Quote:
Originally Posted by booker
Platoon Sgt Mitchell Paige (USMC), Solomon Islands, October 26, 1942, MOH recipient.
"For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, in combat against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands Area on October 26, 1942. When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, Platoon Sergeant Paige, commanding a machine gun|machine-gun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he manned his gun, and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire against the advancing hordes until reinforcements finally arrived. Then, forming a new line, he dauntlessly and aggressively led a bayonet charge, driving the enemy back and preventing a break through in our lines. His great personal valor and unyielding devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
Good link for the story: http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Cu...e_one_ship.htm |
Correct.
What a story on Guadalcanal, on the ground, in the air, and at sea.
Army and Marine units mixed together and thrown into the desperate fight. The USS Washington, the sole remaining combat effective battleship in the Pacific, duking it out against 14 enemy combatants and becoming the only US battleship to sink an enemy capital ship since the Spanish-American War.
See Sergeant John Basilone who won the Medal the night before PSgt Paige.
Reread "Guadalcanal Diary" for a taste of the way we used to fight. We can learn a lot from our own history.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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