Gary Williams - Guardian of Guadalcanal: The World War II Story of Douglas A. Munro, United States Coast Guard

G UARDIAN OF
G UADALCANAL

T HE W ORLD W AR II S TORY
OF C OAST G UARD M EDAL
OF H ONOR R ECIPIENT
D OUGLAS M UNRO

G ARY W ILLIAMS

Published in the United States of America by The Lakota Press,

West Chester, OH 45069

Copyright 2014 by Gary Williams.

All rights reserved.

Photographs used by permission of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Munro/Sheehan families.

ISBN 978-0-9848351-4-0
eBook ISBN 978-0-9848351-5-7

Library of Congress Control No. 2013916402

Printed in the United States of America

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

For orders, please contact:

Bookmasters, Inc.

30 Amberwood Parkway

Ashland, OH 44805

Toll Free: (800) 537-6727

International: (419) 281-5100

Partial proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the:

Douglas Munro Scholarship Fund

c/o Coast Guard Foundation

394 Taugwonk Rd.

Stonington, CT 06378

(860) 565-0786

To GM2 Daniel Cannode, USCG, Vietnam, who first told me the story, and to Ray Evans, who lived it.

You never think about dying, even in that situation... You dont really think about it; you just do the job and you just anticipate that youre going to be OK, and then one day one of you isnt OK...

Commander Ray Evans

The story of a young lad, Douglas Albert Munro, who actually was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, is as true of an American hero as many others who proudly served our country in time of war and selflessly gave his life protecting others. To suggest that this book is well overdue is an understatement. In my humble opinion, not only should a book have been written before this covering the life and heroic efforts of Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, but there also should have been a movie madelong ago, with iconic screen star John Wayne, or someone of his caliber, re-creating the events that made Munro the Guardian of Guadalcanal. John Wayne? Yes, John Wayne! Thats probably the best way I can explain just how far back I think a movie about Munro should have been made, not only for the sake of entertainment, but as a social media instrument during the postWorld War II era, educating the public on one of Americas best of the best!

Even though he was a young Coast Guardsman at the time of his death, Munro lived the life of a man who reflected the virtue of what is known today in the U.S. Coast Guard as its core values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. Every Coast Guardsman, past and present, knows about Munro as a leader and a hero. Even more notably, the U.S. Marine Corps honors Munro as if he was one of their own, and says his name with pride, an emblem of their specific service core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

Embracing the history, heritage, and traditions of the Coast Guard incorporated my own understanding of defining leadership. During my tenure as the eighth master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard, I had a full-size portrait of Munro hanging proudly in my office, right behind my desk. I wanted it there as my own personal reminder of how to perform my job as the services senior-ranking enlisted member, charged with ensuring the health and well-being of every Coast Guardsman, especially making sure that enlisted members were represented in the day-to-day decision-making process managing the Coast Guards workforce. There were days that I would just stare at Munros portrait, and sometimes even have some quiet conversations with him, knowing that leadership through inspiration was a comforting and necessary thought process for me.

Recently, just after being asked to write the foreword to this book, I was in Seattle on a short, less-than-forty-eight-hour, business trip, which was quite a time challenge, given that I had flown from coast to coast. I didnt have much time to engage in very many nonbusiness social activities because of the compressed schedule. However, I just had to squeeze in about three and a half hours of driving time round-trip to head out to Cle Elum, Washington, to pay a visit to an old friend. It was that important to me to stop by the gravesite of Douglas Munro, and spend a few minutes carrying on those same spiritual conversations that I used to have when I was in my last active-duty assignment, before my retirement in 2002. This was my first visit to the Munro gravesite in more than twelve years. His legacy meant that much to me, so that this was one of, if not the most, important things that I had to do during that very short business trip.

I can only imagine how, after reading this book, your imagination may wander, bringing you to some understanding at least in part of what makes a hero. I love the story of Douglas Munro because it represents everything that defines the role of an inspiring leader, someone who, in the face of adversity and even death, seized the moment of despair, thinking not of himself, but of those five hundred Marines that he was responsible for, to ensure their safe passage, for the purpose of winning liberty and freedom for the oppressed.

Maybe you wont see things that deeply in your initial readingbut I can assure you from my years of telling the Munro story, ever since I learned of his heroic act that resulted in his posthumously being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, that his spirit of hope and compassion will follow you forever.

Vincent W. Patton III, Ed.D.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (Ret.)

T he United States Coast Guard is our oldest maritime service. Founded in 1790 by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, by the 1860s the agency was generally referred to as the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. The Coast Guard as we know it today was formed by the merger of five federal agenciesthe Revenue Cutter Service, the Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, and the U.S. Maritime Service, each of which had overlapping duties and authority.

The modern Coast Guard is a unique multimission military branch that operates under the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime and the Department of the Navy during times of war. It is unique because unlike other branches of the United States Armed Forces, which are prevented by federal statute and Department of Defense policy from acting in a law enforcement capacity, the Coast Guard is exempt from such restrictions. The Coast Guard has eleven distinct missions: ports, waterways, and coastal security; drug interdiction; aids to navigation; search and rescue; living marine resources; marine safety; defense readiness; migrant interdiction; marine environmental protection; ice operations; and other law enforcement duties.

As one of the five branches of the military, the Coast Guard has been directly involved in every armed conflict from 1790 to Afghanistan. Because of its unique legal authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the Department of Defense or directly for the President. When not assigned to national defense, the Coast Guard carries out the duties and responsibilities of its other ten statutory missions.

After the war in Europe began in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Coast Guard to carry out what were called Neutrality Patrols to enforce the Neutrality Acts. The Neutrality Patrol was established in September 1939 as a U.S. response to the war in Europe. These patrols were responsible for tracking and reporting the movements of any hostile forces undertaking warlike operations in the waters of the Western Hemisphere.