Text By Patricia Platt
Photo Courtesy of the Marolda Family

The Battle of Guadalcanal, a six-month campaign for control of a strategically important Pacific island airfield, marked a critical turning point in World War II for the Allies. If the Japanese controlled the island, they could cut off the sea route between Australia and America. From August 1942 to February 1943, 6,000 troops of the 1st U.S. Marine Division fought valiantly to force the Japanese off Guadalcanal in the first major U.S. land offensive against Japan. They fought without enough food or medical supplies, with malaria and under constant enemy bombardment. But the Marines took and held the island.

Theodore R. Marolda, 99 years old and father of Dr. Theodore F. Marolda, life-time resident of Norfolk, is a decorated Marine gunnery sergeant who manned amphibious landing craft during the first assault on Guadalcanal and continued to fight throughout the long months that followed. The excerpts below are taken from his firsthand account of going to war and of that crucial campaign.

“I was 18 years old and driving to work in Torrington in my 1936 Ford when I turned on the radio and heard that the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor. I thought it was another ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast and then I realized it was true. When I got to work, I told my friend that I was going to enlist, and the next day we both became Marines. On Jan. 1, 1942, we were sent to Parris Island boot camp, expecting a Boy Scout-like camp. The minute we got there we knew that was wrong. They were tough on us, but we had good officers who trained us well. I was assigned to what became the first amphibian tractor battalion in the world. 

“After training, we left out of Norfolk, Va., for the Pacific via the Panama Canal. We had to hide in the ship’s hold because the Germans were attacking ships along the East Coast of the U.S. After 31 days we arrived in New Zealand, ready to get off. Since the ship couldn’t produce enough water for 6,000 men, we’d had to bathe in salt water and only had one canteen of water a day.

“Halfway through our training there, a U.S. plane flew over Guadalcanal and found that the Japanese were building a huge airfield. If this airfield was built, and another on New Britain island, all routes to New Zealand and Australia would be cut off. So we had to go right then, without being ready. On our way to Guadalcanal, priests and ministers met with us. The priests said, ‘We don’t have time to hear so many confessions, so it’s the one time you can be forgiven and don’t have to confess.’ 

“The morning we were to attack Guadalcanal, all hell broke loose. U.S. battleships and planes were shooting over our heads and blasting the beaches. It was amazing how many bombs and shells fell on the beach. We drove the amphibious tanks back and forth, taking groups of men to shore from early morning to 5 p.m. The amphibian was an improvement from boat landings, but the men still had to jump out with 80 to 90 lbs. of equipment. That first attack on Guadalcanal was a piece of cake because the Japanese only had construction crews on the island. They never expected the U.S. would attack so fast. 

“We secured the island and then, suddenly, the sky lit up from huge explosions. We thought we were sinking their ships, but no, the U.S. was getting clobbered. The Japanese came down from 100 miles north, sailed right into the harbor and opened fire. They blasted two big cruisers so bad they went down in minutes, with most of their crews. Two others were so devastated, one sunk three hours later and the other the next day. The next morning the admiral said that aircraft carriers were way off and couldn’t give air support, so the ships were leaving. We now had to defend Guadalcanal on our own.

“For the next three months, we Marines were left to defend the island. Food was a big problem. Our rations were cut in half. We found bags of rice and fish heads preserved in oil the Japanese had stored for their workers. If it wasn’t for their food, we would have starved. Every man lost 35 to 40 pounds.

“The Japanese controlled the sea and air. Every night they’d shell us and bomb us every noon. Since they couldn’t do a landing like we did, they brought their soldiers in a few regiments at a time. We were able to beat them at that pace. But we were helpless to the air raids. 

“About our 10th day in, the locals told us that a group of Japanese were heading for the airfield that night. We prepared with trenches and sandbags and set up the machine guns we had. They came charging as a group—with bayonets fixed and screaming—right into the blazing machine guns of the Marines. An hour and a half later, 300 were dead. They did it again and again. This went on until their entire regiment was killed. The next day, there were so many dead, we had to bury them in mass graves. I wasn’t angry; I wasn’t sorry. I just couldn’t believe all these men were dead.

“Then things got pretty bad. During the rest of the battles, we were outnumbered four to one. But we never broke and never let them win. Two-thirds of our men suffered from malaria, hunger and jaundice. Also, we only had one set of clothes and had to wear them and our boots 24 hours a day in case we had to go to battle, which caused some bad skin problems.

“After three months, the Army National Guard came with relief supplies, doctors and M1 rifles. We fought side by side, but the Army gave us back our command because we were better trained and had an esprit de corps that the others lacked. The attacks and terrible naval battles continued. Finally, the Japanese were pushed back into a corner of the island. By December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal and pulled out all troops by February. The U.S. was victorious and the sea lanes to Australia were kept open. 

“The day we left, you’d think everyone would be shouting and jumping up and down. But it was very quiet and no one said anything. There was almost a feeling like it wasn’t going to happen. A few soldiers went back to the to the burial ground to see the fellas who wouldn’t be coming home with us. 

“They took us to Espiritu Santo Naval Base on what is now Vanuatu and put on a huge (after) Christmas party for us. It was the first time in six months we had fresh milk, eggs, butter, meat! Big turkeys. We could eat all we wanted. 

“After recovering in Australia and another year fighting in the Pacific, we headed home to San Francisco. When we went under the Golden Gate Bridge at the end of 1944, the guys went wild: ‘We’re home and we’re alive!’ Finally, they brought us back east in railroad cars. People were wonderful to us wherever we stopped. It took us about seven days to finally get home. I soon got married, and we returned to California to serve my last year.”

Marolda settled back in Winsted, where he raised a large family, ran Winsted Furniture for 35 years, was two-time president of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of many organizations, including the VFW and Marine Corps League. Recently, in 2019, he and seven other Marines were honored in San Diego as the Last Men of the 1st Marine Division WWII. In May 2022, the town of Winchester celebrated his lifetime of accomplishments and service to his community and country.