Latest / First Offensive- The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal / 006 - SIDEBARS Sergeant Major Sir Jacob Charles Vouza M3A1 37mm Antitank Gun Douglas Albert Munro

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006 - SIDEBARS Sergeant Major Sir Jacob Charles Vouza M3A1 37mm Antitank Gun Douglas Albert Munro · First Offensive- The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three sidebars of First Defensive The Marine Campaign for
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  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal by Henry Shaw. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Sergeant Major Sir Jacob Charles Vuza. Jacob Charles
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  Speaker 1: Vuza was born in nineteen hundred at Tassimboco, Guadalcanal, British
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  Speaker 1: Solomon Islands Protectorate, and educated at the South Seas Evangelical
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  Speaker 1: Mission School there. In nineteen sixteen, he joined the Solomon
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  Speaker 1: Islands Protectorate Armed Constabulary, from which he retired at the
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  Speaker 1: rank of Sergeant major in nineteen forty one after twenty
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  Speaker 1: five years of service. After the Japanese invaded his home
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  Speaker 1: island in World War II, he returned to active duty
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  Speaker 1: with the British Forces and volunteered to work with the
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  Speaker 1: coast watchers. Vusa's experience as a scout had already been
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  Speaker 1: established when the first Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal on
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  Speaker 1: seven August nineteen forty two. He rescued a down naval
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  Speaker 1: pilot from the USS WIP who was shot down inside
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  Speaker 1: Japanese territory. He guided the pilot to friendly lines, where
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  Speaker 1: Vuza met the Marines for the first time. Vusa then
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  Speaker 1: volunteered to scout behind enemy lines for the Marines. On
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven August, he was captured by the Japanese while
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  Speaker 1: on a Marine Corps mission to locate suspected enemy lookout stations.
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  Speaker 1: Having found a small American flag in Vusa's loincloth, the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese tied him to a tree and tried to force
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  Speaker 1: him to reveal information about Allied forces. Vusa was questioned
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  Speaker 1: for hours, but he refused to talk. He was tortured
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  Speaker 1: and bayoneted about the arms, throat, shoulder, face, and stomach,
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  Speaker 1: and left to die. He managed to free himself after
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  Speaker 1: his captors departed, and made his way through the miles
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  Speaker 1: of jungle to American lines. There he gave valuable intelligence
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  Speaker 1: information to the Marines about an impending Japanese attack before
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  Speaker 1: accepting medical attention. After spending twelve days in the hospital,
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  Speaker 1: Vusa then returned to duty as the chief scout for
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  Speaker 1: the Marines. He accompanied Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson and
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  Speaker 1: the second Marine Raider Battalion when they made their thirty
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  Speaker 1: day raid behind enemy lines at Guadalcanal. Sergeant Major Vusa
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  Speaker 1: was highly decorated for his World War II service. The
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  Speaker 1: Silver Star was presented to him personally by Major General
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  Speaker 1: Alexander A. Vandergrift, commanding General of the first Marine Division,
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  Speaker 1: for refusing to give information under Japanese torture. He also
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  Speaker 1: was awarded the Legion of Merit for outstanding service with
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  Speaker 1: the Second Raider Battalion during November and December nineteen forty two,
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  Speaker 1: and the British George Medal for gallant conduct and exceptional
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  Speaker 1: devotion to duty. He later received the Police Long Service Medal,
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  Speaker 1: and in nineteen fifty seven was made a Member of
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  Speaker 1: the British Empire for long and faithful government service. After
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  Speaker 1: the war, Vusa continued to serve as fellow Islanders. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine he was appointed District Headman and President
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  Speaker 1: of the Guadalcanal Council. From nineteen fifty two to nineteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty eight. He served as a member of the British
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  Speaker 1: Solomon Islands Protectorate Advisory Council from nineteen fifty to nineteen sixty.
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  Speaker 1: He made many friends during his long association with the U. S.
