mini fact: America suffered 7,100 deaths at Guadalcanal; the Japanese lost 30,343 people.
“
I’m sure these young
Marines couldn’t believe
they just kept coming.
”
Cpl. Mike Winters, USMC (above), stands guard on Bloody Ridge in 1942 at the site of Lt. Col.
Merritt Edson’s Command Post on Hill 123 near the center of the ridge. The control tower at the
airfield can be seen from this spot. This famous trail still leads directly to Henderson Field (below).
From the top of Bloody Ridge, I could
see the old control tower on Henderson Field.
Today, a portion of the original runway is used
as the overrun for modern Honiara Interna-
tional Airport. The only reference to Henderson
Field is a sign above the domestic fl ight termi-
nal. As I walked over the ridge, down into the
cross compartments of the hilly terrain, fi nding
barbed wire and fi ghting positions everywhere,
I could imagine the fear of the Japanese as
they made their way up the ridge into deadly
machine-gun and rifl e fi re. I’m sure these young
Marines couldn’t believe they just kept coming
in the thousands. Had the Marines lost Bloody
Ridge, they would have lost Guadalcanal.
PHOTOS: ABOVE, MAJ. DALE ROBINSON, USMC-RET.; TOP, U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R 4 9
Apr_guadalcanal.indd 49 3/11/09 4:13:33 PM
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