the battle for Guadalcanal

[namvet]

for the first time in the war American and Japanese grounds troops face each other.

from the Victory at sea video documentary. part 6

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qWUOAELKTOs

http://youtube.com/watch?v=n39XA7ugIEY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C6jbgHrO_a8

[B5N2KATE]

Remember Bataan!

The Solomons fighting was not the first time for a "face off", nor was it the first defeat for the Imperial Army/Navy.

Some hard fighting occured for the beaches of the Bataan Peninsular....people often forget the Americans involved there...cut off from anything to resist with in the end.

Macarthur left more troops behind than were present in Australia when he landed at Melbourne....he called that his "Greatest shock and surprise of the entire war..."

[namvet]

Remember Bataan!

The Solomons fighting was not the first time for a "face off", nor was it the first defeat for the Imperial Army/Navy.

Some hard fighting occured for the beaches of the Bataan Peninsular....people often forget the Americans involved there...cut off from anything to resist with in the end.

Macarthur left more troops behind than were present in Australia when he landed at Melbourne....he called that his "Greatest shock and surprise of the entire war..."

no but the Solomon campaign was a victory. the first. for the first time Japan was forced to give up and abandon it. it was their will against ours. but the PI campaign did force Japan off its time tabe of conquest and gave us time to rearm at home. known as the battling bastards of Bataan. "no moma no papa no uncle sam. and no one gives a good god damned." many were rescued from those horrible camps when we took back the PI. and the filllipino army suffered right along with the Americans. a slaute to them all.

[B5N2KATE]

Concur.....those "battlin bastards" were the toughest troops of the war, by virtue of the fact that they had, really, not much to defend with....and then the "Death March", and incarceration in camps.....

The Pacific War really was a fight to the finish....

The condition of Macarthurs old fighters on their return home brought many to tears...

Loved the comment from an American child prisoner in Manila, liberated and watching a file of camp guards trailing down the street...

"Make them bow, boys...", she said,

"Make them BOW..."

[namvet]

Concur.....those "battlin bastards" were the toughest troops of the war, by virtue of the fact that they had, really, not much to defend with....and then the "Death March", and incarceration in camps.....

The Pacific War really was a fight to the finish....

The condition of Macarthurs old fighters on their return home brought many to tears...

Loved the comment from an American child prisoner in Manila, liberated and watching a file of camp guards trailing down the street...

"Make them bow, boys...", she said,

"Make them BOW..."

the death march was potographed and filmed by the Japs. then repleased to foreign media's to be certain they would be seen by Americans back home. it was the final insult

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/USPics/bataan/daws7.jpg

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/USPics/bataan/daws3.jpg

link (link)

death march (death march) memorials mark the way

this almost happened again on Guadalcanal. Washinton gave a minimum of supplies and men for this battle. everything was being saved for the Germans. faced with superior jap forces the marines ashore came close to running up the bed sheet. when Halsey took command he told Washinton and the joint chiefs if he didn't get men and supplies Americans would see another Bataan death march. the supplies and men poured in to win it.

[Francesca1973]

Namvet, thanks for posting the link to that blog. It was a really moving story. I wrote to the grandson to find out more.

[Rising Sun*]

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/USPics/bataan/daws7.jpg


I'd like to know more about the provenance of this picture.

It doesn't look like a Death March picture, not least because of all the civilians happily wandering around in the background, but more like the result of a formal execution or bodies being arranged or displayed for some other reason.