185 - New Jersey Postal History Society

FROM GUADALCANAL TO THE GARDEN STATE, Part I ~ Lawrence Brennan
Throughout the night, the Japanese swarmed from hillside caves in four separate attacks,
trying to penetrate the raider lines. They were unsuccessful and most died in the attempts. At
dawn, the 2d Battalion, 2d Marines landed to reinforce the attackers and by the afternoon of
August 8, the mop-up was completed and the battle for Tulagi was over.
The fight for Gavutu and Tanambogo was every bit as intense as that on Tulagi. The area
of combat was much smaller and the opportunities for fire support were limited once the Marines
had landed. After naval gunfire from USS San Juan (CL 54) and two destroyers, and a strike by
F4F Wildcats flying from Wasp, the 1st Parachute Battalion landed near noon in three waves,
395 men in all, on Gavutu. The Japanese, secure in caves, opened fire on the second and third
waves, pinning down the first Marines ashore on the beach. This time, 2d Marines
reinforcements were needed; the 1st Battalion’s Company B landed on Gavutu and attempted to
take Tanambogo; the attackers were driven to ground and had to pull back to Gavutu.
After a night of close-in fighting, the 3d Battalion, 2d Marines reinforced the men already
ashore and mopped up on each island. The toll of Marines dead on the three islands was 144; the
wounded numbered 194. The few Japanese who survived the battles fled to Florida Island,
which had been scouted by the 2d Marines on D-Day and found clear of the enemy.
Morison, U.S. Naval Operations, Vol. V notes the involvement of the U.S. Coast Guard which
provided invaluable contributions to many amphibious operations both in the Pacific and Europe.
During the afternoon of 8 August, Lieutenant Commander Dwight H.
Dexter USCG and 25 coastguardsmen were set ashore from Hunter Liggett with
their landing craft, as nucleus of a naval operating base on Lunga Point, and Dexter
assumed the duties of beachmaster, 2 These men proved both courageous and
resourceful; indispensable in moving small bodies of Marines along the coast.
On the Tulagi side, where the lesser part of the troops were discharged,
the Marines ran into stout opposition. Tulagi was not secured until the afternoon
of 8 August, nor did the Japanese seaplane base on the small islands of Gavutu
and Tanambogo fall into American possession until just before midnight of the
same day. In the meantime, the transports and their escorting destroyers, with
effective aid by fighter planes from the three carriers, beat off several heavy
attacks by Japanese bombing and torpedo planes that flew down from Rabaul,
Transport George F. Elliott and, indirectly, destroyer Jarvis, were lost as a result
of these air attacks; but on the whole the landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal
were very successful. Not the most pessimistic old chief petty officer in the
Expeditionary Force could have predicted that it would take twenty-six weeks’
hard fighting by Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Forces to secure what had
been occupied in little more than that number of hours. 3
Morison was correct – the landings were just the beginning of the story of Guadalcanal.
2 The Coast Guard at War, the Pacific Landings, VI (15 Mar. 1946); information from Mr. Frank R. Eldridge.
Nineteen of the 23 transports and APDs in the landing force carried coastguardsmen, and several of their surfmen
and coxswains distinguished themselves handling landing craft.
3 In Vol. IV of this History, chaps. xii-xiv, will be found a more detailed account of the planning of Operation
"Watchtower" and of the landings and other events of 7-8 August. The complete task organization will be found on
pp. 270-75.
NJPH 18
Vol. 40/No. 1
Feb 2012 Whole No. 185