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N0KFQ > TODAY 24.08.10 17:15l 45 Lines 1757 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 15008_N0KFQ
Read: VE7HFY GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Aug 24
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Sent: 100824/1553Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:15008 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:15008_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Aug 24, 1942:
Brave volunteers save the day in the Battle of the East Solomon
Islands
On this day in 1942, U.S. forces continue to deliver crushing
blows to the Japanese, sinking the aircraft carrier Ryuho in the
Battle of the East Solomon Islands. Key to the Americans'
success in this battle was the work of coastwatchers, a group of
volunteers whose job it is to report on Japanese ship and
aircraft movement.
The Marines had landed on Guadalcanal, on the Solomon Islands,
on August 7. This was the first American offensive maneuver of
the war and would deliver the first real defeat to the Japanese.
On August 23, coastwatchers, comprised mostly of Australian and
New Zealander volunteers, hidden throughout the Solomon and
Bismarck islands and protected by anti-Japanese natives, spotted
heavy Japanese reinforcements headed for Guadalcanal. The
coastwatchers alerted three U.S. carriers that were within 100
miles of Guadalcanal, which then raced to the scene to intercept
the Japanese.
By the time the Battle of the Eastern Solomons was over, the
Japanese lost a light carrier, a destroyer, and a submarine and
the Ryuho. The Americans suffered damage to the USS Enterprise,
the most decorated carrier of the war; the Enterprise would see
action again, though, in the American landings on Okinawa in
1945.
As for the coastwatchers, Vice Adm. William F. Halsey said, "The
coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the
Pacific."
Footnote: It was a coastwatcher who arranged for the deliverance
and safe return of John F. Kennedy and his crew when they were
stranded in the Solomons in 1943.
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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