Americans secure Guadalcanal 1943
On this day in 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal,
leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The
American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon
Islands.
Guadalcanal is the largest of the Solomons, a group of 992 islands
and atolls, 347 of which are inhabited, in the South Pacific Ocean. The
Solomons, which are located northeast of Australia and have 87
indigenous languages, were discovered in 1568 by the Spanish navigator
Alvaro de Mendana de Neyra (1541-95). In 1893, the British annexed
Guadalcanal, along with the other central and southern Solomons. The
Germans took control of the northern Solomons in 1885, but transferred
these islands, except for Bougainville and Buka (which eventually went
to the Australians) to the British in 1900.
The Japanese invaded the Solomons in 1942 during World War II
and began building a strategic airfield on Guadalcanal. On August 7 of
that year, U.S. Marines landed on the island, signaling the Allies’
first major offensive against Japanese-held positions in the Pacific.
The Japanese responded quickly with sea and air attacks. A series of
bloody battles ensued in the debilitating tropical heat as Marines
sparred with Japanese troops on land, while in the waters surrounding
Guadalcanal, the U.S. Navy fought six major engagements with the
Japanese between August 24 and November 30. In mid-November 1942, the
five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, died together when the Japanese sunk their ship, the USS Juneau.
Both sides suffered heavy losses of men, warships and planes in the
battle for Guadalcanal. An estimated 1,600 U.S. troops were killed, over
4,000 were wounded and several thousand more died from disease. The
Japanese lost 24,000 soldiers. On December 31, 1942, Emperor Hirohito told Japanese troops they could withdraw from the area; the Americans secured Guadalcanal about five weeks later.
The Solomons gained their independence from Britain in 1978. In the
late 1990s, fighting broke out between rival ethnic groups on
Guadalcanal and continued until an Australian-led international
peacekeeping mission restored order in 2003. Today, with a population of
over half a million people, the Solomons are known as a scuba diver and
fisherman’s paradise.
(More Events on This Day in History)
-
American Revolution
- 1777 Former POW Timothy Bigelow is named colonel
-
Automotive
- 1985 Jaguar founder dies
-
Civil War
- 1862 Battle of Roanoke Island
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Cold War
- 1949 Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced
-
Crime
- 1983 Irish race horse stolen
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Disaster
- 1978 New England digs out after blizzard
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General Interest
- 1587 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded
- 1725 Peter the Great dies
- 1904 The Russo-Japanese War begins
- 1915 Birth of a Nation opens
- 1924 First execution by lethal gas
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Hollywood
- 1994 Jack Nicholson smashes windshield in episode of road rage
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Literary
- 1955 John Grisham, author of legal thrillers, is born
-
Music
- 1990 Del Shannon dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
-
Old West
- 1887 Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act
-
Presidential
- 1887 Cleveland signs devastating Dawes Act into law
-
Sports
- 1986 Spud Webb wins dunk contest
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Vietnam War
- 1962 MACV established
- 1971 Operation Lam Son 719 begins
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World War I
- 1918 U.S. Army resumes publication of Stars and Stripes
-
World War II
- 1943 Britain’s Indian Brigade begins guerrilla operations in Burma
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