On the Canal: The Marines of L-3-5 on Guadalcanal, 1942 (Stackpole Military History Series) [Paperback]

Ore J. Marion (Author), Thomas Cuddihy (Contributor), Edward Cuddihy (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

A straightforward, gripping tale from the Marines that stormed ashore on Guadalcanal in World War II

Told with humor and honesty in a no-holds-barred approach that only a Marine who was there could tell

Excerpt on firing a rifle grenade: "I jammed the rifle stock tight against my shoulder, raised myself up off the ground to a kneeling position, and squeezed the trigger. The rifle went bang! and the recoil jarred it loose from my grip. The rifle smacked me hard in the jaw. With that, I went down on my face while the little bluebirds started going tweet, tweet, tweet around my head.--'Did I hit it?' I asked.--'Yeah, you hit it,' Flash said. 'The damn thing just didn't work.'--We finally ran into somebody from another unit, a guy who really understood how the new style grenade was supposed to work. We explained our misfortune to him, and he asked us did you pull the firing pin out . . . The god damn pin!"

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ore J. Marion was a master sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and fought in World War II. He later became a journalist after the war.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811731499
• ISBN-13: 978-0811731492
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the real story, June 14, 2004

By 

Lonny Stein (Setauket, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Canal: The Marines of L-3-5 on Guadalcanal, 1942 (Stackpole Military History Series) (Paperback)

Unlike other books I've read on the Guadalcanal campaign, this book is unique in that it covers the battle from the perspective of the individual marines who fought and died in their "spider-holes." Like Ambrose's BAND OF BROTHERS, the stories help one understand how battle and war forge unbreakable life-long bonds of friendship amongst soldiers on the company, platoon and squad levels. Fought in the most primitive of circumstances, with little food, ammo, or basic necessities, these marines made a stand that turned out to be a critical turning point in the War in the Pacific. Marion recounts the fierce fighting that took place, as well as the more mundane and humorous aspects of life as a common marine trying to survive this hell-hole. It's filled with the usual grousing about rear echelon officers and navy brass that give it an authentic feel.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ON THE WATER, May 28, 2004

By 

Joan M. Light (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Canal: The Marines of L-3-5 on Guadalcanal, 1942 (Stackpole Military History Series) (Paperback)

This book is a must read for those interested in World War 11 history. It is a true story as told by M.Sgt.Ore J. Marion, USMC, of the retaking of Guadalcanal from the Japanese, a pivotal battle. Beyond that all Americans should read it because it clearly relates the horror of war.

"On the Canal" is a day-to-day accounting of a company of Marines who were deserted by the Navy after being dropped off on this jungle island on August 7, 1942. They were left without reinforcements, ammunition, medical supples, clothing and most of all food. After they exhausted their food supply, they existed on rice filled with maggots. By late September their clothes were rags, they all suffered from malaria or diarrhea, and they were physically weakened from lack of food and sleep. The battle stories in the newspapers never mentioned the conditions the Marines existed under.

Marion tells about the bonding between the Marines and how they knew each other so well that they instinctively knew every other man's moves whether on patrol or in battle. They knew very well that their lives depended upon each other and they all suffered from the terrible loss of comrades in batle.

They were also at times subjected to the actions or lack of action of an imcompetent officer whose decisions could lead to deadly consequences. In spite of all this their morale remained high and they never lost their determination to succeed. And succeed they did four months later.

We read and hear daily about our troop in Afghanistan and Iraq but we know little about their daily life. Hopefully there has been improvements over the last 62 years but as the Marines on Guadalcanal quickly discovered, in war, the best laid plans can quickly go awry.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Marine on the perimeter, April 6, 2010

By 

John E. Larsen "Larso" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Canal: The Marines of L-3-5 on Guadalcanal, 1942 (Stackpole Military History Series) (Paperback)

Marion, of Italian background, joined the Marines in 1940 and was a squad leader when Guadalcanal came around. By the end of the campaign he was a sergeant commanding L Company of the 5th Marine Regiment's 3rd Battalion. He later fought on Iwo Jima and ended up spending 30 years in the Corps but this book is about his time on Guadalcanal. The Cuddihy's are his nephews and they provide a useful summary of the campaign and a postscript regarding Marion's death in 2003.

Marion was very much in the thick of things. He is a rifleman and is always in the front line. He is involved in one major battle and several other actions, including a bayonet charge. He makes the reality of battle quite clear in terms of its swirling nature and there is some vivid stuff. He writes of casualties and the tension but for the most part he only writes generally of his personal actions during actual fighting. There is a lot on being bombed and shelled and the ongoing difficulties involving getting sufficient supplies. Indeed, it is amazing that the Marines made it through. Marion is quite critical of the navy for leaving them in such a position but he also saw a lot of US ships sunk too. He notes they were all so young the enormity of it all was lost on them. They put up with things because they didn't know any better.

One thing that is clear is the small size of the beachhead. He runs into General Vandegrift on several occasions. He is present at the sacking of the 2nd Battalions Col Maxwell and sees the remains of the Goettge patrol - even though officially they were never found. He also comes across islander girls who had been sexually mutilated by the Japanese. This is one of many things that influences his very hard attitude towards the Japanese. There is also some blunt soldier language. So it is not sanitized. You get a good picture of a marine of the times.

Following his Marine service, Marion steered clear of Guadalcanal. It was only much later that he began to reconnect with it and became a bit of a student of the campaign. His book is partly used to set the record straight and is based in part on writing he did for the veteran's publication `Guadalcanal Echoes'. It is also a lot about his comrades and he includes some snippets that some of the survivors contributed. These are fairly brief, it remains Marion's story but they do flesh the combat action out a little more. Marion includes a few chapters at the end dealing with associated things like Pistol Pete but also his service on Iwo. Here he was with the 5th Division, commanding the demolition section of the 5th Pioneer Battalion. He writes that while Guadalcanal was 4 months of privation and misery, Iwo was a nasty lethal blur. Aside from coming across the dead John Basilone, his friend, he claims to recall little else. Perhaps, like with that bayonet charge on `the Canal' he has managed to forget the truly horrific things. Even so the ommision of such specifics has cost a star, as combat is the focus of my reviews (see my list for where it sits compared to many other Pacific War memoirs). What he has recalled and committed to paper here is still fairly extensive and interesting. Marion gives a clear picture of the difficulties of the campaign and a clearer one on the magnificence of those who served there with him. Recommended