In this segment, Les Sinclair talks with historian Rick Britton about Today in U.S. History (August 7, 1942—that would be 78 years ago—Marine Maj. Gen. Archer Vandergrift landed on Guadalcanal with his First Marine Division. (Guadalcanal is in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, northeast of Australia.) It was the first large-scale American offensive action against the Japanese. The Marines established air superiority over the island, then fought numerous pitched battles against the Japanese who were using the area as part of their supply route. Naval battles raged just off the island. So many ships were lost by both sides during the campaign that the area north of Guadalcanal became known as “Ironbottom Sound.” The victory prevented the Japanese from cutting Australia and New Zealand off from the United States, destroyed much of Japan’s sea and air supremacy, and opened the way for Allied forces to recapture the Philippines and cut off Japan from its crucial resource areas in the East Indies. And the local connection: Alexander Archer Vandegrift—who later on went by “Archer”–was born on March 13, 1887, in Charlottesville, Virginia, to a Dutch family. He had an early interest in the military, graduated from Charlottesville High School, and attended the University of Virginia from 1906 to 1909. From U.Va. Vandergrift entered the U.S. Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. He served in numerous posts—in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and China—and in May 1942 he became a major general and assumed command of the First Marine Division. Following his victory in the Solomons, he was awarded the Medal of Honor “for outstanding and heroic accomplishment above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the First Marine Division in operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands during the period 7 August to 9 December 1942” that “resulted in securing a valuable base for further operations of our forces against the enemy.” Vandegrift was presented the Medal of Honor on February 5, 1943, by President Franklin Roosevelt during a ceremony at the White House. In July 1943, he assumed command of the 1st Marine Amphibious Corps and commanded this organization in the landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Northern Solomon Islands, on November 1, 1943. Upon establishing the initial beachhead, he relinquished command and returned to Washington, D.C., as Commandant-designate.