House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

Posted:	January 7, 2013 10:52 AM
From:	Representative Mark M. Gillen
To:	All House members
Subject:	Cosponsorship - 70th Anniversary of teh Battle of Guadalcanal

I plan to introduce the attached resolution which commemorates February 9, 2013 as the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal. This campaign, which began August 7, 1942 and ended just over six months later, was the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific Theater. After the pivotal battles of Midway and Coral Sea, the United States departed from its “Europe First” policy by launching an offensive attack on an airbase that the Japanese were constructing on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. This and the surrounding islands were targeted both because the Japanese were strengthening their proximity to Australia and because the Solomon Islands would make a good staging ground for future Allied action in the Pacific. The hard-fought battle, which claimed the lives of 1,592 American troops, wounded 4,183 and disabled thousands more through tropical diseases, was a strategic and psychological victory for the Americans. While Midway and Coral Sea stopped the advance of the Japanese, Guadalcanal was the beginning of Allied superiority in the Pacific and the retreat of the Japanese. As we near the 70^th anniversary of the end of this battle, join me in honoring those who were a part of this courageous campaign. If you have questions, please contact Michelle Clabaugh in my office at mclabaug@pahousegop.com or 787-8550.
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Introduced as HR22