More bloody exchanges on Guadalcanal

1st November 1942: Another Medal of Honor as the US Marines begin to expand the area they occupy around Henderson Field

A US Marine patrol moving out on Guadalcanal.

A U.S. Marine patrol crosses the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal in September 1942.

On Guadalcanal the Marines continued to hold out in their base area around Henderson Field. As they began to receive reinforcements General Vandegrift pushed his men out on offensive patrols. The Seabees - United States Naval Construction Battalions - were able to build a bridge over the Matanikau River at the end of October.

A later image of the bridge over the Matanikau - built by the SeaBees using the steel matting that was designed for building the airstrip at Henderson Field.

This enabled a Marine assault group to set out on 1st November. They found a pocket of Japanese holding out in the Point Cruz area.

In this pocket¹ they killed to the last man 350 odd Japanese and captured three cannons, nine thirty-seven millimetre guns and thirty-two heavy and light machine guns.