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The Lost Patrol of Guadalcanal (September 6 - 12)

On the 12 th of August 1942, Lt. Col. Frank Goettge and 24 Marines under his command landed in the dark on the wrong beach on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and came under withering fire from Japanese soldiers, killing Goettge and 21 of his men.

 

Sixty-six years later, Cliff and Donna Boyd (Radford University) and Rhett Herman (Radford University) led a mission to use state of the art techniques to search for the missing in action Americans.

Also featured: Don Cunningham (Radford University) had a job that took him to Japan where he became fascinated with the culture of the Japanese samurais. He recently published Samurai Weapons: Tools of a Warrior, detailing the daily lives of the samurai and the weapons that made up the storied warriors’ arsenal.

 

WGR News Feature: Sixty-six years ago, an ill-fated Marine patrol was gunned down during an intense WWII battle on the island of Guadalcanal.  Their bodies were never found, despite many search efforts.  This past summer, a Virginia forensics team went looking for their remains.  Nancy King, with the radio program "With Good Reason," picks up the story. Listen to the two and a half minute feature.