Seventy Years Ago: Hanging In The Balance

Mid August 1942, Guadalcanal. US Marines have a tentative toehold. August 17, Henderson Field, originally started by the Japanese but completed by the marines, became operational. August 20, USS Long Island, the navy's first escort carrier, delivered 19 Grumman F-4-F Wildcat fighters and 12 SBD Dauntless dive bombers to a point 170 nm SE of Guadalcanal and launched them enroute to Henderson Field. These 31 aircraft formed the nucleus of what was later known as the "cactus air force."

Air resupply and evacuation flights using R-4D's (the navy version of the C-47) began the same day.



USS Long Island proved the concept of conversion of merchant ships to what was referred to as a "baby flattop." CVE's like Long Island would prove to be a great force multiplier in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.

On Winning Battles

"No battle was ever won by spectators, was it?"

George Smiley in The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carre

Mother Goose: Dislikes

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,

The reason why - I cannot tell;

But this I know, and know full well,

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.

 

English Poet Tom Brown - 1680

Seventy Years Ago: Henderson Field Operational

Guadalcanal, August 17, 1942.

It didn't look like much. When the marines stormed ashore near Lunga Point on Guadalcanal August 7, 1942, their main objective was a primitive air strip begun by Japanese construction workers. Marines took custody of the unfinished field and named it Henderson Field in honor of a marine pilot who died in defense of Midway two months earlier.



This was to become one of the most costly pieces of real estate in history.

The second night after the marines landed, a force of Japanese heavy cruisers and destroyers under cover of darkness surprised the American combatant fleet guarding the transports and sank four US Navy heavy cruisers in about half an hour.

1270 American sailors lost their lives that night, more than the marine ground force lost in six months of combat. They held the Japanese force at bay. Fearing daylight attacks by US carrier aircraft, the Japanese admiral took his force out of danger, leaving the US transport ships unscathed.

Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner withdrew his transport ships the evening of August 9th, with more than half of their cargo still not unloaded. A few days later, on August 14th, a convoy of four high-speed destroyer transports landed crucial supplies of aviation fuel and bombs, and many needed technicians.

On August 17th, 1942 the base was declared operational. It would be three more days before flight operations began in earnest.

In the meantime, Admiral Yamamoto realized Japan's plans in the Southwest Pacific would come to nought if the Americans remained on Guadalcanal. Japan fought doggedly to dislodge the Americans.

Marines remember Guadalcanal as a land battle, their first victory, full of personal and unit heroism. In reality, it was a prolonged sea battle. The two navies lost 49 warships, about evenly divided. The losses included 3 carriers, 2 battleships, 12 cruisers, 25 destroyers, 6 submarines. More than 3,200 USN sailors died. No one knows the overall count of lives lost at sea, as Japan did not keep records of sailors or soldiers lost at sea. The toll was enormous, and included a number of admirals on both sides. 

The outcome was not assured. The Japanese were well trained, experienced and well equipped. They had 10 carriers to the Allies' 4; 12 battleships to the Allies' 8, yet the US and Royal Navies kept Japanese reinforcements from overwhelming the Marines. 

It was not yet the end. But as Churchill was to report to Parliament in November, it was at least the end of the beginning. 

So long as the Allies held Henderson Field, Japan could not seriously threaten the sea lanes from the US West Coast to Australia.

Third Parties And Other Fantasies

Just got back from a couple of days' training by the State Board of Elections. I always learn something new.

This time, one of the new things is that Americans Elect, an innovative third party that qualified as an official party in North Carolina law, is dissolving. Their innovation: picking their nominees by an Internet primary. The problem: it didn't work.

About a year ago, I called attention to the push by prominent "moderates" like Thomas Friedman to support a third party movement. I have a lot of problems with the idea that third parties can ever make things well, especially through presidential elections.

You want third parties? Take a look at the 1948 presidential election. Plenty of third parties, including the Vegetarian Party. Two of them - the Progressive Party and the State's Rights Party- split off from the Democratic Party and seemed to be viable. Despite the odds and despite the Chicago Tribune's premature headline, Truman won.

It seems to me that third party movements would be better advised to start at the bottom rather than the top of the ticket. Apparently that just takes too long.

If that's too hard, think seriously about getting involved with an existing party.

Take a look at two interesting web sites: The Political Compass and The Pew Center. Take the surveys. You might learn something about yourself.

Names As Identifiers

Yesterday I posted the text of T.S. Eliot's somewhat whimsical poem, "The Naming of Cats." The poem was published in a collection of Eliot's poetry, "Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats" eventually converted to the musical play, "Cats."

It touches on the issue of identity and names. Shakespeare tackled a similar theme in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet proclaims: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

I have pondered questions of name and identity most of my life. Like Presidents Gerald R. Ford and William Jefferson Clinton, I do not use the name I was born with. So am I the same person I was when I was born and used a different name?

The IRS and Social Security seem not entirely sure. Some years ago my sister, whose given name is "Elizabeth," became the subject of an IRS and Social Security inquiry because her pay checks were written to "Betty." Indeed, many if not most grown women don't use the family name they were born with. After divorce, they face the dilemma of whether to keep their married name or their maiden name.

Some choose to use their maiden name as their middle name. That confuses bureaucrats and computer programs no end.

After 9/11 when no-fly lists began to control air travel, Senator Ted Kennedy had his travel impeded many times. Turns out there was a person using the name Ted Kennedy who may have been at least a suspicious person. Senator Kennedy tried to get himself removed from the no-fly lists repeatedly. He finally gave up and flew as "Edward M. Kennedy." The problem went away.

My mother had no birth certificate, and an unusual name. She would certainly have problems today. My wife has had problems renewing id's because she used her maiden name as her middle name.

This is not a trivial problem.

A Good Article By Bruce Bartlett

Here's a link to a good article by Bruce Bartlett, former staffer for Congressman Ron Paul, Congressman Jack Kemp, Senator Jepson of Iowa, and President George H. W. Bush, among others.

The Importance Of Names [The Naming Of Cats]

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T.S. Eliot