The Do-Or-Die Men: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion at Guadalcanal

The gripping true account of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion -- from its formation and training to its heroic baptism under fire in the battles of.
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Isoroku Yamamoto was left with the embarrassing chore of explaining what happened to the Emperor and then promising that it would never happen again. When asked by the media where the planes had come from, Roosevelt smiled broadly, leaned back in his chair in the oval office and said, "They came from a secret base in Shangri-La," referring to the mythical land in James Hilton's Lost Horizon.

A month later in a White House ceremony, Roosevelt presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to a reluctant Doolittle, who had been promoted two ranks to brigadier general. Doolittle felt he had done nothing more than anyone else in the squadron and thus did not deserve to be singled out for such an individual honor. Doolittle's raid turned out to be more than just a psychological success. It altered the course of the war in the Pacific and helped hasten Japan's capitulation.

Within days, Yamamoto, who had promised his Emperor he would defend the homeland, convinced the military leaders to delay planned thrusts southward to capture Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia, which would have cut off the shipping lanes between the United States and Australia, and concentrate on a strike eastward against Midway in the central Pacific.

The Americans, he told the militarists, must not be allowed to hold any territory from which they could ever again launch more air attacks on the Japanese homeland.

The Do-or-Die Men: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion at Guadalcanal

Japan's military leaders, deeply embarrassed by the Doolittle Raid, quickly approved Yamamoto's eastward plan of attack and set the date for the first week in June. America's resounding triumph at Midway, which included the sinking of four enemy carriers and the loss of hundreds of experienced flyers, would be the beginning of the end for the Japanese military machine. Admiral Nimitz was commander in chief of everything else in the Pacific that was not under MacArthur's domain. MacArthur, who was just as outspoken as King, made it known that his first priority was the capture of the huge Japanese air and naval base at Rabaul on New Britain Island and that his ultimate goal was a return to the Philippines.

Nimitz did not agree, proposing instead a series of hit-and-run raids against Tulagi and other island bases in the Solomons. Both camps wrestled with the thorny issue of command throughout the spring of The imperious MacArthur took umbrage that Nimitz would suggest an action in his sphere of influence. King moved swiftly to defuse this bone of contention, shifting the area boundary one degree to the west, giving Nimitz control over the lower Solomons, which included Tulagi and Guadalcanal.

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King overruled Nimitz's choice of Adm. Ghormley, who was then the American naval observer in London. Pye had been interim Pacific Fleet commander after Adm. Husband Kimmel was sacked following the Pearl Harbor disaster and it was his order that recalled the Wake Island relief mission on December King, and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, couldn't forgive Pye's action to call off the rescue effort, though many historians believe he made the right decision. Ghormley's primary asset was his diplomatic experience. He was suave, gentle, patient and tactful, qualities he displayed during his two-year appointment to England.

He, like everyone else in the Navy Department, was almost completely ignorant of the South Pacific and the intentions of the Japanese in the area. His elevation to a wartime post in the Pacific proved to be a disappointing one. Meanwhile, the American Navy had just survived its first big clash with the Japanese in what was to be called the Battle of the Coral Sea on May Tactically, the clash was a stand-off but strategically, it was an American victory because it stopped a planned Japanese invasion of Port Moresby.

The Americans lost the carrier Lexington in the battle and suffered heavy damage to the Yorktown, which was quickly repaired to fight again four weeks later. The Japanese lost a light carrier and suffered heavy battle damage to another. More importantly, American pilots shot down nearly half the carrier-based aircraft employed in the battle, taking with them their irreplaceable pilots. A few weeks later, Nimitz, under constant prodding from King for some offensive action, proposed a quick strike on Tulagi, a small island off the coast of Florida Island and only twenty miles across the sea from Guadalcanal, by the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, which had recently arrived at Samoa.

Tulagi, which was considered the best harbor in the Solomon Islands, had good deep-water ports and a seaplane base. The operation was quickly called off, however, because there weren't enough available forces to hold the island once taken.

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Planning continued for something more substantial but Tulagi was kept on the back burner. King became energized again after the American victory at Midway in early June. He reasoned that the United States should seize the initiative with an attack in the Solomons by August 1.

But the plan became mired in politics. General Marshall wanted General MacArthur to command the proposed offensive but King was adamant that the Navy should control the operation. King wired Nimitz in Hawaii in late June to prepare a battle plan on the assumption that only Navy and Marine units would be available. MacArthur had no intention of letting the Navy take control. It was left to General Marshall to act as a mediator between the Navy and Army. Marshall offered a three-part operation designed to assuage MacArthur's objection over control.

D-day would be August 1. The latter target was chosen because it had a good airfield site at Ndeni. Task two would be the capture of Lae, Salamaua and the northeast coast of New Guinea and task three would be the attack on Rabaul and adjacent positions in the New Britain-New Ireland area.

