185 - New Jersey Postal History Society

FROM GUADALCANAL TO THE GARDEN STATE, Part I ~ Lawrence Brennan
The invasion force was en route to Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo close by
Tulagi's shore. The landing force was composed of Marines; the covering force and transport
force were U.S. Navy with a reinforcement of Australian warships. There was no mystery to the
selection of the 1st Marine Division to make the landings. 15 All three infantry regiments of the
landing force had battalions of artillery attached, from the 11th Marines, in the case of the 5th
and 1st; the 2d Marines drew its reinforcing 75mm howitzers from the 2d Division's 10th
Marines. 16
Before dawn on August 7, while Turner's Expeditionary Force rounded Cape Esperance,
Guadalcanal, Fletcher's carrier group maneuvered restlessly south of the island and prepared to
furnish air support for the landings. These landings were the least part of the long-drawn-out
Guadalcanal operation. The first amphibious operation undertaken by the United States since
1898 went off fairly smoothly because the enemy was taken completely by surprise and
overwhelmed. Landing craft from 15 transports took 11,000 Marines ashore on a beach at
Guadalcanal, about four miles east of Lunga Point, by nightfall. By the following afternoon the
Marines were in possession of the partially completed airstrip and of the principal Japanese
encampment at Kukum on the west side of Lunga Point. The enemy, not more than 2000 in
number and mostly labor troops, retired after only token resistance.
The division's heaviest ordnance had been left behind in New Zealand. Limited ship
space and time meant that the division’s big guns, a 155 mm howitzer battalion, and all the motor
transport battalion’s two-and-a-half-ton trucks were not loaded. Also failing to make the cut in
the battle for shipping space were all spare clothing, bedding rolls, and supplies necessary to
support the reinforced division beyond 60 days of combat. Ten days supply of ammunition for
each of the division's weapons remained in New Zealand.
In the opinion of the 1st Division’s historian and a veteran of the landing, the men on the
approaching transports “thought they'd have a bad time getting ashore.” They were confident,
certainly, and sure that they could not be defeated, but most of the men were entering combat for
the first time. There were combat veteran officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs)
throughout the division, but the majority of the men were going into their initial battle. The
commanding officer of the 1st Marines, Colonel Clifton B. Cates, estimated that 90 percent of
his men had enlisted after Pearl Harbor.
Fig. 9: Equipment and supplies littered the
beaches as the Marines sought to establish a
foothold.
NJPH 16
Vol. 40/No. 1
Feb 2012 Whole No. 185