Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story

This remarkable memoir by the near-mythic British district officer and coastwatcher who helped shape the first great Allied counteroffensive in the Pacific war is a compelling true adventure story based on a journal Martin Clemens kept during the war. At the same time, it might well be the last critical source of analysis of the Solomons campaign. Handsome, articulate, and courageous, the Scottish-born, Cambridge-educated Clemens managed to survive years behind Japanese lines in one of the most unfriendly climates and terrains in the world. After many partisan and spy missions, in 1942 he emerged from the jungle and integrated his Melanesian commando force into the heart of the 1st Marine Division's operations, earning decorations and the unfettered admiration of now-legendary Marine officers like Vandegrift, Thomas, Twining, Edson, and Pate. His unique perspective, fleshed out from detailed diary entries, provides a revealing - not always flattering - portrait of the Solomons campaign and the Marines who directed it.