October 15 - 19, Lynnwood
On Friday 10/17 the Veterans will be going from their hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites in Lynnwood, to the ferry in Edmonds at 9:20 AM for a memorial service on the water. The veterans will be having lunch in Kingston and that is another opportunity to enjoy their company. And on Saturday 10/18 between 2 and 4 PM, the Veterans will be in the hotel available to meet people in the community.
Contact: Sue Scott
Phone: 360-797-1626
On Friday 10/17 the Veterans will be going from their hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites in Lynnwood, to the ferry in Edmonds at 9:20 AM for a memorial service on the water. The veterans will be having lunch in Kingston and that is another opportunity to enjoy their company. And on Saturday 10/18 between 2 and 4 PM, the Veterans will be in the hotel available to meet people in the community.
Contact: Sue Scott
Phone: 360-797-1626
To the Guadalcanal Campaign Veterans, 72nd Anniversary of the Guadalcanal Campaign:
We should realize the Guadalcanal campaign ranks with D-Day, Gettysburg and Valley Forge as the four most important military trials in our history. Our nation was defeated, even senior leaders in Washington believed we could not defeat the Japanese on Guadalcanal, and their lack of confidence was reported, via spies, to the Japanese. This was one of the reasons the Japanese continued to underestimate our fighting forces on and around Guadalcanal.
So, Thank You for showing us that Americans could win.
And you saved Australia. From the end of April 1942, the islands around Guadalcanal were part of Japan’s plan to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea and from there to attack Australia...New Guinea and Guadalcanal were two prongs of the same attack plan. Two weeks before the US landed on Guadalcanal, the Japanese landed on the north shore of New Guinea to march through jungles and mountains to attack Port Moresby. All through August and September, Australian forces fought and retreated. By the middle of September, Japanese forces could see Port Moresby.
But, because of you on Guadalcanal, Japan was forced to give up its attack on Port Moresby. On September 24, the Japanese were ordered to withdraw because the reinforcements they would need to carry out the attack were being sent to Guadalcanal.
These Japanese troops were starving, and they had planned to feed themselves in Port Moresby. Instead, because of Guadalcanal, they had to retreat through 100 miles of jungle.
On behalf of Australia, Thank You. While Guadalcanal was enduring the artillery, Naval gun and aerial bombardments of mid-October, starving Japanese were retreating through New Guinea jungles...all because of you.
Know these two dates:
October 21 was the day Japanese General Hyakutake had scheduled for American surrender. He ordered his forces to keep killing Americans until they saw General Vandegriff with his staff and a translator carrying a white flag down the beach.
And, in early October, Japanese troops retreating from Port Moresby turned to cannibalism. Because of the fighting courage of Americans on Guadalcanal, starving Japanese soldiers gave up plans to conquer Australia and turned to eating their own dead.
So, in October 2014, we thank you for what your courage accomplished in October, 1942. Instead of giving Japanese General Hyakutake a chance to repeat the Bataan Death March, you men killed so many of his troops that Guadalcanal was known to the Japanese as “the Island of Death”.
We thank you for that.
Lt. Col. William "Bill" Waters
USMC
So, Thank You for showing us that Americans could win.
And you saved Australia. From the end of April 1942, the islands around Guadalcanal were part of Japan’s plan to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea and from there to attack Australia...New Guinea and Guadalcanal were two prongs of the same attack plan. Two weeks before the US landed on Guadalcanal, the Japanese landed on the north shore of New Guinea to march through jungles and mountains to attack Port Moresby. All through August and September, Australian forces fought and retreated. By the middle of September, Japanese forces could see Port Moresby.
But, because of you on Guadalcanal, Japan was forced to give up its attack on Port Moresby. On September 24, the Japanese were ordered to withdraw because the reinforcements they would need to carry out the attack were being sent to Guadalcanal.
These Japanese troops were starving, and they had planned to feed themselves in Port Moresby. Instead, because of Guadalcanal, they had to retreat through 100 miles of jungle.
On behalf of Australia, Thank You. While Guadalcanal was enduring the artillery, Naval gun and aerial bombardments of mid-October, starving Japanese were retreating through New Guinea jungles...all because of you.
Know these two dates:
October 21 was the day Japanese General Hyakutake had scheduled for American surrender. He ordered his forces to keep killing Americans until they saw General Vandegriff with his staff and a translator carrying a white flag down the beach.
And, in early October, Japanese troops retreating from Port Moresby turned to cannibalism. Because of the fighting courage of Americans on Guadalcanal, starving Japanese soldiers gave up plans to conquer Australia and turned to eating their own dead.
So, in October 2014, we thank you for what your courage accomplished in October, 1942. Instead of giving Japanese General Hyakutake a chance to repeat the Bataan Death March, you men killed so many of his troops that Guadalcanal was known to the Japanese as “the Island of Death”.
We thank you for that.
Lt. Col. William "Bill" Waters
USMC
Links
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/guadlcnl/guadlcnl.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-guadalcanal
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Guadalcanal_Campaign.html
http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-8/72-8.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-guadalcanal
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Guadalcanal_Campaign.html
http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-8/72-8.htm