07AUG1942: Landing with A Co of the 1st Raider BN, Pfc Edward Ahrens was at the tip of the spear of the Allied offensive in the Pacific. While his fellow 1st Division Marines landed across the channel on Guadalcanal, Ahrens and his brothers were tasked with taking the island of Tulagi. Coming ashore on Blue Beach, Ahrens and his men swept right to clear their half of the island. Encountering minimal enemy resistance, they fought until nightfall when they set in their defense. Around 2230 that night, the Japanese attacked. Charging Ahrens position head on, they came, one after another. As the Marine lines began to buckle, Ahrens held on. Pulling enemy soldiers in to hand to hand combat, he fought throughout the night. By morning, his commander began to survey the lines and came across Ahrens. He was slumped in his foxhole, covered in blood with 13 dead Japanese fighters splayed around him. Mortally wounded, the 22 year old Ahrens looked to his commander and said, "the idiots tried to come over me last night. I guess they didn't know I was a Marine." Ahrens died of his wounds shortly therafter. For his actions that night, Pfc Edward Ahrens was awarded, posthumously, the Navy Cross.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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