Guadalcanal Imagery: Initial Operations, August–September 1942
U.S. Marine Corps LVT-1 amphibian tractors on the dock at Wellington, New Zealand, on 20 July 1942, awaiting embarkation onboard ships of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion force. Ship in the background, to the left, is McCawley (AP-10) (80-G-10760).
LCP(L)’s and other landing craft maneuver near Enterprise (CV-6) on 24 July 1942, during preparations for the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Note SBD-3 scout bombers on the carrier's flight deck (80-G-7863).
Ordnancemen of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) load a 500-pound demolition bomb on an SBD scout bomber on the flight deck of Enterprise (CV-6) during the first day of strikes on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7 August 1942 (80-G-10458).
Brigadier General William H. Rupertus, USMC, (center) on board Neville (AP-16) during the landings on Tulagi, 7–8 August 1942. Rupertus, assistant division commander of the 1st Marine Division, was in charge of combat operations on Tulagi and the other nearby Japanese-held islands. Note landing craft moving past in the background. The destroyer in the center distance is probably Buchanan (DD-484) (80-G-31372).
Fires burn near the Tulagi Cricket Grounds, after bombing by U.S. carrier aircraft on 7 August 1942. Photographed from an SBD scout bomber, this view looks about northwest (NH 97742).
Marines come ashore on Tulagi, 7-8 August 1942 (80-G-16485).
Marine Corps and Navy officers on Tulagi. Seated on the steps of the staff house are, left to right, front row: Lieutenant Colonel O. K. Pressley, Colonel M. A. Edson, Lieutenant Colonel H. E. Rosecrans, and Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Hill. Second row: Lieutenant E. B. McLarney, (MC) USN, Brigadier General W. H. Rupertus, Colonel R.C. Kilmartin, and Major William Enright. Third row: Captains Ralph Powell, Daryle Seeley, and Thomas Philpott. The photograph was probably taken soon after the Marines captured Tulagi in August 1942 (NH 97754).
Landing craft off Beach Red on Guadalcanal Island, circa 7–9 August 1942, when Marines came ashore to capture the Lunga Point area and its airfield from the Japanese. The airfield is out of view to the right (NH 97760).
U.S. Marine Corps LVT-1 amphibian tractors move toward the beach during the 7-9 August 1942 initial landings on Guadalcanal. Ship in the background is President Hayes (AP-39) (NH 97749).
Raising the flag on Guadalcanal after the initial landings, 7 August 1942. Officer standing second from right in this group appears to be the 1st Marine Division commander, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift (NH 97750).
Marines rest in the field on Guadalcanal, August 1942. Most of these Marines are armed with M1903 bolt-action rifles and carry long M1905 bayonets and USMC M1941 packs. Two men high on the hill at right wear mortar vests and one in center has a World War I–type grenade vest. The Marine seated at far right carries a Browning Automatic Rifle (80-G-20683).
Japanese bombers fly low through anti-aircraft gunfire during a torpedo attack on U.S. Navy ships maneuvering between Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the morning of 8 August 1942. Note that these planes are being flown without bomb-bay doors in order to accommodate torpedoes (80-G-17066).
Scene just after the Japanese torpedo plane attack on shipping between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. George F. Elliott (AP-13) is on fire in the left center after being hit by a crashing enemy aircraft. The other two smoke plumes mark the locations of planes that crashed into the water (NH 69114).
Crewmen of Ellet (DD-398) look at the floating wreckage of a Japanese Navy bomber, which crashed during the aerial torpedo attack on the Allied invasion force off Tulagi Island on 8 August 1942 (80-G-19205).
Ships leaving Wellington, New Zealand, on 22 July 1942, en route to take part in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Photographed from Chicago (CA-29), looking aft along the starboard side from the forward superstructure. Next ship astern is Salt Lake City (CA-26). She is followed by the Australian light cruiser Hobart. A Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplane is in the foreground (80-G-13455).
Buchanan (DD-484) refueling from Wasp (CV-7) while en route to the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion area, 3 August 1942. Buchanan is painted in Camouflage Measure 12 (Modified). Note the depth charges in stern racks and on K-guns, fenders rigged along her sides, and the red refueling flag flying from her foremast (80-G-K-423).
Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters prepare to take off from Wasp (CV-7) on 7 August 1942, the first day of landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi (80-G-14053).
Aerial east-south-east view of Makambo Island, inside Tulagi harbor just north of Tulagi Island, under bombardment by Allied ships and U.S. carrier aircraft on 7 August 1942, the day U.S. Marines landed on Tulagi (NH 97745).
Japanese facilities burning on Tanambogo Island, east of Tulagi, on 7 August 1942, the invasion's first day. This view looks about east-south-east, with Gavutu Island to the right, connected to Tanambogo by a causeway. Photographed from an SBD aircraft based on one of the supporting U.S. aircraft carriers (80-G-11899).
A casualty from Tulagi onboard a Navy hospital ship during or shortly after the Guadalcanal landings (NH 94754).
Amphibious shipping and landing craft off the Guadalcanal invasion beaches on the first day of landings there, 7 August 1942. Photographed from onboard one of the transports (80-G-374870).
A Marine Corps M2A4 Stuart light tank is hoisted from Alchiba (AK-23) into a LCM-2 landing craft off the Guadalcanal invasion beaches on the first day of landings, 7 August 1942 (80-G-10973).
A Japanese aircraft burns on the water after it was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on U.S. transports between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 7–8 August 1942. Guadalcanal is in the background, with the heights above Cape Esperance at the right (NH 69116).
Captain Warren Frederick Martin Clemens, British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defense Force (BSIPDF), with six members of the BSIPDF Scouts, on Guadalcanal, 1942. Clemens, the British Colonial Service District Officer on Guadalcanal, had remained on the island throughout its May–August 1942 occupation by the Japanese and carried out important intelligence-collection and reconnaissance operations (80-G-17080).
A Japanese torpedo plane attack on U.S. transports between Guadalcanal and Tulagi, 8 August 1942. Several G4M1 “Betty” bombers are visible, flying low through anti-aircraft shell bursts near the destroyer in the center (NH 69117).
Ships maneuvering between Tulagi and Guadalcanal during the Japanese aerial torpedo attack on 8 August 1942. USS President Jackson (AP-37) is at left. HMAS Australia is in the center distance, with anti-aircraft shells bursting nearby (80-G-K-385).
George F. Elliott (AP-13) burning between Guadalcanal and Tulagi after she was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during an air attack on 8 August 1942 (NH 69118).
Marines build front-line defenses around Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, August–September 1942 (80-G-27194).
Published: Fri May 10 12:09:36 EDT 2019
