The following is a direct transcription from my father's World War II diary along with some additional material he wrote in November of 1995. Portion's in italics and quotation marks are from taped conversations we had over the succeeding months. Some historical footnotes are taken from World War II Almanac 1931-1945 by Robert Goralski as well as George McMillan's The Old Breed .
Photos are both personal and archival.
Be advised some pictures depict the brutal reality of war. 3rd Battalion, 11th Regiment and a charter member of the 1st Marine Division, formed in Cuba in 1940. The following are my diary entries for the Battle of Guadalcanal. That doesn't include many false alarms and numerous shellings from Japanese battleships, destroyers and cruisers. It seemed like about an air raid or shelling every day for three and a half months.