transports into landing craft and headed for Beach Red, a strip of beach near the Tenaru River designated earlier. Expecting to hit the beach fighting, the Marines were shocked to find absolutely no opposition and they soon found themselves dulling machetes as they tromped through dense jungle growth.The nearby by island of Tulagi was also part of the invasion and the Marines had perhaps more resistance here than on Guadalcanal. Composed of 1st Raider Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, the landing force for Tulagi embarked on a southern strip of beach and worked their way east to the main Japanese position. However these Marines were traveling light, because they weren’t carrying very much food. “Don’t worry about food,” their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Merrit A. Edson, told one company commander. “There’s plenty there. Japs eat, too. All you have to do is get it.”(Frank pg.73) The fighting on Tulagi was fierce but did not last long and the Marines had soon secured the island, and recovered plenty of food abandoned by the Japanese.At this same time Admiral Yamamoto was receiving word that his forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi were being slaughtered and he soon sent nearby air reinforcements from Rabaul and New Guinea. High level bombers arrived around 1315 Dor Brown 6but heavy cloud cover prevents them doing even mild damage to American forces. Around 1500 nine Japanese dive-bombers arrived. The dive-bombers manage to damage a destroyer, but in the end only three crews make it back to Rabaul.On Guadalcanal, the 1st Division was dispersed roughly one mile from their starting point when they decided to settle in for the night. The first night ashore was a harrowing experience for the young Marines, as many had not even seen the enemy yet. Very little sleep was had by that night for fear that the Japanese lay waiting in the jungle.On the morning of August 8, ground crews at Rab...
