THIS IS GUADALCANAL

[Music] this is Guadalcanal the Marines took it and held it the Japs counter-attack time after time and fail five long bloody months the Marines held their ground this is their story the inside story of what they did and what they did without but it's your story too you dope the ships that took us over you who made the equipment that beat off the Japs you kept the supplies coming that kept us going and you who made the airplanes that save the day the battle for Guadalcanal proved that even on that distant Pacific island victory or defeat and not only on the men on the firing lines but on how well you folks back home carried out your share of the fight destination unknown when we shoved off that fine spring morning under the staff numbers knew where we were headed and they weren't telling all the men wanted was actually somehow they know it was in the wind the marine can always smell a fight a long ways off wasn't until many days after we kissed the San Francisco shoreline goodbye and waved farewell to the Golden Gate that the news of our mission broke colonel hunts notice to the Troops ended with these words our country expects nothing but victory from us and it shall have just that we have worked hard and trained carefully for this action each of us as a design task let each vow to perform it to the utmost of his ability with added effort for good measure good luck god bless you and to hell with the Japs Navy did a great job as more and more ships joined us it began to look like a really big show the last day at sea was mighty rough there wasn't much talking our radios were silent this destroyer dashed back and forward delivering messages [Music] we're on the road at night before dawn we were in position and ready to go ships exchanged messages crews man their battle stations this was a long-awaited moment at 6:14 the big guns of a navy cruiser opened fire on the shore ships are all up and down the line joined in the barrage the din was terrific our guns quickly found the range plastic the entire Shore Japs were caught completely by surprise but there was no answering fire [Music] Henry officers followed the accuracy of our shelling careful unsure supply people burn fists our barrage had been effective now it was time to follow up men swung down over the side on cargo nets they went calmly and in perfect order but this morning it was the real thing and somehow it seemed a long way down [Music] wave after wave of landing craft swept show overhead screen of fighter planes our protective umbrella [Music] a beach dead ahead and still no sign of the enemy best boats hit the show without opposition not a man was lost in the landing operations on the island of Guadalcanal [Music] but Guadalcanal was a battle of supplied as well as men over 5,000 miles of ocean lay between our islands and San Francisco and grocery deliveries couldn't be too regular even more important than food with the equipment we brought with us gasoline for example was worth its weight in gold [Music] this barbed wire helped break up one of the Jets most dangerous attacks we could have used a lot more of it machine-gun nests with dug and communication wires run up immediately if you've been wondering what a foxhole would really like take a good look these foxholes will home sweet home for many a Marine Washington for as long as 10 days at a time [Music] in deserted Jeff camps we found that our naval barrage had been mighty effective they were in such a hurry to get away that they abandoned huge stacks of material Sargent art who later shot over a dozen [ __ ] snipers put on this captured uniform to show how they camouflage themselves against the jungle background their rifles were longer than ours but not nearly as accurate climbing spikes help Jeff snipers to mount read easily the gaps and the jungle were both enemies together like this they made a dangerous fold this was a Japanese flamethrower our men cried out all captured weapons to get the hang up they get a big kick out of turning Jeff guns around and shelling the enemy with [Music] but the dependability American equipment was prior superior as one of the Marines told me tell major where American troops is we just naturally want American weapons in a tight spot we want to know our guns and ammunition aren't going to let us down that's why we look for that good old label made in the USA on August 8th the day after the landing Marines marched out and took Henderson Field except for some scattered Seng the enemy put up no organized resistance Henderson field was really the key to our entire operation of whoever would control the island of Guadalcanal must also control the air over it one of the first moves was to run up the Stars and Stripes there was a lot of work to be done before planes can use the field it was tough full of shell craters most of them had to be filled in and rolled smooth some will use this observation post and gun emplacements and set up for business by their crews the Marines and Seabees rushed the field through on the double they used everything they could lay their hands on including Jeff's team Oakes an American machinery from back home that most of the heavy work some of the farm boys got kind of homesick running these tractors even before the runways were completed our planes were taking off Marine pilots and Army and Navy Airmen worked tirelessly as one great team flying SPD's air coolers and Grumman Wildcats they were real heroes those sky fighters and no one thought more highly of them than our own troops cheering them on from below it took thousands of gallons of gasoline a week to keep our planes in the air and we operated on a slim margin once we were down to a single day's supply when the Navy came to our rescue just in time [Music] those last claims are flying purposes the Marines used to call them those