The next three games are Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida islands—all necessary to hold Guadalcanal and establish the foothold for moving up the conference slot. We are going ashore with the old double Enders and the obsolete Wildcats flying cover—the new Higgins boats and Hellcats (Preston, DeSousa) are not yet available—but we’re going ashore just the same, because the enemy won’t wait and neither can we. D-Day. H-Hour soon. Weapons getting cleaned and sighted as I write. Extra dry tube socks getting stufffed in the backpacks. Last texts, posts, and tweets being sent to loved ones and friends.
It’s going to be a dirty fight today. It’s not clear who will win the first battle, but we are bringing everything we have on hand because we need the W badly. Things haven’t gone even as well as the record suggests, but the maligned one, the one we thought might have been too selfish, Malik Newman, sacrificed and turned the tide at Coral Sea. We defended with Long odds at Midway and escaped by the skin of our teeth shortly after. But this is when we go on the offensive and try take some real estate, small though it seems today. In fact, it’s crucial today.
The fight will take twists and turns. But we need to win now, or our lines of communication will be cut off before there is a later, if we don’t.
Self will have put in some wrinkles and given the boys the harsh truth. It’s all on you today. No one else can do this but us and it has to be done now.
Away all boats!!!!
