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The Ship That Disguised Itself as an Island and Other Lesser-Known WWII Facts

Khalid Elhassan July 6, 2020 35 min

Guadalcanal - Guadalcanal campaign — Marines arriving in Guadalcanal. Encyclopedia Britannica

18. Sergeant Paige Heads to Guadalcanal

Japanese conquests by the summer of 1942. Wikimedia

1940 saw Mitchell Paige back in the US, where he served in the Navy Yards at Brooklyn and Philadelphia. He then joined the 5^th Marine Regiment, and took part in training exercises and maneuvers in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Paige was transferred back to the US in 1941, as part of the initial cadre that set up a new training base for the Marines at Camp Lejune, North Carolina.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor later that December thrust America into WWII, Paige was returned to overseas duty, this time with the 7^th Marine Regiment. By 1942, Paige had been promoted to sergeant, in charge of his own platoon. In September of that year, he and his unit headed for Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. There, within a few weeks of arrival, USMC Sergeant Mitchell Paige would earn his place in history.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.