big beautiful things [Music] we planned our defense of the airfield carefully here at headquarters 10th Colonel Thomas presided over a group of officers and men mapping out an operational plan we meanwhile jeeps command cars and marine working parties headed down the jungle road and marched over the engineers bridge built by our own men their mission was to spend from the key strategic widgets around the airfield immensely important defensive positions this particular hilltop became known as bloody Ridge looks harmless doesn't it yet later some of the fiercest fighting of the whole campaign took place here first job was to clear away the underbrush mines preferred fighting for this kind of work observation posts were hastily constructed frontline foxholes were dug along with deeper and wider pits for machine guns favorite song of this marine was you'll be so nice to come home to our own artillery continually founded jet positions to break up massive enemy troops these 105 millimeter field guns did a lot of damage at long range frequently our gun crews maintained this fire all day long when Japs concentrations became dangerous American gun batteries proved far more accurate than the Japs a plane spotter warns here comes the Japs who every men on Guadalcanal this was an all-too-familiar site jet bombers outlined and silver against the sky jet plane is hit watch it fall behind the Train [Music] a machine-gun crew cuts loose caps go by [Music] another hit out of control the jet plane plunges toward the water end of another Jeff Raider but sometimes by sheer weight of numbers the Japs broke through they took that toll of men and planes they tore huge bomb craters in the runways they wrecked buildings and they set fire to oil stores no matter how often they came over how hard they tried they never succeeded in putting innocent field out of commission even before the enemy attacks had ceased American repair crews were on the job yes these are our planes but for every plane we lost the Japs lost five for every pilot ratio was even higher and even these planes weren't completely out of the fight for our mechanics Elvis everything but the portholes and repairing damaged machines time meant everything down here when new planes didn't arrive on schedule our pilots flew the best they had the badly wounded were rushed direct by a hospital plane to nearby island bases out of reach of [ __ ] bombers [Music] minor casualties and cyclist patience incorporated in the local hospital stations Ruddle canals one and only refrigerator operated by kerosene saved plenty of lives we bathed ended our laundry in the river whenever there was a lull in the fighting but the dirt like the Japs themselves kept coming back today an American supply ship came in so tonight we ate like kings hot biscuits coming up we cooked with a field stove and a [ __ ] safe converted into a griddle imagine what a meal like this meant to the Marines after a stretch of emergency field rations and [ __ ] rice we watch the bulletin board like hawks news from home picked up at night by radio was posted regularly the big question what's the number one song this week most numerous among [ __ ] prisoners were members of labor battalions called termites by the Marines most of them when captured didn't seem to take their faith too hard [Music] expecting to be tortured jep's were amazed to be given humane first aid treatment but compared to Jeff dead prisoners were few and far between thousands of Japs were killed in the savage fighting on Guadalcanal as many as 800 died in a single night's engagement yet as general Vandergrift wrote home even though we lose only one man to the Japs 10 that is still too high ratio they are such fine men these boys of mine they are doing their job in the best marine tradition and I could add nothing to it from abandoned enemy equipment many a marine brought back his own personal souvenir corporal Barney Ross later promoted to sergeant received a captured [ __ ] flag right on the field of battle [Music] when he visited Guadalcanal Admiral Nimitz chief of the Pacific Fleet decorated a few of the many heroes this is Colonel Edson let a marine radar battalion in March the entire 1st Marine Division were cited by President Roosevelt next you will see three crack pine pellets major Smith majored gala and Captain Carl is major-general van der grift marine leader with Admiral Nimitz before we left the island we saluted our dead the Marines who will never come home [Music] our welcome relief arrived at last the United States Army came in to take over that first wave of Doughboy sure look good to us as they hit the beach these troops were fresh completely equipped even to rag their mascot [Music] we knew we were leaving Guadalcanal in good hands then down the roads we had trod so often out of the foxholes in the jungle in which we had fought so long game we Marines heading for the ships that want to take us out of the battle zone [Music] one last look the American flag still Louisville Guadalcanal the taking and holding of Guadalcanal represents a victory of immense strategic importance but the Japs knew this as well as we did as proven for the high price and warships and airplanes and men they were willing to pay in their futile attempts to recapture the island in our hands Guadalcanal represents an unsinkable aircraft carrier stopping further [ __ ] advances and from which we in turn can strike again and again at other Japanese bases when and where the Marines will attack next I cannot tell what attack they will repeatedly and with determination and this I can tell you whenever and wherever a Marine strike they were what again the all-important backing of you folks on the production line at home they will need it in the same full measure you supported them in those never-to-be-forgotten foxholes of Guadalcanal [Music]