"From the blown-up buildings on the beach," Griffith went on. "As I was saying, he tied explosives to a plank, a board, and then under covering fire ran to the mouth of the cave- caves;I saw him do it half a dozen times-and put it inside."
"Why didn’t the Japs just throw it back out?" Harris asked. "Am I missing something?"
"He hung on to the board, General," Griffith said. "Wedged it against the inside of the cave until it blew."
"Oh," Harris said.
"If any of the Japs had figured out what was going on, they’d have come a little further toward the mouth of the cave and shot him. He was really exposed, doing what he was doing, and he saved a lot of lives."
"OK," Harris said. "You can tell the General that I approve of the award of the Silver Star to your Captain Sutton, Jack."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Now that that’s decided," Red Mike Edson said, laughing, "I will tell you something else Captain Sutton did."
"Something funny?" Harris said, as he poured more bore cleaner in their canteen cups.
"He got carried away. He found some gasoline somewhere, and added a can of that to the explosives."
"That didn’t work?"
"It worked. It blew his clothes off and damn near fried him."
"Was he hurt?" Harris asked.
"No, not seriously. But he was down to his skivvy shorts, and they were singed, and there’s not a hair on his body."
There were chuckles all around.
"And speaking of people who really exposed themselves," Edson said, "I heard of an officer-and I think Sam saw this, too-who stood out in the open, really exposed, with a Mickey Mouse rifle he got somewhere, and put two rounds into the head of a Jap sniper at a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty yards. How about a medal for him?"
"No," Jack Stecker said firmly. "Absolutely not."
"The motorcycle kid here?" General Harris asked.
"Sir, I did what any Marine private is supposed to do. Engage the enemy with accurate rifle fire. That’s all. Nobody should get a medal for doing his duty."
"I’m not sure I can disagree with that," Harris said, after a moment. "And what the hell, Red, Jack’s already got enough medals."
"He sure inspired a lot of kids out there," Edson said.
"I’m sure he did, but that’s something else we have to expect from a Marine officer," Harris said, his tone of voice making it clear that he did not wish to entertain any further discussion of the matter.
"Before Jack goes over there, I want from each of you, starting with Jack as the junior commander, a one-word description of the Japanese we just fought."
"What for?"
"I want it, and I want Jack to give it to General Vandergrift, something we’re thinking before the adrenaline goes away. Jack?"
" ‘Courageous.’ Maybe ‘tenacious.’"
"One word."
"Then ‘courageous,’" Stecker said.
General Harris wrote that down, then said, "Williams?"
"I’ll agree with ‘tenacious,’ " Major Williams said after a moment’s thought.
"Griffith?"
"Fanatical," Lieutenant Colonel Griffith said.
"Red?"
"I was going to say ‘fanatical,’" Edson said.
"Say something else, anything but ‘zealous,’ " Harris said.
"OK. How about ‘suicidal’?" Edson said.
"If that’s what you think, fine," Harris said, as he wrote it down.
"Just out of idle curiosity, why couldn’t I have said ‘zealous’?"
"Because that’s my word," Harris said.
" ‘Zealous’?" Edson asked incredulously. "As in ‘He was zealous in his pursuit of the busty virgin’?"
"The word comes from zealot, " Harris explained. "They were a band of Jews in biblical times who jumped off a mountain rather than surrender-after a hell of a fight-to the Romans."
"I wonder how well versed General Vandergrift is in biblical lore?" Edson replied dryly.
"They’re not really small, bucktoothed people needing thick glasses, that we can whip with one hand tied behind us, are they?" Major Stecker asked softly.
"It doesn’t look that way, does it, Jack?" Harris replied, then added, "But so far things seem to be going pretty well on Guadalcanal."
"I’ve been on the radio to the 5thMarines," Stecker said. "That’s not the case. So far, all we have is a beach. We’re about to lose the equipment that’s still aboard the transports, including rations and ammunition; and we’re going to lose the Marines that are there, too. The Japanese have not yet counterattacked. They will, and I think they will in force. If not today or tomorrow, then soon. They want that airfield as much as we do, maybe more. And they’re in a much better position to reinforce than we are. That’s going to be a long and bloody fight, and I wouldn’t give odds who’s ultimately going to win it."
"Jesus Christ, Jack," Griffith protested. "When I was in England I heard the Germans shoot their officers out of hand for talking like that. They call it ‘defeatism.’ You’re a goddamned Marine. I don’t like hearing something like that from a Marine."
"That’s enough, Sam!" General Harris flared. "I think Jack put the situation very succinctly." He raised his voice, "Sergeant Major!"
When the Sergeant Major appeared at the door, General Harris said, "Find some wheels to drive Major Stecker to the beach. I don’t want him having an accident on his motorcycle between here and there."
(Seven)
TOP SECRET
Eyes Only-The Secretary of the Navy
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
ORIGINAL TO BE DESTROYED AFTER ENCRYPTION AND TRANSMITTAL TO SECNAVY
Aboard USSMcCawley
Off Guadalcanal
1430 Hours 9 August 1942
Dear Frank:
This is written rather in haste; and it will be brief because I know of the volume of radio traffic that’s being sent, most of it unnecessarily.
As far as I am concerned, the battle of Guadalcanal began on 31 July, when the first Army Air Corps B-17 raid was conducted. They have bombed steadily for a week. I mention this because I suspect the Navy might forget the bombing in their reports. They were MacA. ‘s B-17s, and he supplied them willingly. That might be forgotten, too.
The same day, 31 July, the Amphibious Force left Koro in the Fijis, after the rehearsal. On 2 August, the long-awaited and desperately needed Marine Observation Squadron (VMO-251, sixteen F4F3 photo-recon versions of the Wildcat) landed on the new airbase at Espiritu Santo. Without the required wing tanks. They are essentially useless until they get wing tanks. A head should roll over that one.
The day before yesterday, Friday, 7 Aug., the invasion began. The Amphibious Force was off Savo Island on schedule at 0200.
The 1stMarine Raider Bn under Lt. Col. Red Mike Edson landed on Tulagi and have done well.
The 1stParachute Bn (fighting as infantrymen) landed on Gavutu, a tiny island two miles away. So far they have been decimated and will almost certainly suffer worse losses than this before it’s over for them.
The 1stand 3rdBns, 5thMarines, landed on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, west of Lunga Point, to not very much initial resistance. They were attacked at half past eleven by Japanese bombers from Rabaul, twenty-five to thirty twin-engine ones.
I can’t really tell you what happened the first afternoon and through the first night, except to say the Marines were on the beach and more were landing.