MacArthur would be in control of the latter two operations. Vandegrift and members of his staff were summoned to a meeting with Admiral Ghormley in Auckland. Vandegrift had no idea what was coming. It directed Ghormley to confer with MacArthur concerning an amphibious operation Vandegrift would have operational control of the 5th Marines, the 1st Marines, which would arrive in New Zealand in two weeks, the 3rd Defense Battalion, currently in Hawaii, the understrength 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Raider Battalion, which had been training in Samoa for two months.

To replace his 7th Marines, which were also garrisoned at Samoa, Vandegrift would be given one battalion of the 2nd Marines of the 2nd Marine Division, which had just left San Diego.

The other two battalions of the 2nd Marines, however, would be under the direct control of the amphibious commander, Rear Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner, who apparently had plans to use them in a separate operation. He was under the impression that his division, much of it still en route to the South Pacific, would not have to go into action until January 1, He was told that by the Marine Commandant, Maj.

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Thomas Holcomb, who passed this information on to him through Admiral King. After Vandegrift had digested the message, Ghormley asked him for his opinion. Meanwhile we'll have to go ahead as best we can. Twining, an assistant operations officer on Vandegrift's staff, later wrote. There was a reference to adjacent islands, obviously inclusive of the group of minor islets close to Tulagi, such as Gavutu and Tanambogo.

It most certainly did not include the major island of Guadalcanal, some twenty miles to the south of Tulagi. Guadalcanal -- ninety miles long and twenty-five miles wide -- possessed the only extensive terrain in the area suitable for developing a major air base -- an unsinkable aircraft carrier. Therefore, it was the strategic jewel in the Solomon Islands necklace.

The Japanese, apparently aware of this, were believed to be constructing a fighter strip there. Furthermore, most of the troops would have been at sea for several weeks and their physical conditioning would be less than optimum. The 1st Marine Division was plainly not ready to go into combat especially without its best regiment.

The 7th Marines, a force of some 3, men, was in Samoa, having been detached from the division since April. The unit had been stocked with the best personnel in the division and rushed to the South Pacific as a reaction force, only to sit around while the rest of the division was heading off to war.

The 5th Marines, which had been picked over to form the 1st Raider Battalion and to fill out the 7th Marines, arrived in Wellington, New Zealand with Vandegrift and his advance party on June The 1st Marines, which had a strong leadership corps but was basically made up of new recruits, were scheduled to arrive in Wellington in early July. Replacing the 7th Marines would be the 2nd Marines of the 2nd Division, which Vandegrift had never seen before.

Also under Vandegrift's command were three battalions of the division's artillery unit, the 11th Marines. The division was far short of being in a satisfactory state of readiness for combat. The vast majority of the ranks were recent enlistees -- Pearl Harbor Avengers. Many were in their teens but they were fit and willing.

On the other hand, however, most of the NCOs and officers were crusty veterans, who gave the division its moniker as "The Old Breed.


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What a colorful bunch they were, too. They were tough and they knew it, and they exulted in that knowledge. Time had run out. He absorbed the bitter news from Ghormley almost without comment, saluted and went about obeying his orders. Vandegrift's operations officer, Lt. Gerald Thomas, asked why the 2nd Marines couldn't replace the 7th Marines at Samoa so that the 1st Division could go into battle with its best regiment.

Ghormley had no answer, but said he would ask. Apparently Turner, who continued to act like a ground commander rather than an admiral, had plans to use the 7th in another operation at Ndeni in the Santa Cruz Islands, a plan that was quickly shelved. He would later propose forming his own Raider Battalion and also using the 7th Marines in a bizarre plan to establish scattered enclaves along the northern coast of Guadalcanal. He would be quickly disavowed of this latter plan when it was pointed out to him that there was no point in establishing other perimeters if the first could not be held.

Though secrecy was stressed, news of the impending operation spread quickly. A local newspaper in Wellington printed a story announcing the arrival of "a completely equipped expeditionary force of American Marines" and then conjectured that a force such as this is "not usually sent to bases where action is not expected. It wasn't a very reassuring situation.


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Overall tactical command of the operation, dubbed "Watch-tower," was given to Rear Adm. He would be promoted to vice admiral on July Fletcher had recently gained a reputation as an overly cautious officer, one who was predisposed to "play it safe. John rated it liked it May 18, Nathaniel Helms rated it really liked it Dec 28, Jolazo rated it liked it Aug 06, Joel Grey rated it it was amazing Jun 20, Texas Bookworm added it Oct 29, David added it Nov 25, Debbie marked it as to-read Aug 27, Phillip Stewart added it Mar 15, David marked it as to-read Mar 29, Caleb Mullis marked it as to-read Feb 28, Wikimedia Italia added it Dec 31, Ivan White marked it as to-read Mar 24, Wheng added it May 06, Courtney marked it as to-read Apr 17, Ken marked it as to-read May 17, Christyparrott added it May 27, Charles marked it as to-read Sep 14, Rex Cyrus added it Jan 07, Emrie marked it as to-read May 02, Carey added it Sep 09, Robin added it Jul 27, MTNWishlist added it Jun 17, BookDB marked it as to-read Sep 25, Chris Collins marked it as to-read Dec 15, Joe added it Jan 16, He lives in West Hartford, CT.

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