

overnight open thread
By: streiff (Diary) | August 7th, 2014 at 06:00 PM

On August 7, 1942, US Marines landed at Lunga Point on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons group. Their immediate objective was the seizure of a partially completed airfield, later finished by the US military and renamed Henderson Field in honor of USMC Major Lofton Henderson who was killed during the Battle of Midway. Along with landings on Tulagi and Florida Islands, the campaign was designed to take Japanese pressure off New Guinea and secure communications lines between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/07/guadalcanal-august-7-1942/

 

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Guadalcanal Campaign, August 1942 - February 1943
Overview and Special Image Selection

In the six months between August 1942 and February 1943, the United States and its Pacific Allies fought a brutally hard air-sea-land campaign against the Japanese for possession of the previously-obscure island of Guadalcanal. The Allies' first major offensive action of the Pacific War, the contest began as a risky enterprise since Japan still maintained a significant naval superiority in the Pacific ocean.

 

Nevertheless, the U.S. First Marine Division landed on 7 August 1942 to seize a nearly-complete airfield at Guadalcanal's Lunga Point and an anchorage at nearby Tulagi, bounding a picturesque body of water that would soon be named "Iron Bottom Sound". Action ashore went well, and Japan's initial aerial response was costly and unproductive. However, only two days after the landings, the U.S. and Australian navies were handed a serious defeat in the Battle of Savo Island.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/guadlcnl/guad-1.htm

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My Brother In Law Wes Sanderson...toughest SOB I ever knew was there.