This week in the South Pacific in 1942

[Ultradog MN]

The top brass in Pearl (Nimitz) and Washington (King) are not real pleased with Admiral Ghormley who had been in charge during the battles of Savo and the Eastern Solomons.
Ghormley is pessimistic about supporting the Marines who were facing a ferocious enemy on Guadalcanal Island.
Enter the stage: William - Bill - Bull Halsey who was sidelined for the battle of Midway by a skin disorder. After recooperating in the US and Hawaii for several months he is sent on the 15th of Oct on a fact finding mission to the south seas. Enroute he recieves orders to relieve Ghormley and delivers the bad news to his old friend from Anapolis days in person.
Halsey has a reputation of being a fighter and
he breathes a new enthusiasm into the fleet, the Cactus Air Force and the Marines on the ground on Guadalcanal.
Since August 7 both the Japanese and American fleets have taken a heavy toll supporting their efforts on the ground. The Americans have seriously gotten their butts kicked at sea till mid October - at least in fighting ships. But from here on out our supply ships will be luckier and more abundant than the Japanese supply effort and that will tell the story on the ground in just a few more months.
The USS South Dakota is just getting out of Pearl where she had to get fixed after running aground a month before. She'll get hammered again a week from now at the Battle of Santa Cruz where we will lose the aircraft carrier Hornet, the poor little tin can USS Porter and the San Juan - a light cruiser will be damaged.
Plus the USS Enterprise - the last carrier we have in the Pacific will be heavily damaged and need to spend time at Pearl getting repaired.
Meanwhile, the USS Washington has just reached the Pacific after running a couple of convoys with the Brits in the No Atlantic and also being handy should the German battleship Tirpitz decide to break out of Norway. She came through the Panama Canal (just barely) refueled in Pearl and is heading for the Solomons. Washington - the shootingest, sailingest American battleship of the war will miss Santa Cruz but surprise everyone when she quietly unmasks her guns in mid November.
This week, as you go about your life, give a thought to the tired, malarial Marines, and the shot up Cactus flyboys who are giving it all their worth - and not coming back - and the sailors who one minute are just good kids off of farms and out of cities and the next minute are fish food. And for Bull Halsey who's under enormous pressure - about this time 70 years ago.
 

[Ric. Ks.]

What? Was there a movie made dissing the emperor of Japan out there in the '40's Surly thats what brought on Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 7th 1941. Out of controll protest is how I see it-----B__ S___

I thank my Maker that there were and are men that give all they can so I can live like I do, and say what I want today in this great country.
 

[anteek49]

The men who fought this war gave us the greatness that we now squander. may our Creator save us from the ones who now trash us and our greatness.We need leadership with spines.
 

[dboll]

wasn't the USS South Dakota the most decorated battleship of WW2? Halsey's reply upon recieving his orders was "Je$us Chris+ and general Jackson, this is the hottest potato they ever handed me"!
 

[Royse]

In a later era, I was honored to carry on the tradition and be one of those
sailors who was just a good kid off a farm.
Thanks for putting up the reminders of the sacrifices, specially those of the greatest generation.
And thank you for your service.
 

[Ron in NS]

I thank God every day for the valiant young men who fought and died to preserve their homes, families, and our civilised way of life.
I curse the ones now who try to take it all away from us. You know exactly of whom I speak.
 

[wisbaker]

Thanks for the post, It reminds both us who followed in the Footsteps of the greatest generation in uniform and those who didn't serve the real cost of our freedom, a freedom some now want to give away because our current leadership doesn't feel it's worth fighting for. Leadership that wants to trade freedom for security. It is also fitting we grieve the loss of the Hornet, who 6 months earlier delivered the Doolittle raiders within striking distance of Japan, thus taking the war to their homeland and making all of the Japanese peoples deal with the war their leadership started.
 

[Bendee]

I thought it was the will of the majority of people, well those who voted anyway. the rest have no room for complaint. In general,If you want to change something then VOTE instead sitting on your a$$ and whingeing.

As I see it.
 

[ihman73]

A lot of great American boys were left in the south pacific in WWII, and as a part of younger generation (31) I am deeply troubled by the path our great nation is on. I hold all veterans in great reverence no matter what their job was or where they did it. I have some very close friends that were in the military in various branches and although I did not serve myself I am kind of a military history buff. If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it, and the crackpots running the show don't seem to recognize this or care it seems to me.
 

[Royse]

[Deere Scotty]

Amen! If I understood the news correctly; Thursday October 11th, 7 that were brought back from Espritu Santo Island were laid to rest in Arlington Natl. Cemetary. All having died in a recon plane that slammed into a mountain in 1944 on that island. Its good that we keep bringing them home!!!
 

[GordoSD]

There was a farm kd there from Sd, A MArine flyer. Took out 24 Jap fighters, was awarded the CMO. Joe Foss. My idol and mentor. Got me into the Navy Pilot program. He could also drive a tractor.