On this day in 1942, United States Marines invaded Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Islands. Subject of many books, it was the first strike on the ground against the Empire of Japan. The objectives were to blunt the Japanese drive on Australia and the capture of the airfield under construction on Guadalcanal.

The Guadalcanal campaign was one of the greatest victories of the United States ever! It was a contest of two giants, fighting a battle at the very end of their supply lines, like two wrestlers lying face down just far enough apart that they can only fighi with their fingertips. It is grossly underappreciated. For further reading I can recommend Neptune's Inferno by Hornfischer and Guadalcanal by Richard B. Frank. C-Span has a whole day of lectures on Guadalcanal which you can view on the internet. Joe S

John Toland's book, "The Rising Sun" has an extended description of the battle for Guadalcanal

Saw some good docs about Guadalcanal a few weeks ago, an epic battle indeed and the situation was in doubt after the shellacking the USN took off of Savo.

Was called "Operation Watchtower" but the Marines called it "Operation Shoestring", and with good reason - Took a few weeks to install docks so all their material, including fuel, bombs, ammo and food, were pretty much hauled from the ships in nets then dumped on the beach in piles. No storage or indoor facilities, fuel drums and everything else were rolled off the beach and stored in the open, camouflaged as best they can from the constant Jap air and naval raids on their position. Heavy machinery was rare for quite a while, most of the work down completing the airfield was done with captured Japanese vehicles.
They were elated when the first planes flew into Henderson, but B-17's quickly wore out their welcome simply because they hogged so much precious fuel for what little good they did at that point of the war, they'd much rather see the fuel serve much more useful fighters and recon aircraft.

Many savage battles were fought including Alligator Creek and Bloody Ridge, bones of MIA soldiers on both sides are still being found today.