To: Richard P. Ellinger, Marauder Historical Society
May 5, 1993
Dear Dick:

A lot has been written about the many attempts by the Japanese to retake Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. In each case they were stopped and humiliated by the U.S. Marines. Their final attempt was the strongest yet and their last chance to "Save Face".

Their assembled task force was humongous and they fully intended to overwhelm any defenses the Americans could muster. They had slowly built up the troop strength on the island and this task force was to provide the extra punch; supplies, equipment, and men to finally overrun the marine defenses. The enclosed photograph of the marble wall at the American Memorial describes the action of 12-15 November 1942.

The 70th Squadron was alerted on 13 November to prepare for torpedo action in the Solomons. Torpedoes loaded, all 10 B-26 Marauders took off early morning November 14th, for Esperito Santo (Buttons) in flight order. (A flight, B flight and C flight). This was a standing Flight Order whenever the entire Squadron was involved. The CO. Captain, Stefonowitz usually latched on to "A" Flight as he did on the flight to Hawaii. I was "A" Flight Commander.

We landed at Buttons where four of our airplanes,"C" Flight, downloaded torpedoes and uploaded 2 1000 lb. bombs each. A giant naval battle was in progress off Guadalcanal. The Cactus Air Force had been badly damaged and depleted and all radio contact with Guadalcanal was lost. The 70th was immediately dispatched to Guadalcanal to attack "any ship in the water". We took off again in flight order armed to the teeth and looking for ships. Sighting no ships we landed at Henderson Field (Cactus) just at dusk and the Navy immediately confiscated our torpedoes. They said they would provide us with 500 lb. bombs to attack the Task Force at daylight. However, at daylight the priorities changed again. After a very significant naval battle that night, all four transports had beached less than two miles away and had unloaded all their troops. These troops had to be neutralized before they could link up with the main force already poised to spearhead the final assault.

"A" Flight was ordered to load 20 100 lb. bombs each for a low level attack on the troop concentrations. 1st Priority! we pulled the dolly of 500 pounders away and I realized I didn't have enough bomb racks. I sent my bombardier, Al Wilensky, over to a wrecked B-17 to bring back all he could carry. He came back with an armload I didn't think anybody could carry. He and the 100 pounders arrived at the same time and, loading manually as fast as possible, Al was installing racks and fuses in record time. I started the engines even before they had finished loading and as soon as Al climbed aboard--moved out. We were first off, turning West climbed to about 2500 ft. and flew behind the transports, all four beached on the narrow white beach, front ends high with landing nets down both sides and spaced about 150 ft. apart. About 1/2 mile past the ships (West) I started a diving turn toward the beach.

We knew exactly where the troops were and I lined up for a West to East run back toward Henderson Field and about 150 yards in front of the transports. We were to go in low (400 ft. min.) to be sure we put the bombs on their exact location in the jungle. I'm sure I went in lower because I got a hell of a jolt when our string of bombs hit. I was also wondering why I didn't see any flack bursts from the AA on the ships. I had watched some pin point bursts on a dive bomber going straight down so I knew they were good. My turret and tail gunners told me they were there but behind us. I can only assume that this being their first encounter with Marauders they did not compensate for its speed.

I did collect several bullet holes from small arms fire and one big 2" round hole through the wing. From its angle of entry and exit between the fuselage and right engine we figured his position was obliterated less than a second later. Yes, it was just behind the main tank! Stefonowitz followed me and Lt. Cressy (with Sherlock) followed Stefonowitz. We went in,in trail at long intervals and really blanketed the area where the troops were. I believe we were the only ones on this low level run and we may have taken all the 100 pounders the Navy had. The rest of the squadron followed later on bombing the transports from altitude.

The Japanese failed for the final time and we learned some time later that when the marines finally moved through this area they estimated over 800 bodies there in the jungle where our low level attack had concentrated.

I have enclosed a souvenir copy of Guadalcanal 50th Anniversary. The cover photo shows the North coast of Guadalcanal with its white beaches and lush rain forest jungle just behind. This photo is 25 miles West of where the transports beached in 1942, because there is a city there now. However, this is generally what the entire coast looked like in 1942.

If a painting is made, this will give the artist an idea of the colors for water, beaches and vegetation. Also remember our Marauders were the "B" models; My airplane"Miss Cookie Lee" was number 41-17562, the others from #550 to 587; Short wing; big prop spinners with propeller cuffs; small air intakes on front top of cowlings; No package guns at this time; One 50 cal in the nose. Also, the American insignia was a Round Blue Field with White Star inside and a Red Ball in the center of the star. This is what gave the marine fighter pilots fits when they intercepted us as we approached Guadalcanal. "Meatball!"

Ours was not a strafing run. The bombardier had a forward firing gun in the nose but was too busy toggling bombs out on the target to use it. The turret gunner was raking the ships as we flew by and the tail gunner was spraying his twin 50's into the jungle behind us. Lots of noise but when we got that bomb jolt, these guys stopped shooting for about one second and then layed it on again.

No, Dick, we did not line up abreast as Sherlock said. There was no direct ground contact by the marines until much later. Henderson Field was in extreme peril early the morning of Nov. 15, but the "Cactus Air Force", including us, kept the Japanese off balance and confused so when they did try it, they failed for the final time. Yes, the 70th Bomb Squadron was there with its B-26 Marauders and we were the only heavy strike force available at Henderson Field that morning.