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Marine Tells of 6-MonthStay in Solomon IslandsMalariaHis SouvenirNormaII7HEN DANIEL Blake left Ce-»» dar Rapids March 10, 1941, he was an 18-year-old who felt he could “learn more in the marine corps than in high school.”Today Daniel Blake has a corporal’s stripes, the Guadalcanal service emblem, a presidential citation bar. campaign bars for pre-war service, Asiatic and Pacific service, and malaria.The son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Blake, 913 Eighth avenue SE, Blake spent six months in the Solomon islands, four and one-half of them on THAT islanc Guadalcanal.“The best thinr that ever happened to me was when 1 getback to Iowa—elm trees!” saidBlake with a broad grin.Enroute to land on Guvutu, one of the Solomon islands, Blake recalled, the motor of the Higgins boat in which he and his platoon were landing failed completely. Coming into port under enemy fire men were lying flat, stacked three deep. Blake was in charge of a light machine gun squad. Bombs were falling on the shore line.“We rounded the island, which had a steep hill in its center, to set up defenses, as we thought it was partially secure,” Blake continued. “Immediately, Japs began shooting from caves in the hill. Both corpsmen, attached to the company to rescue wounded men, were killed early in the action.“These men wore red crosses on their uniforms and carried no arms. After that, corpsmen carried weapons, rather than wearing the crosses.The Japs had to be cleaned out of the ~aves and hills with the help c f.N.T.Blake’s battalion then went to—CJ«*eu« photoDANIEL BLAKE.another island, where *they spent three weeks setting up defenses. Early in their stay there, a Jap “tin can” (destroyer), followed by a cruiser, opened fire on the American forces. Thb destroyer “knocked the front off the only building then standing on the island.”When the marines landed, thisstore building was the only erect structure on the island, and it had been hit several times. Using pieces of tin from the roofs of wrecked homes on the island, marines fashioned huts in which to sleep. A fiber rug salvaged from a home was Blake’s bed.“From here on I lost track of time. We ate when we could and slept when we could,” commented Blake. “Each man was provided with a two-day supply of rationswhich he carried at all times. Rations consisted o*. two cans of iron rations—two 12-ounce tins, one wet, one dry. The wet was meatand beans, meat and vegetablestew or meat hash. The dry heldfive biscuits, flat and hard; fivepieces of hard candy and a can of soluble coffee. You get all thel vitamins this way, but it doesn’t fill you up.”He told of replacing their “iron ration” menu with Japanese rice, toward the end of their stay on the islands. This was an attempt to conserve their own depleted rations. “Jap rice isn’t as good as American rice,” testified Blake.Coming in at night under fire, and making a forced march through coconut groves to reachHenderson field, Blake’s battalion landed on Guadalcanal. The Japs were more organized here. They liked to fight at night.” Speaking of “Sewing Machine Charley” and “Washing Machine Willy,” as familier enemies, Blake said: “They came over everynight about 10 or 11 o’clock, just to keep us awake.” Tnese were pet names marines used for planes which carried out nightly raids.Before leaving GuadalcanalBlake contracted malaria. Whileon Tulagi island, in a swampy area known as “Mosquito Hollow,” the fever set in. From here Blake was sent to hospital units for transfusion and treatment.Although he weighed 175 pounds when he left the states, the scales stuck at 129. He stayed in a San Diego hospital from March 18 to June, is now spending a 30-day leave with his parents. He w'ill then go to the Gre;it Lakes naval hospital for further treatment.iNew ShipbuildingProgram PlannedWASHINGTON (AP) — The navy is planning a $3,922,637,400 ship construction program envisioning 480,000 tons of vessels ranging in size from small boats to aircraft carriers and heavy cruisers, congress learned Monday.Disclosure came in testimony
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Tue, Jun 08, 1943
Page 2
Full Page
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USA 20 May 2019
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