Experiences with the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II; family life and childhood in Ohio; enlistment with Marine Corps following bombing of Pearl Harbor; boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and New River (now Camp Lejeune), North Carolina; deployment to the Pacific Theater aboard the USS John Ericcson and pre-combat preparations in Wellington, New Zealand, prior to Guadalcanal landing on August 7, 1942; physical and geographical descriptions of island, living conditions, combat experience, and enemy engagement; relocation to Australia for maneuvers and tra