More Thursday Guadalcanal

Bloody Ridge. It is on private property, so, courtesy "payments" are made to the owner to let us trespass and see the sites. The sites are kept clear so that you can see the smoothed out, former foxholes of where the Marines held off the Japanese, initially going from Hill 1 to Hill 2. The First Photo is basically looking South to Hill 2 from Hill 1, the River is to my left and this is the valley that was between 1 and 2, that the Japanese struggled first into, and few made it out of. The Marines were able to exit the Hill using high ground and did not have to go down into the valley and back up, and defended the high ground so the Japanese had no choice to struggle and die in the lowlands. I sat in a in an area that must have been lined with fox holes and machine gun emplacements set up by the defending young Marines. The Japanese had attempted to envelop the hill, and were nearly successful.