| OCR Text |
Show Guadalcanal Turned The Tide On August 7f 1942 By C. F. In the busy rush of every day affairs we are inclined to overlook over-look happenings of the past that, had , they not happened could have changed the entire world. Thus it is with August 7 the date back in 1942 when the Marines Mar-ines landed on Guadalcanal. The date is generally by-pass- ed today, but it turned the tide in the war with Japan. Let's not overlook the anniversary anni-versary connected with August 7. Four years ago the men ol rhe Marine Corps launched the first offensive move against the advance ad-vance of the Japanese in the Pacific, Pa-cific, attacking Guadalcanal and adjacent islands. The battle for the island was a touch and go affair, wrought with hard fighting, unexpected difficulties and handicaps. But after six months it was adeq : i ly secured and available as a base for further operatic . It is true that the batles of the Coral Sea and Midway had already blunted the offensive power of the enemy but the island is-land was the earliest effort of -the United States to take the in itiative and it represents the first direct progress toward rolling roll-ing up the extended J?.ar.es lines. Few people know that, tlv Marines and the Army forces that hung doggedly to the island in the early days of the battle were practically without supplies, sup-plies, ammunition and gasoline. And that at other times they were almost without naval support. sup-port. But hang to Guadalcanal they did and the tide was turned against the Japanese Empire. |
