74th Anniversary of Guadalcanal Commemorated at Memorial

On August 7, 1942 members of the 1st Marine Division and 2nd Marine Regiment made an amphibious landing on the north coast of Guadalcanal, part of the Solomon Islands, in an effort to push-back the Japanese. The Solomon Islands served as a critical geographic objective.  If the Japanese continued to hold the Solomon Islands, American forces feared they would cut-off communication and supplies between the United States, Australia and New Zealand. But by February 1943, after six months of fighting, the organized Japanese resistance ended.

Seventy four years after the start of the battle, Americans gathered at the Guadalcanal American Memorial to commemorate those that gave their lives during this campaign.  U.S. Ambassador to Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu Catherine Ebert-Gray, and Deputy Commander for U.S. Marine Forces Pacific Brig. Gen. Brian W. Cavanaugh delivered remarks as did ABMC Deputy Secretary for Overseas Operations John Wessels. “The heroes of the war in the pacific were willing to leave their families and their homes and offered up their lives for something greater than themselves: the freedom and liberties we enjoy here today,” said Wessels.

Guadalcanal American Memorial is one of 27 monuments, memorials and markers managed by ABMC. The memorial was built through the joint efforts of ABMC and the Guadalcanal-Solomon Islands Memorial Commission, and it specifically honors those Americans and its allies who lost their lives during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II (August 7, 1942 to February 9, 1943).