MARINE CORPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 February 1943, Page 2

MARINE CORPS

EXPERIENCES ON GUADALCANAL. An interesting account of the experiences of members of the United States Marine Corps who are at present resting in the district, was given last night by Lt.-Colonel Benner at a meeting in Masterton. Colonel Benner said that, as Kipling had put it, the Marines were “neither fish nor fowl,” and that in America they were the senior service. Their function was to do the land fighting for the Navy. The Marine Corps was a self-contained fighting unit. ''“.'The unit that was here was the oldest Marine unit in the U.S.A. Colonel Benner referred briefly to experiences at Honolulu, Midway Island and Guadalcanal. His unit was proud of its record, as it was unofficially credited with 150 Japanese planes shot down. The Marines on Guadalcanal, at one time, had inadequate food, and lived on the rice they captured from the Japanese. The first boat which brought supplies brought sheep tongues, and the men had them for breakfast, dinner and tea. Most of the men had lost their clothing in the Solomons, and were being re-equipped here.