SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS 1storic, antique U. Coast Survey maps from the 1800s
GUADALCANAL August 7, 1942. And Forever.
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Here, historian William Manchester, author of Goodbye Darkness, a memoir of the Marine Corps, in which he served in the Pacific in World War II, pays tribute to the men who held on at Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, when the Navy had to abandon them temporarily. This account was printed in The New York Times on the SOth anniversary of the battle.
SCHOONER MARY DAY
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Early Saturday evening an embarrassed naval officer handed the besieged General Vandegrift a message from Vice Adm. Richard L. Ghormley, informing him that because his ships were needed elsewhere, the Navy "can no longer support the Marines on Guadalcanal." On the ridge an hour later, enemy flares burst overhead. Moving by their illumination, massive waves ofJapanese with fixed bayonets swarmed up the slopes. All that night and the following night you could hear the coughing of the Raider's mortars, the long staccato bursts of the machine-gunners firing belt after belt, and their screams of pain as they replaced hot warped barrels with their bare hands. The Japanese were screaming too, and the Marine sergeants were shouting, "Ahoy Raiders! Raiders! Rally to me!" It was extremely close but at daybreak, Monday, the Marines were still holding the ridge's last knoll , and the Japanese were full in retreat. President Roosevelt now saw that the 'Canal was shaping up into one of those decisive battles, like Waterloo and Gettysburg, in which both sides had resolved upon a showdown and prestige transcended strategic position. He directed his staff officers to "make sure that every possible weapon gets into that area to hold Guadalcanal." Army troop divisions were on their way . Adm. William Halsey took over the fleet. Altogether, 34 naval battles were fought around the island, with 65 major warships sunk, roughly half Japanese and half ours. Sealark Channel, between the 'Canal and Tulagi, was rechristened lronbottom Sound. The Japanese, having Jost 25,000 killed, left as they had come, by night. By then the world knew that General Vandegrift's troops had won a pivotal battle. But to me that struggle was more than a strategic victory. It was , and is, eloquent testimony to the fortitude of man. Men generally do what is expected of them; usually that is very little. On the 'Canal they were asked to do the impossible, and the shining response of those Marines on the line is historic. I shall never forget them; nor should you. WILLIAM MANCHESTER
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sailed with-all now vanished. We prized take on cleaning out an old fish stall to these, although (or maybe because?) they become the museum's first headquarusuallypointedoutsomeerrorwe'dmade. ters . He went on to set up a Girl Scouts An expert draftsman and modelmaker, unit, taking the gang to sea in my schooner Athena, whose antique he worked for Gibbs and gaff rig and GloucesterCox during World War II, and, later, for the man's hull he appreciated-he had been to Marine Model Co. Afsea in a fishing schooter his "retirement" at age 70, he worked as a ner as a teenager. His volunteer at the South ~ sailing primer for the "' StreetSeaportMuseum 3 Scouts is a classic, and should be publishedand the Maritime In- ~ we hope to do that. He is dustry Museum in the tJ survived by his son PeMaritime College at ~ ter 0. Herbert of Falls Fort Schuyler (formerly the New York ~:i:: Church, Virginia, State Nautical School). 0.. Robert Herbert aboard the Liberty and daughter Susan The model gallery was ship John W. Brown on January Samantha Brown of Seattle, as well as a named after him on his 25 , two weeks before his death. 80th birthday. grandson, two grandI first met Bob in South Street, where daughters and a great-granddaughter. PETER STANFORD he showed up with his wife Karen to SEA HISTORY 63, AUTUMN 1992