While physical casualties were light as a result of the battleship shelling, mental casualties were high. Men were buried alive in what they thought were safe shelters. The explosions sucked air from lungs and the concussion blew over trees and collapsed coconut log dugouts with ease. Two-ton shells as large as a Volkswagen Beetle smashed into the Marine positions, shaking everything from dental fillings to the emotions of the men themselves. At 0133 hours, the battlewagons opened fire and for the next 83 minutes hurled 970 heavy naval shells at Henderson Field and the surrounding area. On that night, the Japanese battleships Haruna and Kongo sailed up the slot and opened fire on Henderson Field with their 14-inch rifles. That description, however, could not be used for the Japanese bombardment on the night of October 14, 1942. Most enemy shellings lasted only a few minutes and were relatively ineffective-more of a nuisance to the Marines than anything else. Japanese destroyers and cruisers would send shell after shell at the Marines, causing men to scramble for dugouts and shelters. By night the Japanese would shell the Marine positions, specifically targeting Henderson Field. Wounds caused by enemy fire accounted for only one-third of disabled Marines on Guadalcanal.Īnother unpleasant daily occurrence for the men ashore were Japanese bombardments. Tropical diseases, of which malaria was one of many, disabled nearly two-thirds of the division. It is estimated that by the time the division was relieved in December 1942, over 8,000 men of the 1st Marine Division had malaria. Malaria cases were rampant on Guadalcanal in the autumn of 1942, so much so that having malaria became a sort of badge of honor among those who served on the island. The rumors were untrue, of course, but that didn’t change the fact that many a Marine would spit out the little yellow pill once out of sight of the Navy corpsman who administered it. However, rumors began to circulate among the men that taking Atabrine would make them sterile and render them sexually impotent. When taken regularly, Atabrine proved to be somewhat effective. The men were instructed to take an anti-malaria drug called Atabrine in order to ward off the disease. Clouds of malaria-carrying mosquitoes were a constant threat for any man ashore. Guadalcanal’s hot, humid weather and wet jungle terrain created a perfect breeding ground for disease. It was not uncommon for men on Guadalcanal to lose as much as 40 pounds due to malnutrition and tropical diseases. The Marines ashore, children of the Great Depression, were already thin and soon became downright skinny. Combined with the hot, humid weather, the stress of combat, and the inadequate diet, the men ashore lost weight at an acute rate. If one asked any early veteran of the campaign about food, the veteran would almost certainly mention the lack of food and the constant daily rations of the maggot- and worm-infested rice issued to them by the 1st Marine Division’s cooks, who ate the same unappetizing two-tablespoon meal day after day. Rice became the main item on the menu until early November for the Marines ashore. Following their rapid capture of the airfield the day after landing, the Marines seized large stores of Japanese rice. The men ashore were left without sufficient medical provisions, and very little of their own food. A man could be weakened by tropical disease and malnutrition just as easily as being killed by enemy fire.įollowing the Navy’s disastrous August defeat at Savo Island, the Marines’ supplies, or at least the vast majority of them, were pulled away from the island. Death could wear many faces on Guadalcanal. Those ashore faced a constant day-to-day battle of life and death. The Americans who had the misfortune to serve on the island, particularly from August through October 1942, were denied the very basics of living as we know it. For the infantryman, the campaign on Guadalcanal was synonymous with misery.
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