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  Speaker 1: Marine Corps, and through the years was continually visited on
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  Speaker 1: Guadalcanal by marines. During nineteen sixty eight, Vuza visited the
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  Speaker 1: United States, where he was the Honored Guest of the
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  Speaker 1: first Marine Division Association. In nineteen seventy nine, he was
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  Speaker 1: knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second. He died on
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  Speaker 1: fifteen March nineteen eighty four. Ann A Ferrante M three
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  Speaker 1: A one thirty seven millimeters anti tank gun. The M
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  Speaker 1: three anti tank gun, based on the successful German Panzer
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  Speaker 1: abwar Khanan p a K Dash thirty six, was developed
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  Speaker 1: by the U. S Army in the late nineteen thirties
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  Speaker 1: as a replacement for the French thirty seven millimeter Poutteau
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  Speaker 1: gun used in World War One but unable to destroy
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  Speaker 1: new tanks being produced. The M three was adopted because
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  Speaker 1: of its accuracy, fire control, penetration, and mobility. Towed by
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  Speaker 1: its prime mover, the four x four quarter ton truck,
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  Speaker 1: the gun would trail at fifty mile per hour on roads.
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  Speaker 1: When traveling cross country. Gullies, shell holes, mud holes, and
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  Speaker 1: slopes of twenty six degrees were negotiated with ease. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, the gun was redesignated the M three
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  Speaker 1: A one when the muzzles were threaded to accept a
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  Speaker 1: muzzle break that was rarely, if ever used. At the
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  Speaker 1: time of its adoption, the M three could destroy any
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  Speaker 1: tank then being produced in the world. However, by the
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  Speaker 1: time the United States entered the war, the M three
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  Speaker 1: was outmatched by the tanks it would have met in Europe.
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  Speaker 1: The Japanese tanks were smaller and more vulnerable to the
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  Speaker 1: M three. Throughout the world, in the Pacific, it was
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  Speaker 1: used against bunkers, pillboxes, and when loaded with canister, against
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  Speaker 1: Bonzai charges. It was employed throughout the war by marine
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  Speaker 1: regimental weapons companies, but in reduced numbers as the fighting continued.
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  Speaker 1: It was replaced in the European theatre by the M
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  Speaker 1: one fifty seven millimeter anti tank gun. The thirty seven
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  Speaker 1: millimeter anti tank gun manned by a crew of four
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  Speaker 1: who fired a one point sixty one pound projectile with
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  Speaker 1: an effective range of five hundred yards. Stephen L. Amos
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  Speaker 1: and Kenneth L. Smith Christmas Medal of Honor Citation for
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  Speaker 1: Douglas A. Monroe, the President of the United States, takes
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  Speaker 1: pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor posthumously to Douglas
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  Speaker 1: Albert Monroe, Signalman, first Class United States Coast Guard, for
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  Speaker 1: service as set forth in the following citation for extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the
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  Speaker 1: call of duty as officer in charge of a group
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  Speaker 1: of twenty four Higgins boats engaged in the evacuation of
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  Speaker 1: a battalion of marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at
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  Speaker 1: Point Cruise, Guadalcanal, on twenty seven September nineteen forty two.
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  Speaker 1: After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly five
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  Speaker 1: hundred beleagued marines, Monroe, under constant strafing by enemy machine
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  Speaker 1: guns on the island, and at great risk of his life,
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  Speaker 1: daringly led five of his small craft towards the shore.
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  Speaker 1: As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land,
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  Speaker 1: and then, in order to draw the enemy's fire and
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  Speaker 1: protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft
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  Speaker 1: with its two small guns, as a shield between the
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  Speaker 1: beechhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation
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  Speaker 1: was nearly completed, Monroe was instantly killed by enemy fire,
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  Speaker 1: but his crew, two of whom were wounded, carried on
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  Speaker 1: until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach.
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  Speaker 1: By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty.
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  Speaker 1: He and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of
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  Speaker 1: many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave up
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  Speaker 1: his life in defense of his country. Signed Franklin Roosevelt,
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  Speaker 1: end of Chapter three. Side bars read by Aaron Bennett,