Solomon Islands
Midnight Raid in Iron Bottom Sound
By John DomagalskiShortland Harbor was bustling with activity during the late morning hours of December 7, 1942. A group of warships were slowly getting underway, making for the open sea. Read more
Solomon Islands
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: Japan’s Naval War Leader
By Michael D. HullBrave, urbane, and complex, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was Japan’s greatest naval strategist and the architect of one of the most stunning achievements in the history of modern warfare. Read more
Solomon Islands
Carlson’s Long Patrol: Marine Raiders at Guadalcanal
By Christopher MiskimonOn the morning of November 6, 1942, a force of 267 Marines took its first steps into the jungle from a landing point at Aola Bay, roughly 30 miles east of the American perimeter on Guadalcanal. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Proximity Fuse: The Gunner’s Dream Finally Became Realized
By Kevin AllenEarly on the morning of December 16, 1944, the commander of the U.S. 406th Artillery Group, Colonel George Axelson, had a difficult decision to make. Read more
Solomon Islands
Pacific Merchant Marine
By Dr. Carl H MarcouxThe American war in the Pacific proved to be largely a maritime endeavor. Fighting consisted of widespread naval battles between the two major opponents followed by American invasions of Japanese-held island bases. Read more
Solomon Islands
Withdrawal from Guadalcanal: Abandoning the Island of Death
By David Alan JohnsonThe first Japanese general officer to suggest abandoning Guadalcanal to the Americans was probably Maj. Gen. Kenryo Sato, the War Ministry’s chief of its Military Affairs Bureau. Read more
Solomon Islands
Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher
By Michael D. HullHe was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Ill-Fated Goettge Patrol: Richard Tregaskis
by John WukovitsThe heated reaction by the Marines to the slaughter at the Goettge Patrol, answered in kind by the Japanese, led to some of the fiercest combat seen in the war. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Battle of the Coral Sea
By John WukovitsWorld War II was less than six months old when the American public, already stunned by the debacles at Pearl Harbor and Guam, faced one of its darkest moments. Read more
Solomon Islands
Hellfire on the Hornet’s Nest: Flamethrower Tanks at Bougainville
By Steve ZalogaU.S. portable flamethrowers were first used in combat during the Guadalcanal campaign in January 1943. It quickly became apparent that the exposed flamethrower operator was vulnerable to Japanese small arms fire. Read more
Solomon Islands
How Japanese Aircraft Carrier Construction Was Thwarted
by John W. WhitmanJapan lacked the industrial strength needed to wage a war against the United States. Yet, Japanese military planners seldom considered the limitations to their nation’s construction capabilities. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Eastern Solomons: Death Struggle Off Guadalcanal
By David Alan JohnsonLieutenant David C. Richardson spotted the four-engined flying boat silhouetted against the ocean by the late morning sun. Read more
Solomon Islands
Operation Dovetail: Guadalcanal Rehearsal
By Arnold BlumbergBy June 1942, the military might of Imperial Japan threatened Australia. The string of spectacular Japanese conquests in the South Pacific menaced lines of supply and communication between the United States and its allies and bases in the region. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Battle of Cape Esperance: A Sorely Needed Naval Victory
By David Alan Johnson“One large, two small vessels, one six miles from Savo off northern beach, Guadalcanal. Will investigate closer.” Read more
Solomon Islands
Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey
By Glenn BarnettJust before dawn, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise turned into the wind to launch her planes. Nervous and excited pilots roared into the darkness of the vast Pacific toward the unsuspecting Japanese. Read more
Solomon Islands
The Pacific War: Bull Halsey & Raymond Spruance
By Michael HaskewOn the eve of the turning point of World War II in the South Pacific, the U.S. Navy’s most experienced aircraft carrier commander, Admiral William F. Read more
Solomon Islands
OSS Captain Frank Farrell Prosecuted Nazi Spy Ring In Postwar China
by Colonel Richard D. Camp, Jr. USMC (Ret) and Ms. Suzanne PoolMarine Captain Frank Farrell stood in the open door of the Army Air Corps C-47 waiting for the “green light,” the signal to leap into space, on a mission that could mean life or death for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people. Read more
Solomon Islands
Jacob Vouza’s Defiant Stand During the Guadalcanal Campaign
By Al HemingwayA few days after the Marines had established a toehold on the island of Guadalcanal, a trio of natives appeared at the mouth of the Tenaru River. Read more
Solomon Islands
U.S. Marine legend Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller
By Michael D. HullCrouched in their foxholes along Edson’s Ridge on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the Marines formed a critical but thin defense line between strategic Henderson Field and seasoned Japanese infantry lurking in the jungle. Read more
