Explore Museum digital assets to learn more about the six-month fight to take the island of Guadalcanal, a vital step in defeating the Japanese in the Pacific theater.

Richard Tregaskis’s account of the first seven weeks of fighting is a classic of war literature. 

Despite the lack of proper diet and medical supplies, the proliferation of tropical disease, constant enemy bombardments, and the threat of being overrun by a fanatical enemy, American forces held on to “The Island of Death.”

While the campaign marked the first offensive victory for the Americans, it provided more than just a morale boost and a checking of Japanese aggression. This campaign illustrated the powerful synergy of American joint operations.

The August 1942 landing on Guadalcanal was a colossal improvisation, concocted on the fly to take advantage of a recent dramatic turn in the Pacific war.