W.E.B. Griffin - The Corps IV - Battleground

She smiled at him.

"They're mad, you know. Anyone who is, or who ever was, a Marine is mad. And I am blessed-or cursed-with two of them."

"Blessed, I would say," Knox said. "Wouldn't you, really?"

She smiled at him again. "What happens now?"

"That message came in just as Haughton and I were leaving for the White House. As soon as we get back to the office, Captain Haughton is going to radio orders for Captain Pickering to be withdrawn from Guadalcanal as soon as possible. How long would you say it's been, Mrs. Pickering, since someone read the riot act to your husband?"

"Much too long, Mr. Knox," Patricia Pickering said.

"My heart won't be in it, frankly," he said. "But under the circumstances-I used to be a sergeant myself, you know- I don't think I've forgotten how to chew somebody out."

Mrs. Fleming Pickering surprised the Secretary of the Navy. She moved her head quickly to his and kissed him on the cheek.

(Two)

NEAR LUNGA POINT

GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS

1440 HOURS 12 AUGUST 1942

Captain Fleming Pickering, USNR, stood on the bed of a Japanese Navy Ford truck and watched as Marines worked to put the finishing touches on the airfield the Japanese had begun. He was wearing sweat-streaked utilities; on his head was a soft utility cap (instead of the steel helmet he was supposed to wear). A Springfield 1903.30-06 rifle was cradled like a hunting rifle in his arms.

This airfield, in his judgment, was the reason for OPERATION PESTILENCE. Even before it was ready to handle aircraft it was named "Henderson Field" by General Vandergrift in order to honor Major Lofton Henderson, USMC, who had been killed after some spectacularly heroic airmanship at Midway. Whoever controlled this airfield was going to be able to control the Solomons, and thus New Guinea and Australia, and very likely the outcome of the war.

There was no doubt in Pickering's mind that the Japanese Imperial General Staff was at least as aware of the importance of this airfield as Frank Knox's personal snoop. And thus there was no question in his mind that they were going to make a valiant effort to take it back. Soon they would try to throw the First Marine Division back into the sea. He was surprised that there had not already been a violent counterattack, if not by the Japanese actually on Guadalcanal, then by Japanese naval and air forces.

So far, OPERATION PESTILENCE had gone much better than Pickering had expected, particularly after the Navy had sailed off to protect its precious aircraft carriers, taking with them a long list of material and equipment that was desperately needed on the island.

The area held by the Marines was now about 3,600 yards wide and 2,000 yards deep. Not all of the perimeter was occupied, however; that is, not every part of the perimeter was protected by trenches and foxholes. The entire beach line was so defended; but at the ends of the beach, the foxholes and machine gun emplacements extended only 500 yards or so away from the water. The cannon of the 11th Marines, in fortified positions, were in place on the forward line; and there were fortified positions scattered among the artillery emplacements.

Facing inland, the Marines held positions from 700 yards to the right of the mouth of the Kukum River to the right bank of Alligator Creek (also called "The Tenaru River") on the left. "Henderson Field" was within this area, roughly in the middle, and about 1200 yards from the beach. Division Headquarters had been set up about equidistant between Lunga Point on the beach and Henderson Field.

The invasion of Guadalcanal had taken the Japanese by surprise. Their major troop units there had been the 11th and 12th Naval Rikusentai companies, about 450 men in all. The nearest American equivalent of these units would be Naval Construction Battalions. But the Rikusentai were neither trained nor equipped the way the American Sea-Bee's were- to fight as infantry as well as to build. Thus when the invasion began, the Japanese Rikusentai units on Guadalcanal had scattered to the boondocks-specifically to somewhere near Kukum.

Fortunately for the Marines, whose own engineer equipment had never been off-loaded from the invasion fleet, they left behind all of their engineer equipment, as well as large quantities of food and other equipment, and even cannon. That wasn't the end of the bounty, though: A Japanese communications radio, far superior to anything the Marines had, had been captured intact and converted to American use. And Marines of Lieutenant Jim Barrett's machine-gun platoon, M Company, 5th Marines, had captured two Japanese 3-inch Naval cannon, found ammunition for them, and pointed their ad hoc coast artillery battery seaward from the beach. They would be used against the Japanese warships everyone knew would soon appear offshore.

The large stocks of food the Rikusentai left behind would probably keep the 1st Marine Division from starving, Pickering thought. The departing fleet had carried away with it most of the rations it was supposed to have put ashore for

the Marines.

Though the Rikusentai had rendered unusable the truck Pickering was standing on-the tires had been slashed and sand poured into the gas tank and engine oil filter-they didn't have time to sabotage most of the other trucks they left behind. So these were either intact or repairable. And so were several small bulldozers and other engineer equipment. Without the Japanese equipment, completing the airfield would have been impossible.

The Japanese plan for constructing the field involved starting from both ends and working toward a natural depression in the middle. Since the Japanese had not yet filled in the depression by the time the invasion came, when the Marines started work, that was their first order of business. One of the officers told Pickering that the job required moving 100,000 cubic yards of dirt. After that, the Marines extended the runway to 2600 feet, which was the minimum length required for operation by American airplanes.

But all that was now just about completed-with more help from the Japanese than the U.S. Navy, Pickering thought bitterly. The proof seemed to be that a Navy Catalina amphibious long range reconnaissance airplane was overhead, acting as if it wanted to come in for a landing.

Pickering jumped off the bed of the derelict Japanese truck, and walked to the Henderson Field control tower-obligingly built by the Rikusentai. They neglected to destroy it before heading for the boondocks.

Antennae had already been erected and strung. And when Pickering entered the building, a ground-to-air voice radio was in operation, manned by a Marine aviator who had obviously come ashore with the invasion force.

He looked at Pickering curiously, even with annoyance; but Lieutenants do not casually ask officers wearing silver eagles on their caps what the hell they want. So he returned his attention to the Catalina overhead, holding his microphone to his mouth.

"Navy two oh seven, I repeat the airfield is not, repeat not, ready to accept aircraft at this time."

"It looks fine to me," a metallic voice replied. "I repeat, I am exceedingly reluctant to land this aircraft on the water."

"Oh, shit!" the Marine Lieutenant said, and then pressed the TRANSMIT button on his microphone. "Navy two oh seven, the winds are negligible, the altimeter is two niner niner niner. Be advised that the runway may be soft, may be obstructed, and has vehicular and personnel traffic all over it. That said, you are cleared as number one to land, to the north, at your own risk. I say again, at your own risk."

"Henderson," the metallic voice replied cheerfully, "Navy two oh seven, turning on final."

Pickering went to the window of the control tower and noticed that some glass panes were missing. This was not due to any kind of bombing or shelling of the field, however. There was a jar of putty on the floor. The Rikusentai had not completed installing the glass when the Americans arrived.