I am looking for a good book, or books on the battle for Guadalcanal in WW II.

Any good recommendations?

Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis.

Written at the time of the battle, by a guy who was there, yes! Guadalcanal Diary, by all means!

Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmak Battle. By Richard B. Frank.

I’ve read both this and Guadalcanal Diary and for me this is much more informative.

My uncle was on the USS Atlanta when it was sunk. He made it to the island where the marines gave him a rifle and a bucket of grenades and sent him to the front lines. I highly recommend Neptunes Inferno the US Navy at Guadalcanal.

Added this book also The Cactus Air Force

If you care about the air war, then THE FIRST TEAM volumes I and II by John Lundstrom. Outstanding reading.

https://www.amazon.com/First-T...STNVP2Z17GHXDMSEDBW0

quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. By Richard B. Frank.

Yup, just checked my library and that's the one I read. Very well done.

Helmet for My Pillow is good. Robert Leckie.

Edsons Raiders. Although not entirely on the battle itself, it lends a good account of it.

quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmak Battle. By Richard B. Frank.

I’ve read both this and Guadalcanal Diary and for me this is much more informative.

I also highly recommend this book. I don't think I've ever read a book that covers a campaign in such detail as this one. It includes ALL of the battles on the land, sea and air. As I recall, the author also researched Japanese records, particularly their losses and battle claims and compares those to US losses and battle claims. As you might expect, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Challenge for the Pacific.

EXCELLENT read.

Midnight in the Pacific. Amazon

All excellent suggestions! If you want a contemporary account the Tregaskis book is good. 'Helmet For My Pillow' is an OUTSTANDING personal account of Leckies service until he was wounded at Peleliu, including his time on Guadalcanal from the initial landing until the evac of the 1st Marines in December. The Frank book is an outstanding account of the campaign as a whole.

Ditto to Guadalcanal Diary, Edson's Raiders, and Helmet for My Pillow. All excellent books.

When I was young, 7th grade and an Altar Boy, we got a new monsignor who took over the church when the last monsignor was transferred. He told me when I watch the movie Guadalcanal Diary, he was the priest portrayed in the movie. I knew about WWII as most kids of my era did. At the time I didn't realize what this priest had gone thru.

http://www.tfp.org/catholic-ar...as-forgotten-heroes/

The Pacific Theater
As the war continued, many Catholic chaplains entered military service and began to bring the sacraments so needed to soldiers in danger or on the verge of death. Many would give their lives or make other heroic sacrifices. In the Pacific War, Father Thomas Reardon suffered with the troops on Guadalcanal so much that he lost fifty pounds. Father Reardon wore the same clothes for eighty-five days and despite dealing with malaria rarely rested in order to minister to his “parish” on the beach for 125 days. Father Reardon was later evacuated unconscious and close to death from his overwork.

Not exclusively about this one battle but an excellent book regarding the entire theater of the pacific is “ shots fired in anger” written from the perspective of a young Army officer

Pick up Neptunes Inferno. Great account of the naval portion of the Guadalcanal campaign.

It Wasn't So Jolly

Great read for Pacific Theatre.

Andrew

Guadalcanal Diary is a good book, but it's written from the point of view a reporter, who spent most of his time behind the lines, rubbing shoulders with the higher-ups on Guadalcanal. So his story is a little different than the man in the foxhole.

Read the Tregaskis book, followed by the Frank book. Both are excellent; Tregaskis' book for the raw feeling and description it contains from a guy who was there; Frank's book because it is impeccably researched, (and uses Tregaskis as a source) including some recently released and translated Japanese sources.

If you are only going to read one, read the Frank book.