Yesterday marked 80 years since the start of the battle. I visited there in 2013 and it was quite a view from the American Memorial looking over Iron Bottom Bay.
Some time ago I asked for suggested reading about Guadalcanal and included in the responses were Frank's Guadalcanal, Wheelan's Midnight In The Pacific, and Hornfischer's Neptunes's Inferno. I'm about halfway through Guadalcanal and it reveals an incredible amount of research that went into the final copy. I probably should have begun with one or both of the others first simply because I've been a little overwhelmed with the size and depth of Frank's book. Wheelan's book got into the nitty-gritty of the everyday fighting on land, sea, and air. Must admit that I was brought to tears with the ferocity of the description of the struggle and how many times our guys got up off the mat bloodied and exhausted and by God's providence returned a knockout punch. Again and again and again. And when the final victory was ours, the physical description of those who lived to leave that hellhole again brought tears to my eyes by a picture of courage, bravery, fortitude, a true never-quit, never give up, never surrender fighting spirit. For they were exhausted to the point that they required assistance to climb onto the rescue boats. Most had lost a tremendous amount of weight and almost all had suffered multiple illnesses from the insufferable heat and insects and a lack of adequate nourishment, not to mention from wounds received in combat. I have just begun to read Neptune's Inferno but to me Hornfischer's writing is exquisite. Too, I've found that his background explanation of the fact that the decision to focus men and materiel on the European theater helped me understand why it seemed that the Pacific theater in the Solomons was lacking in sufficient numbers of men, ships, and planes and that the struggle there was made more difficult because of it. I would recommend all three. Thanks to the guys who suggested those books.mullokmotx said:
Yesterday marked 80 years since the start of the battle. I visited there in 2013 and it was quite a view from the American Memorial looking over Iron Bottom Bay.