
- 216 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
A Marine flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient's firsthand account of aerial combat in World War II's Pacific theater.
Young Jefferson J. DeBlanc always played cowboys and Indians dressed in a Captain Eddie Rickenbacker flying suit and Sam Browne belt and goggles. From his early childhood, he was fascinated with planes, and when he enrolled in Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), he studied and excelled in pilot training.
DeBlanc first saw action in World War II at the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. From his very first day there, he proved himself as a talented fighter pilot. He shot down two Betty bombers on his first day and soon began to lead his own squadron in the air. Within weeks, he was part of the flying elite, the Marine Fighter Aces.
The Guadalcanal Air War is DeBlanc's firsthand account of his training and the events on Guadalcanal. It is DeBlanc's journey as a man as he discovers the value of life, including his own. Because of the efforts of men like DeBlanc, the battles fought on and above Guadalcanal marked a turning point in the war and ended Japanese expansion.
"A gallant officer, a superb airman, and an indomitable fighter . . . [He] rendered decisive assistance during a critical stage of operations." —Harry S. Truman, Medal of Honor Citation
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Table of contents
- Front Cover
- PART ONE: THE BAND BEGINS TO PLAY
- Chapter 1: A Boyhood Presage
- Chapter 2: The Great Depression
- Chapter 3: Bridging the Gap in Flight Training
- Chapter 4: A Dunk in Lake Pontchartrain
- Chapter 5: Training for War
- Chapter 6: The Band Begins to Play
- Chapter 7: The Wild West
- Chapter 8: G-8 Remembered
- Chapter 9: Under the Southern Cross
- Chapter 10: The Dark Days of 1942
- PART TWO: WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG
- Chapter 11: VMF-112 in the Cactus Air Force
- Chapter 12: The Big Naval Battle of November 12 to 15
- Chapter 13: Falling Brass
- Chapter 14: A Beacon in the Night
- Chapter 15: The Land Down Under
- Chapter 16: In the Wake of the U.S.S. Jenkins
- Chapter 17: Winged Over Vella Gulf
- Chapter 18: A Life for a Sack of Rice
- Chapter 19: The Lord Is My Shepherd
- Chapter 20: Selections from John Keenan's Diary
- Chapter 21: Advent of the Corsair
- Chapter 22: Training Other Pilots
- Chapter 23: Second Overseas Tour
- Chapter 24: Okinawa
- Chapter 25: A Jinx from the Past
- Chapter 26: The Atomic Bomb
- Chapter 27: The Good Old U.S.A.
- PART THREE: FULL CIRCLE FOR A CACTUS AIR FORCE FIGHTER PILOT
- Chapter 28: Passing the Torch
- Chapter 29: The Toa Maru Connection
- Chapter 30: Return to the Solomons (1992)
- Chapter 31: Fiftieth Anniversary
- Chapter 32: "Last Strike"
- Chapter 33: Battle of Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands Foundation
- Chapter 34: They Were Truly Loyal!
- Epilogue: The Dawning of the Twenty-first Century