This Military Service Page was created/owned by
CWO2 Philip E. Montroy
to remember
Marine LtGen John McLaughlin.
If you knew or served with this Marine and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Charleston
Last Address Savannah, GA
Date of Passing Aug 08, 2002
Location of Interment Beaufort National Cemetery (VA) - Beaufort, South Carolina
LtGen McLaughlin retired from the USMC on July 1, 1977. He moved back to the Savannah, GA area upon his retirement. He would survive two battles with cancer only to die of heart failure in
2002.
Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)/Battle of Tulagi (including First Savo)
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
August / 1942
Description
The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied (mainly United States (U.S.) Marine) ground forces. It took place from 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.
In the battle, U.S. Marines, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, successfully landed and captured the islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo among which the Japanese Navy had constructed a naval and seaplane base. The landings were fiercely resisted by the Japanese Navy troops who, outnumbered and outgunned by the Allied forces, fought and died almost to the last man.
At the same time that the landings on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo were taking place, Allied troops were also landing on nearby Guadalcanal, with the objective of capturing an airfield under construction by Japanese forces. In contrast to the intense fighting on Tulagi and Gavutu, the landings on Guadalcanal were essentially unopposed. The landings on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal initiated the six-month long Guadalcanal campaign and a series of combined-arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area.
