V. MOVING ON UP - GUADALCANAL
We left the Fijis on 12-30-43, on a Navy attack troop transport along with several other combat and support ships. Two days later 1-1-44, we stopped at Espiritu Santo Island of the New Hebrides group, 1100 miles N.E. of Australia - the Navy's port of rendezvous with other ships. Ashore all we saw was a few natives and coconut groves. Leaving there the same afternoon with more ships of all types, we knew we were bound for enemy territory.
After two more days (1-3-44) we pulled into the bay at Tenarue Beach, Guadalcanal of the Solomon Islands, 700 miles east of New Guinea. At this time the beachhead was pretty well secured, but there were still some enemy on other parts of the island.
I had heard of the steaming jungles but never thought I would ever see them as real as they were on this island. In most places the undergrowth was so dense it never dried out and the humidity stayed close to 100 percent. It would rain for a few minutes, then the clouds would move on and the sun would bear down causing the steam to actually rise from the jungles. Shortly it would be raining again, with another repeat performance.
The most beautiful sights we encountered on this island were flocks of wild parrots. Their feathers were brilliantly colored in different combinations of blue, green, red and yellow. They were continuously chattering and flying around carefree in the trees as any wild birds would.
We were there for about two weeks without much to do; so this gave us a chance to look around at all the wrecked planes around Henderson Field and the burned out ships on the beach. We visited a native village and, also, "Bloody Knoll", which overlooked Henderson Field. This knoll was a network of fox-holes, that had exchanged hands several times a day when the Japanese were trying to retake this airfield. Whichever side controlled Bloody Knoll controlled the airfield.
This native village we visited was quite an adventure; one of the men in the group of about eight checked out a truck and said get in, we're going for a ride, and off we went. Evidently the driver knew where he was going for after a couple of miles on this road he turned up a stream for another mile or so. I thought he would never make it, as the stream was nothing but a continuous bed of large stones and deep water holes. Their village consisted of 8 or 10 huts built up on stilts or piling, the floor being about head high. We saw no reason for this as they were built on high ground. They were friendly but we didn't find out much since the natives did not speak English, nor did we speak their language.
We knew there was something big in the future because of all the "Gold Braid" around. There were Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Vice-Admiral Williams F. "Bull" Halsey Jr. and all of their Lieutenants. In addition there was alot of scuttlebutt as to our next move.