A movie was made of this amazing battle on Guadalcanal. It's called Pride of the Marines. John Garfield plays Al Schmid who faced unparalleled odds on the killing fields of that pacific island and came out victorious. After being blinded during the battle Al faced an even harder struggle trying to return to a life that could never be the same again but still emerges victorious.
These three, were remarkable men! They shared a horrific, intense, five hours of life together. It must have felt like several days - those five hours! These men are an inspiration, and so they will be, for years to come! May God bless their souls. Thank you for posting this.
Watching this story was very personal to me, comming up to Memorial Day, remembering all my uncles and especially my Dad, Aaron, uncles: louis, Abraham, sam, Benjamin Gothelf. All returned safely thank goodness. Thank you to ALL our veterans forever, g-d bless HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
A Wasp, Jew and Native American did come together that early morning eliminating over two-hundred of the enemy. This was America's first offensive action in the Pacific. The Tenaru/Ilu River Battle. The three were awarded the Nation's second highest decoration, the Navy Cross. However, the HBO mini-series "The Pacific" failed to mention their exploit. IInstead a story line was invented .
bill, for the record, Al was not an "Anglo" he was a first born German. Both of his parents came from Germany. HE WAS A PROUD AMERICAN, as were the other two. God bless them.
The story line was NOT invented. It was just about someone else. It's not like Al has been ignored. Al Schmidt had a movie "Pride of the Marines" made about him - but he and his friends weren't the only ones there. Robert Leckie was also there - and he wrote several books about himself and the Marines. The HBO series "The Pacific" is based on Leckie's story and that of several other Marines. Leckie en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Leckie_(author) went on the serve during the rest of the Guadalcanal Campaign, on New Britain and on Pelilu. No one is showing any disrespect to Al Schmidt en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Schmid - it's just that there were a lot of other Marines there - and their stories deserve to be shown too. .
