Book Thoughts: "Guadalcanal Diary" by Richard Tregaskis

I haven't read a ton about WW II, and most of what I have read to this point has been about the war in Europe. I'd recommend this book as a good starting place for folks interested in the Pacific war, though I suppose some that are more well read on the subject might disagree.

Richard Tregaskis was a war correspondent for INS when he landed on Guadalcanal with the US Marines in August, 1942. He stayed on "That f*cking Island," as the Marines called it, for the next seven weeks and witnessed most of the pivotal action in the battle to secure Guadalcanal and it's strategically important airfield.

Tregaskis explores many episodes of the Guadalcanal Campaign in great detail, including the initial landing, securing the airfield, expeditions to villages on Guadal and the neighboring islands where Japanese forces were holed up, a Japanese counter invasion that attempted to push the lines back across the Tenaru River, and the climactic Battle of Bloody Ridge. It's all there, and it puts you right in the middle of the action.

Tregaskis was an historian as well as a journalist, and this lends not only a very well written and detailed account of his time on the island, but one gets the feeling that Tregaskis knew he was in the middle of history unfolding and was documenting it as best as he could. The narrative is both emotional at times, and at other times very clinical. One thing is sure however, when you're done reading this book, you'll feel like you were right alongside him witnessing the Marines in action on Guadalcanal.