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Show TEAMWORK IS WINNING THE WAR Is V - I' ' a - ' Islands, southeast of Bougainville "before the invasion of that island began. The New Zealanders, supported by our air and surface forces made a splendid landing on Treasury Treas-ury Isle. "A day later a battalion of our Marine parachute troops, commanded com-manded by Lieutenant Colonel Victor Krulak landed on Choiseul Island. This operation war a feint; a diversion to attract the enemy's attention toward Choiseul while the main thrust struck at Bougainville. Bou-gainville. The paratroopers put on a very daring raid and accomplished accom-plished much good before being withdrawn shortly. I "As a matter of fact the Jap-controlled Jap-controlled radio reported a force of 20,000 Americans there. "Colonel Krulak, known a s 'Brute' out there because of his being only a little over five-feet in height, did an outstanding job and was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Halsey. , Asked by newsmen if the "fight-ling "fight-ling spirit" of the Marines was "higher" when the invasion on Bougainville began that it was at the time of the Battle for Guadalcanal, Guadal-canal, he replied: "I thought we had very good spirit on Guadalcanal. I know it's at least that good now." Qualifing a statement as to continued strong Jap resistance on every South Pacific front, the : General said: - "You still have a good war to fight out there and it is not a pushover by any means. Howevtr, experience gained by our men on Guadalcanal is proving of great value presently. "On Guadalcanal1 we were inexperienced in-experienced at meeting the Jap. Today we are not." General Vandegrift was expected expect-ed to leave for Washington D. C, immediately with his aides and Mrs. Vandegrft, who came West to meet her husband. The veteran Marine officer, a native of Charlotteville, Va., fifty-six fifty-six years of age, has been in the Corps since January 22, 1909, when he was comissioned a Second Sec-ond Lieutenant. His service record is varied. He has served aboard ships in in Haiti, Mexico, China and at1 stations in the United States. I He waa awarded the Congres-sionali Congres-sionali Medal of Honor last February Feb-ruary for his conquest of Guadalcanal, Guadal-canal, and his other medals include in-clude the Navy Cross; the Unit Citation Ribbon bar with star; the Nicaraguan Campaign med-the med-the Mexican Service medal;., two Haitian Campaign medals: the LT GEN. A. A. VANDEGRIFT Teamwork nationally and internationally in-ternationally among Allied forces forc-es is winning the South Pacific war against the Japanese, who are "still not a pushover by any means," Lieutenant General Alexander Alex-ander A. Vandegrift. U.S.M.C., emphasized here this week to the American home front. General Vandegrift, who commanded com-manded landings of Marines on Bougainville Island, brought back to the United States the first the factual, aye-witness message of the battle for Japan's biggest island of the Solomons Group. It is teamwork that is winning in the South Pacific . . .teamwork .team-work among the Army, Navy and Marines and teamwork among air, surgace and ground forces. "On the first of November, our Marines landed on Empress Augusta Au-gusta Bay. Bourgainville, supported sup-ported by Navy surface vessels and air units. Light opposition from the shore was rapididly overcome. over-come. Our units pushed into the jungles and established themselves themselv-es a beachhead. As the days went by, the ground we held was widened and deepened. deep-ened. It was then that the army moved in behind our forces to gether with Naval troops. The Bourgainville landing was harder than the original fight at Guadacanal although not as hard as those of Tulagi and Gavutu. Our casualties were very light on Bougainville and extremely on Choiseul in compasison to the ! large amount of damage inflicted inflict-ed there. The Bougainville show was staged by the 1st Marine Amphib-1 ious Corps. From the latest re-' ports I have had since I left the scene Army and Navy troops have landed on Bougainville and are now busily engaged in get-' ting firmly established there," he said. . I Lieutenant General Vandegrift I paid high tribute to New Zealanders, Zealan-ders, U. S. Army troops and Mar-mos Mar-mos Corps Paratroopers, who landed on Treasury and Choiseul Haitian Distinguished Service med al; the Yangtze Service medal and the American Defense medal General Vandegrift turned ovei command of the first Amphibious Corps, U. S. Marines, and sup-poting sup-poting Army and Navy unitg a1 Bougainville, to Major-General Roj S. Geiger U. S. M. C, on November Novem-ber 9. General Geiger commanded all American air units in th Guadalcanal campaign on General Gener-al Vaneegrift's staff. Accompanying General Vandegrift Vande-grift from the South Pacific was Colonel Gerald C. Thomas, his chief of staff, who served in thai capacity in the Guadalcanal seige |