Colonel Mitchell Paige
U.S.M.C. (Retired)
From August 7 to November 1, 1943, a total of six Marines and one Coastguardsman earned Medals of Honor on the ground at Guadalcanal. Four Marine Airmen also earned Medals of Honor for their heroism in the skies. Of these eleven men, three were killed in action.
During the night of November 12 - 13 U.S. Naval ships engaged in what is called the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal just off the coast in Iron Bottom Sound. During that deadly battle five sailors also earned Medals of Honor.
By December our 1st Marine Division had suffered twenty-one hundred casualties and more than 5,000 Marines had developed malaria or other tropical disease. But we had beaten back the enemy, held Henderson Field, and controlled most of the island and the skies throughout the Solomon Islands. On December 9, 1942 General Vandegrift passed control of operations on Guadalcanal to the U.S. Army. Our job was done for the moment and the island, though the island remained a dangerous place for the men of the 25th Infantry Division. In January three of the soldiers who came to Guadalcanal to give us a badly needed rest earned Medals of Honor, two of them posthumously.
General Vandegrift returned home briefly where he was invited to the White House on February 5, 1943 to receive the Medal of Honor from President Roosevelt. By May 21st he rejoined us at Balcombe, Australia where a large ceremony was held on the parade ground.
He congratulated all the men of the 1st Marine Division for the work we had done and called to mind the sacrifice of those who had died. That day he presented Medals of Honor to Colonel Merritt Edson, Platoon Sergeant John Basilone, and to me. I was now a second lieutenant, having received a battlefield promotion on December 19 back at Guadalcanal. (Sergeant John Manila John Basilone got a well-deserved trip home, but returned to join the 1st Marine Division in its attack at Iwo Jima where he was killed in action.)
General Vandegrift Colonel Edson Lieutenant Paige PltSgt BasiloneReceiving the Medal of Honor was a tremendous award, but it was also quite humbling. I realize that what was accomplished at Guadalcanal was the result of teamwork, every Marine doing his job and looking out for each other. On the night I earned the Medal of Honor there were 33 men in my platoon. Every one of them was wounded doing his job.
Today I am the only man of any branch of service who earned the Medal of Honor on the ground at Guadalcanal who is still living. My good friend Robert Galer, who flew out of Henderson Field, is the only other surviving Guadalcanal Medal of Honor Recipient. I realize more than ever that when I put that high honor around my neck, it is there not to recall what I did so many years ago on one dark night, but what an entire Marine Division accomplished over four important months late in 1943.
Below are the men who earned Medals of Honor on Guadalcanal, in the air above and around the island, or in ships off the coast. You can click on their names to read their citations.
| Date of Action | Name (* indicates KIA) | Branch | Unit |
| May 10-Nov 14, 1942 | *Harold Bauer | USMC | Marine Fighting Squadron 212 |
| Aug 7 - Dec 9, 1942 | Alexander Vandegrift | USMC | 1st Marine Division |
| Aug - Sep, 1942 | John L. Smith | USMC | Marine Fighting Squadron 223 |
| Sep 12 & 13, 1942 | *Kenneth Bailey | USMC | 1st Marine Raider Battalion |
| Sep 13 & 14 | Merritt Edson | USMC | 1st Marine Raider Battalion |
| Sep 27, 1942 | *Douglas Munro | USCG | Coast Guard Higgins Boat |
| Oct 1, 1942 | Robert Galer | USMC | Marine Fighting Squadron 224 |
| Oct 9, 1942 - Jan 23, 1943 | Joe Foss | USMC | Marine Fighting Squadron 121 |
| Oct 24 & 25, 1942 | John Basilone | USMC | 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division |
| Oct 26, 1942 | Mitchell Paige | USMC | 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division |
| Nov 1, 1942 | Anthony Casamento | USMC | 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division |
| Nov 12 & 13, 1942 | *Daniel Callaghan | USN | U.S.S. San Francisco |
| Nov 12 & 13, 1942 | *Reinhardt Keppler | USN | U.S.S. San Francisco |
| Nov 12 & 13, 1942 | Bruce McCandless | USN | U.S.S. San Francisco |
| Nov 12 & 13, 1942 | Herbert Schonland | USN | U.S.S. San Francisco |
| Nov 12 & 13, 1942 | *Norman Scott | USN | U.S.S. Atlanta |
| Jan 10, 1943 | *William Fournier | USA | 25th Infantry Division |
| Jan 10, 1943 | *Lewis Hall | USA | 25th Infantry Division |
| Jan 12, 1943 | Charles Davis | USA | 25th Infantry Division |
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