On Saturday, January 25, 2003, at 06:39 AM, Kim Borgman wrote:

> funny you should post this.  I went to the funeral of my operator's dad
> Friday.  Marine.  served in WWII.  Born in 1925 so he was 18/19 in the
> war.  Serve in both Imo gima (sp) and Guadacanal.  2 of the worst
> battles if
> I recall properly.  Don't know if he hit the beachhead both times, but
> Marines never were on the tail end an assult.

  Iwo Jima & Guadalcanal.

Your operator's dad may have hit the beachhead at Iwo Jima but probably
not at Guadalcanal. The first "landings" on Guadalcanal were in 1942
when his dad was either 16 or 17 depending on the exact date of his
birth in 1925.

The Iwo Jima fighting was probably the worst of the Pacific war.

The Guadalcanal battles were "comparatively" minor but the entire
campaign was miserable. The Marines were poorly equipped. Early on,
they had very little sea and air support and weren't well prepared for
jungle warfare and conditions. I remember that many of them suffered
from malaria and/or other jungle type diseases. I was trained by some
Guadalcanal veterans all of whom exhibited post traumatic stress
disorder.

Fred

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