My first lesson on the Pacific War was about the Battle of Guadalcanal - from a book of the same title.
(My father gave this small volume to me during a summer holiday of my primary school.)
I shall not describe the details of the campaign here. Suffice to say, as soon as the US army took the control of the airport at the very beginning, the fate of the Japanese soldiers were no different from what Dr. Sheppard heard from Hercule Poirot (in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd): There is only one way out - and that way does not lead to freedom.
Alas, that's the first time I came to realize most matters have a few determining factors; to excel in one crucial thing usually bears more fruit than to have a diffuse target and be all-rounded on everything.
Yes, that's the 20/80 rule - we all know so well nowadays.
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You didn't read or remember what you read as it was not the US Army but the US Marines which secured the Japanes built, crude airstrip and built it into an excellent field from which bombers could also land and take off on. It was US Marines and then US Navy Sea Bees only(who arrived on Sept. 1) that continued to the building of that airstrip after only US Marines landed on Guadalcanal on Aug 7, 1942. Army soldiers would not enter the fight for Guadalcanal until well over a month after the fight started. In fact, they were being held in reserve in Noumea. Marines did the heavy lifting(fighting) on Guadalcanal; Army did the mopping up.
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