Marines in World War II Commemorative Series By Henry I. Shaw, Jr. [Sidebar ( page 3 ):] A distinguished military analyst once noted that if titles were awarded in America as they are in England, the commanding general of Marine Corps forces at Guadalcanal would be known simply as “Vandegrift of Guadalcanal.” But America does not bestow aristocratic titles, and besides, such a formality would not be in keeping with the soft-spoken, modest demeanor of Alexander A. Vandegrift. The man destined to

In the final stages of the war, General Vandegrift directed an elite force approaching half-a-million men and women, with its own aviation force. Comparing his Marines with the Japanese, he noted that the Japanese soldier “was trained to go to a place, stay there, fight and die. We train our men to go to a place, fight to win, and to live. I can assure you, it is a better theory.” After the war, Vandegrift fought another battle, this time in the halls of Congress, with the stakes being the survi

[Sidebar ( page 11 ):] W hile the Marine Corps was developing amphibious warfare doctrine during the 1920s and 1930s, it was apparent that a motorized amphibian vehicle was needed to transport men and equipment from ships across fringing reefs and beaches into battle, particularly when the beach was defended. In 1940, the Marines adopted the Landing Vehicle, Tracked (1), designed by Donald Roebling. More commonly known as the “amtrac” (short for amphibian tractor), the LVT(1) had a driver’s cab

[Sidebar ( page 14 ):] Whenever a work about the Guadalcanal operation is published, one of the pictures always included is that of Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, 1st Marine Division commanding general, and his staff officers and commanders, who posed for the photograph on 11 August 1942, just four days after the assault landings on the island. Besides General Vandegrift, there are 40 Marines and one naval officer in this picture, and each one deserves a page of his own in Marine Corps h

[Sidebar ( page 17 ):] A group of fewer than 1,500 native Coastwatchers served as the eyes and ears of Allied forces in reporting movements of Japanese units on the ground, in the air, and at sea. Often performing their jobs in remote jungle outposts, the Coastwatchers were possessed of both mental and physical courage. Their knowledge of the geography and peoples of the Pacific made them invaluable additions to the Allied war effort. The concept for this service originated in 1919 in a proposal

By 1942, the system of coastwatchers and the accompanying intelligence network covered an area of 500,000 square miles, and was placed under the control of the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB). The AIB coordinated Allied intelligence activities in the southwest Pacific, and had as its initial principal mission the collection of all possible information about the enemy in the vicinity of Guadalcanal. Coastwatchers proved extremely useful to U.S. Marine forces in providing reports on the number an

After he arrived in Brisbane, Australia, Colonel Twining bought a child’s watercolor set and, while confined to his hotel room by a bout of malaria, drew a bunch of diamonds on a big sheet, coloring each one differently. He then took samples to General Vandegrift, who chose one which was colored a shade of blue that he liked. Then Twining took the sketch to the Australian Knitting Mills to have it reproduced, pledging the credit of the post exchange funds to pay for the patches’ manufacture. Wit

Sergeant Major Vouza was highly decorated for his World War II service. The Silver Star was presented to him personally by Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, for refusing to give information under Japanese torture. He also was awarded the Legion of Merit for outstanding service with the 2d Raider Battalion during November and December 1942, and the British George Medal for gallant conduct and exceptional devotion to duty. He later received the P

[Sidebar ( page 29 ):] The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor posthumously to Douglas Albert Munro Signalman First Class United States Coast Guard for service as set forth in the following citation: Painting by Bernard D’Andrea, Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Historical Office For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer in Charge of a group of twenty-four Higgins boats engaged in the evacuati

In all, there were approximately 100,000 Reising sub-machine guns produced between 1940 and 1942. Small numbers of the weapons were acquired by both Great Britain and the Soviet Union. However, most were used by the U.S. Marine Corps in the Solomon Islands campaign. The Model 55 was issued to both Marine parachute battalions and Marine raiders, seeing service first on Guadalcanal. After its dubious debut in combat it was withdrawn from frontline service in 1943 due to several flaws in design and

[Sidebar ( page 45 ):] Born out of the need to bridge the gap in range between hand grenades and mortars, the grenade discharger evolved in the Imperial Japanese Army from a special purpose weapon of infantry assault and defense to an essential item of standard equipment with all Japanese ground forces. Commonly called Juteki by the Japanese, this weapon officially was designated Hachikyu Shiki Jutekidarto , or 1189 Model Heavy Grenade Discharger, the term “heavy” being justified by the powerful

[Sidebar ( page 48 ):] T he George Medal is legendary among 1st Marine Division veterans of Guadalcanal. Only about 50 were cast, in Australia, before the mold gave out. The medal commemorates the difficult situation of the division during the early days on Guadalcanal, when ammunition, food, and heavy equipment were short and the Japanese plentiful. When the issue was no longer in doubt, Marines had time to reflect on the D-plus-3 Navy withdrawal in the face of increasing Japanese air attacks a

The medal’s reverse pictures a cow (the original design showed a Japanese soldier with breeches down) and an electric fan, and is inscribed: “In fond remembrance of the happy days spent from Aug. 7th 1942 to Jan. 5th 1943. U.S.M.C.” The suspension ribbon was made, appropriately, of the pale green herringbone twill from some Marine’s utility uniform. Legend has it that to be authentic the utilities from which the ribbons were made had to have been washed in the waters of Guadalcanal’s Lunga River

The basic source work for this booklet is the first volume in the series History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal , written by LtCol Frank O. Hough, Maj Verle E. Ludwig, and Henry I. Shaw, Jr. (Washington: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1958). Other books used in writing this narrative were: BGen Samuel B. Griffith II, The Battle for Guadalcanal (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1963); Gen Alexander A. Vandegrift as to

Henry I. Shaw, Jr., former chief historian of the History and Museums Division, was a Marine Corps historian from 1951–1990. He attended The Citadel, 1943–1944, and was graduated with a bachelor of arts cum laude in history from Hope College, Holland, Michigan. He received a master of arts degree in history from Columbia University. Mr. Shaw served as a Marine in both World War II and the Korean War. He is the co-author of four of the five volumes of the official history of Marine Corps operatio