The epic, six-month Battle of Guadalcanal witnessed numerous acts of heroism in the jungles, the water and air of the south Pacific island as the U.S. military sought to control it. Twenty service members – 12 Marines, two soldiers, five sailors and one Coast Guardsman – earned the Medal of Honor on Guadalcanal. Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone, immortalized holding a Browning Model 1917 in a statue in his hometown of Raritan, N.J., wasn’t the only one to earn the U.S. Military’s highest honor fighting with an M1917.

The Browning Model 1917 proved a stalwart weapon of the American defense on Guadalcanal. Four other men were cited for the Medal of Honor along with Basilone for maintaining the withering fire of the machine gun in the face of often overwhelming odds.

A statue of Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone in his hometown of Raritan, N.J. shows him carrying a Browning Model 1917 machine gun. Basilone earned the Medal of Honor for his heroics on Guadalcanal in 1942 using the M1917 to single-handedly hold off waves of Japanese soldiers on Oct. 25-26, 1942.

Operation Watchtower

Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands, was the southernmost territory captured by the Japanese. They wanted the island to attack Allied bases and disrupt supply lines from Australia and New Zealand.  When the Japanese started work on the airfield, the Allies had to act.

The 6,000-strong U.S. 1^st Marine Division landed on Aug. 7, 1942 and met little resistance to start Operation Watchtower,  and the airfield and the harbor of a nearby island were seized with 36 hours of the Marine arrival. The American commander, Marine Corps Gen. Alexander Vandergrift, aware of a possible counterattack set up a defensive perimeter. The Japanese would strike back just a few days after ceding the island. Not only would the American forces have to fight the Japanese, but dysentery and malaria as well.

The Model 1917 saw action late in World War 1 and served as America’s go-to heavy machine gun for decades including heavy use at Guadalcanal. The M1917 alone weighed 47 lbs. so it served as a fixed defensive weapon. Despite its weight it was lighter than German M08 and the British Vickers.

Medal of Honor Winner John Basilone

Born in Buffalo, NY as one of 10 children, Basilone went into the Army at age 18. He completed his enlistment, including being deployed to the Philippines where he earned the nickname “Manila Joe,” and returned to New Jersey where he started driving a truck. In July 1940 he re-enlisted, only this time with the Marine Corps.

Promoted to sergeant in early 1942, Basilone as part of the 1^st Battalion, 7^th Marines arrived in the south Pacific in May and was in the detachment sent to defend Samoa. His unit was part of the invasion force that landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942.

Part of the defensive line to hold Henderson Field, Basilone’s battalion came under attack by about 3,000 Japanese soldiers on Oct. 24, 1942. The gunnery sergeant commanded two sections of machine guns. His machine gunners fought for two days, leaving only Basilone and two other Marines standing.  Faced with a shortage of ammunition, Basilone fought through the enemy line to replenish ammo for the machine guns. They kept the incoming Japanese at bay before running out of ammo. With the last of the ammunition gone, Basilone fought with his M1911A1 and a machete, continuing to hold off the Japanese until their forces were nearly annihilated.

“Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest or food,” said PFC Nash Phillips recalled to “Who’s Who in Marine Corps history.”

After returning from Guadalcanal and receiving the Medal of Honor, Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone went on war bond tours on the homefront and served as a machine gunnery instructor despite making repeated requests to return to action that were denied. He rotated back to the South Pacific in 1945 and was killed on the first day of fighting on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945.

Plucked from the front as a hero, he was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 21, 1943 and promoted to platoon sergeant. It also earned him a place in war bond tours back in the United States. He wanted to rejoin the fight alongside his fellow leathernecks but was repeatedly denied. Finally, Basilone was assigned to training as an instructor at Camp Pendleton at the end of 1943.

He returned to combat in 1945, attached to C Company 1st Battalion 27^th Marine Regiment 5th Marine Division. Basilone was killed in action on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945 after taking out a machine gun blockhouse and aiding a Marine tank that became stuck in an enemy minefield. His actions on Iwo Jima merited a posthumous Navy Cross.

Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone is shown with an M1917 machine gun.

The M1917 Machine Gun

From the fertile mind of John Moses Browning came the belt-fed water-cooled M1917 machine gun. The gun saw limited use in World War 1. Weighing 103 lbs. between the gun, tripod, water and ammunition the gun was used mainly as a static defensive weapon. As well as the defense of Guadalcanal, the M1917 distinguished itself at the Battle of Momote Airstrip on New Guinea where it was deployed by U.S. Army 5^th Cavalry machine gunners to kill several hundred Japanese soldiers in one night.

On Gaudalcanal, the U.S. Marines landed on the island as part of a well-coordinated land, sea and air offensive and faced little resistance in capturing the airfield that would later be named Henderson Field. Holding the island and repelling the Japanese would prove far more difficult. A dangerous task that took months.

In this photo, Marines hold down a M1917 machine gun position on Port Gloucester on the island of New Britain. during World War 2.

Upon receiving the Medal of Honor in May 1943, Basilone said, “Only part of this medal belongs to me. Pieces of it belong to the boys who are still on Guadalcanal. It was rough as hell down there.”

Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige earned the Medal of Honor in action with his machine gun crew at about the same time as Basilone on Oct. 26, 1942, while Cpl. Anthony Casamento’s heroism came just a few days later leading a machine gun section despite being seriously wounded.

The U.S. Army’s Technician Lewis R. Halland Sgt. William Grant Fournier both fought tenaciously to defend their machine gun position in January 1943 on Gaudalcanal’s Austen Ridge where Hall died. Fournier was mortally wounded and died three days later. They were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Students of World War 2 recognize the tools the Marines, soldiers and sailors carried like the M1 Garand, M1911A1 and Thompson submachine and recount the battles, like D-Day, Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Bulge. However, as Memorial Day approaches, the sacrifices of Marines like John Basilone and countless soldiers and sailors who served valiantly should be remembered proudly for fighting to push back and defeat tyranny.

Basilone was every bit the celebrity during his war bonds tour, earning placements in comic strips, newspapers, and even Collier's Magazine.