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
In October, 20,000 Imperial troops, four aircraft carriers, four battleships, 10 cruisers, and nearly 30 destroyers set out.
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Yamamoto's chief of staff, Rear Admiral Ugaki Matome, writes in his diary, "...whatever happens, we must succeed in the coming operation of recapturing Guadalcanal at all costs."
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Meanwhile, the Marines are hanging on, continuing to cope with dark humor.
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The 1st Marine Division is now dubbed the 1st Maroon Division, and they've decided that USMC doesn't stand for United States Marine Corps, but rather Uncle Sam's miserable children.
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The Marines experienced their own personal hell between sundown on October 13th and sunrise on the 14th, an event they refer to simply as the night.
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The Japanese strike with an endless barrage of heavy shells, destroying the progress made on Henderson Field, while unloading thousands upon thousands of reinforcing troops under moonlight.
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The stress of the night leads to hushed discussions.
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Does America need to evacuate?
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All this stress is too much for Vice Admiral Robert Gormley.
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Chester Nimitz saw the Komsomol pack cracking at their September conference, and so Chester now replaces him with Vice Admiral Bill Bolhousie.
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Bull has one goal, and I quote, kill Japs, kill Japs, and keep on killing Japs, close quote.
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A macabre comment, but one Marine soon fulfills this goal seemingly single-handedly, and in a single night.
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It's about 10 p.m.
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on a dark night, October 24th, 1942.
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The 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines are holding their position under heavy rain in the dense jungles just south of Guadalcanal's Henderson Field.
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Among them is the handsome, clean-shaven, and tan-skinned Sergeant John Bassilon, or Manila John, as he's called because of his time in the Philippines.
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As the downpour continues, Manila John hears the telephone ringing.
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Now, the specifics on this conversation and the moments following are questionable.
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Sources conflict, but according to one account, he answers to hear a terrifying update, even if it's one they've expected for at least two days while protecting this precious airfield.
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Explosions and gunfire begin to rip and roar in the distance as the voice over the phone continues.
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Showing 321–340 of 621 · page 17 of 32
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