How did they end up in Guadalcanal?
A. Two Guard regiments — one from the Chicago area, one from Massachusetts — had been sent over right after Pearl Harbor. The speed in which the Japanese were seizing islands caused the Army to divert those units toward Australia, and they ended up at New Caledonia to keep the Japanese out of that part of the Pacific. Then, there was this third regiment, the 164th. First, they were sent to California for fear that the Japanese might actually try an invasion. Later, they were guarding air bases and other structures up in Oregon and Washington. Then, of course, the Army realized it needed more troops in the Pacific, and soon they were on their way. When they landed in Guadalcanal, those three regiments become the three elements of what they call the AMERICAL division because it’s the Americans on New Caledonia. That’s how they get this crazy name. Q. Soldiers from the 164th were put in foxholes on the perimeter with Marines right after their mid-October arrival for the heavy fighting. Yo
