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Barrett · 31 December 2000, 10:42 AM

Often foolhardiness is merely poor judgement, with one's life as the penalty for being wrong. Billy, I do not believe that either the Doolittle raid or the Guadalcanal campaign were in the least bit foolhardy--certainly "General Jimmy" didn't think so. He was an extremely calculating aviator (the first aviation PhD) who believed in the Special Aviation Project. (Heaven knows how it'll be portrayed with alec baldwin in the upcoming disney film.)
Operation Watchtower--Guadalcanal--was risky but not foolhardy. It pitted the most capable organization available (1st MarDiv, reinforced) against a far less numerous enemy--until Japanese reinforcements arrived in succession. The planners (JCS, Nimitz, Turner, Vandegrift) did not expect it to evolve into a 6-month meatgrinder, a war of attrition.
I will state, however, that there were foolhardy actions on Cactus. The first that comes to mind was related by Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige who received the MOH for saving The Ridge overlooking Henderson Field late one October night. Mitch had a section of Browning M1917s while the Japanese officer leading the attack brought a sword to a machine gun fight.

31 December 2000, 10:42 AM	#2 (permalink)
Barrett Forum Ace of Aces Join Date: Aug 1998 Location: The American West Posts: 4,809	Often foolhardiness is merely poor judgement, with one's life as the penalty for being wrong. Billy, I do not believe that either the Doolittle raid or the Guadalcanal campaign were in the least bit foolhardy--certainly "General Jimmy" didn't think so. He was an extremely calculating aviator (the first aviation PhD) who believed in the Special Aviation Project. (Heaven knows how it'll be portrayed with alec baldwin in the upcoming disney film.) Operation Watchtower--Guadalcanal--was risky but not foolhardy. It pitted the most capable organization available (1st MarDiv, reinforced) against a far less numerous enemy--until Japanese reinforcements arrived in succession. The planners (JCS, Nimitz, Turner, Vandegrift) did not expect it to evolve into a 6-month meatgrinder, a war of attrition. I will state, however, that there were foolhardy actions on Cactus. The first that comes to mind was related by Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige who received the MOH for saving The Ridge overlooking Henderson Field late one October night. Mitch had a section of Browning M1917s while the Japanese officer leading the attack brought a sword to a machine gun fight. __________________ You will not rise to the occasion: You will default to your level of training.