"On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to 'Starvation Island, ' as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U. S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U. S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. ... [This book] follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America's top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marian Carl, the Marine Corps' first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway; ... and Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy"--
