Guadalcanal WWII Battlefield Tour: 85th Anniversary of the Landings

The day begins at the Guadalcanal American Memorial on Skyline Drive, which overlooks Honiara and Iron Bottom Sound. You then travel east along the coast to Koli Point, scene of fighting in November 1942, and to Tetere, where wrecked American amphibious tractors still sit in the grass. On the way back you visit Henderson Field, the airstrip at the center of the campaign. The tour ends at the Japanese Peace Memorial, known locally as the Pagoda, on Mount Austen.

Today covers the ground where the Marines defended the airfield in the first months of the campaign. You visit Briggs Outpost and Coffin Corner, then the Tenaru River and Alligator Creek, where the Marines destroyed the Ichiki detachment in August 1942. The day finishes at Edson’s Ridge, also called Bloody Ridge, where Marine Raiders and Parachutists held the last high ground before Henderson Field in September 1942. Afternoon free in Honiara.

Eighty-five years to the day after the Marines landed, you attend the memorial ceremony at the Guadalcanal American Memorial. You then attend the ceremony at the Coastwatchers Memorial, honoring the men who stayed behind on Japanese-held islands to radio warnings of incoming ships and aircraft. The rest of the day is free.

You cross Iron Bottom Sound by boat to the Florida Islands. On Tulagi, the prewar capital of the British Solomon Islands, you visit the sites where Marine Raiders fought on August 7–8, 1942. You then see Gavutu and Tanambogo, two small islands joined by a causeway where the 1st Parachute Battalion took heavy losses. Tanambogo fell on August 8, so you are there on the anniversary of the day the fighting ended. Lunch is included.

Today you follow the U.S. Army’s fight for Mount Austen in December 1942 and January 1943. You visit the Gifu, the dug-in Japanese strongpoint that held out for weeks, as well as Hill 27, an observation post, and the ravines where much of the fighting took place. The observation post gives you a view over the ground the campaign was fought for.

You travel west from Honiara to the Vilu War Museum, an open-air collection of aircraft wrecks and artillery recovered from the jungle. Along the way you see a Sherman tank left on the island after the war. At Bonegi you see the Kinugawa Maru, a Japanese transport run aground in November 1942 whose hull still lies just offshore.

The morning is free to walk into Honiara, shop, or revisit a site. In the afternoon you check out and transfer to the airport for your flight home.