The Importance of Coast Watchers in the Solomon's Campaign

The support infrastructure ashore on Guadalcanal and ashore on every one of the supporting islands was incredibly important. The Japanese were keenly aware that they were on these islands and they had patrols out looking for them every day, hunting them down with dogs. These guys had to live, you know, like commandos and many were not commandos. Just in very, very primitive conditions, fighting disease just like everybody else without the medical infrastructure necessary to really fight the disease.