Jim Downey
speaker
621 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 13 Jul
Jim Downey’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Much like Black Jack Fletcher's battle of the Coral Sea, which, again, we caught in episode 198, the Eastern Solomons isn't a clean American victory.
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But it is still a victory.
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The Japanese attempt to retake Guadalcanal is turned back, and the battle makes clear to both sides just how much Henderson Field is worth.
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The cost is real, though.
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The men aboard the stricken Enterprise who don't come home are burned so horribly that ensign torpedo pilot Fred Mears describes them as, quote, iron statues of men, close quote.
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Meanwhile, those fighting on the solid ground of the islands have a clear view of these air and sea engagements.
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As the Marine accompanying war correspondent Richard Tregaskis writes in his later published Guadalcanal Diary, in the beautiful amphitheater of the sky, we saw the bomber diving straight toward the sea vertically, but the fighter, like a malevolent mosquito, hovered above the larger object, watching for signs of life.
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The bomber dived a few thousand feet and then suddenly pulled out of the dive and climbed straight up into the sky, up and up like an animal gasping for air in its death struggle.
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The horrors continue with September's Battle of Edison's Ridge, or Bloody Ridge, if you prefer.
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Once more, the Americans hold their ground, in part thanks to bad Japanese troop estimates.
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They're expecting 7,500 Americans.
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In reality, there are 11,000.
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But as these battles against the Tokyo Express dropped-off Japanese soldiers continue, Navy leadership starts to wonder whether anything's ever going to change.
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The Marines have expected relief from the Army ever since they landed.
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Huh, perhaps it's time for a heart-to-heart between branches.
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On September 28, 1942, the exhausted commander of South Pacific forces, or, once again, ComSopac, Vice Admiral Robert L. Gormley, plays host to one of the greatest gatherings of American brass in the Pacific during the whole war on his flagship, the transport Argoña.
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The meeting isn't pleasant.
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As Admiral Chester Nimitz and his fellow Navy officers lay out their needs, Army Air Force General Henry Hap Arnold pushes back, reminding them of America's Germany First policy.
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In other words, Hap has no interest in sending more planes to the Pacific Theater.
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Around this same time, Emperor Hirohito chews out his admirals and generals for their repeated losses on the small island, insisting that they take back Guadalcanal.
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Showing 301–320 of 621 · page 16 of 32
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