| Guadalcanal/Leckie | |
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 Dead Japanese soldiers, killed assaulting United States Marine positions, lie on the sandbar at the mouth of Alligator Creek, Guadalcanal after the real battle on August 21, 1942. | |
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Subject |
Guadalcanal Campaign, Battle of the Tenaru |
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Episode No. |
1 |
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Next |
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Part One is the first episode of the HBO miniseries, The Pacific, centering mostly on Robert Leckie and his experiences on the Battle on the Tenaru during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Story[]
The story focuses mostly on Leckie, but it also has side stories focusing on the other main characters, making this one of the only episodes to focus on all three main characters. It is just a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Leckie's Storyline[]
Robert Leckie in St. Mary's Church
Robert Leckie is first seen in St. Mary's church. When he goes out, he bumps into his neighbor, Vera Keller. He tells her that he's joined the Marine Corps and promises to write to her after a brief conversation.
That night, Leckie's father drives Leckie to boot camp where they talk briefly before Leckie catches his bus ride. Robert's father seems impartial about his son's enlistment and departure, worrying more about the suspension on his Packard than his the moment. Eventually Robert gets his father's attention and they shake hands.
Guadalcanal, August 1942[]
Leckie in the Battle of the Tenaru
Just before they arrive at Guadalcanal, Leckie and his friends Runner, Chuckler, Hoosier, Sid and Gibson have a brief chat aboard the ship that brought them to the Solomon Islands. Sid has brought his table oranges and Leckie recites a poem about the virtue of war. The marines then go into the Higgins boats and arrive at the beach opposed by absolutely nothing. There is already a group of marines from the 5th Marine Regiment there, with Leckie and his friends feeling euphoric over the fact that the Japanese will apparently be easy to beat. The unit then trudges through the jungles to the Tenaru River. Along the way they find some brutally maimed Marines that are dead. Leckie says, "Goddamn bastards" in disgust. That night, a medical corpsman named Lewis is killed by a jumpy Marine. They reach the end of the jungle where they set up machine gun nests to fend off any opposition. The Japanese come by soon enough and Leckie and Chuckler, a team of two operating an M1917 machine gun, blast away furiously at the attacking Japanese. The next morning the Tenaru shores are littered with dead Japanese soldiers. One of the soldiers in the pile was still alive and a couple of corpsmen go to help him, however, the soldier detonates a hidden grenade, ending his life as well as the corpsmens', apparently signaling another Japanese raid. One soldier remained, and the marines continually taunt him with gunfire, bringing him to his breaking point. Leckie decides that he has seen enough and he shoots the soldier himself with a .45 pistol, much to the displeasure of the other Marines. After the battle, the Marines' commanding officer, Capt. Jameson, is relieved of his duties due to cowardice, and Chuckler is promoted to corporal for his actions on the battlefield.
The Pacific Part 1 Alligator Creek
The Tenaru battle
Some time later, the 7th Marines show up, greeting the 1st Marines as they pass with Leckie staring on as a sore on his leg is being treated by a corpsman named Stern. The two units exchange friendly insults, followed by LtCol. Lewis "Chesty" Puller's platoon. The men in the 1st Marines happily ask Chesty where he's going, Chesty proudly announces "Tokyo!” Leckie's unit then moves out, all the while having a letter from home read to them by Leckie's friend, Pfc. Sidney "Sid" Phillips (who is also the best friend of Eugene Sledge, another one of the main characters). They discover from the letter that Sid turned 18 two weeks before. Hoosier gives Sid a grenade and starts the birthday song, which the other Marines join in. They sing it twice, with the f-word inserted many times in the latter version.
Basilone's Storyline[]
Sgt. John Basilone and his friends Sgts J.P Morgan and Manuel "Manny" Rodriguez along with many other NCOs are given a motivational speech by LtCol. Lewis "Chesty" Puller. Puller tells the NCOs that the Marine Corps efforts will be in concentrated in the Pacific Theater of Operations and they'll be fighting on small islands that most of the rest of the world is unaware of. Puller goes on to say that Hitler and the European Theater will be handled by the Army -- at least "until they can't whip 'em without us."
That night, Basilone, Manny, and J.P have dinner with Basilone's family. One of Basilone's brothers, Angelo, gives a speech encouraging them all to come home safely.
Guadalcanal, August 1942[]
After the Battle of the Tenaru, the 7th Marines land on Guadalcanal and greet the 1st Marines, including Leckie's unit -- marking the only time Basilone has an interaction with one of the two other main characters. Once they passed by, Manny remarks that the 1st Marines looked like "they were through the wringer", to which J.P replies, "That's one way of putting it." thus serving as a prelude to the second episode.
Sledge's Storyline[]
Eugene Sledge in the first episode
Eugene Sledge has a checkup with his father in Mobile, Alabama. Unfortunately, a heart murmur prevents Sledge from enlisting in the Marines. Eugene is quite upset.
His friend, Sid, is due to leave for boot camp, so Sledge comes by and gives Sid a copy of a book by Rudyard Kipling before going back home.
Trivia[]
- The Battle of the Tenaru was the Baptism by Fire for Leckie's unit.
- This is the only time that John Basilone meets one of the other main characters (Robert Leckie).
- Early on the Marines get a briefing about why they're fighting the war, before being sent home to enjoy a last Christmas with family. There's a world map behind the speaker on the stage which clearly shows Iceland as dark red - occupied by the Nazis. Iceland was at the time a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, Denmark had fallen to the Germans in April 1940. The British preemptively occupied Iceland in May 1940 to prevent it becoming a base for German forces and then gradually handed the occupation over to the US between June and September 1941. Although a plan to invade Iceland was drawn up during WWII prior to the occupation, the island was never invaded or occupied by Germany and at the time the speech is made it was under the control of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade. Most of that division would be folded into the Guadalcanal invasion forces later in the year.
- During the nighttime shootout on the river bank, the usual Browning M1917 water-cooled machine gun manned by Robert Leckie suddenly alternates with the M2 Browning .50 cal machine gun. There was one shot when the muzzle flash lit up the scene that you see the long barrel of M2 .50 cal, not the M1917 with the cylindrical water-cooled jacket.
- During the battle of Tenaru, you can clearly see the blank rounds in the belt magazine in a close-up shot of the machine gun team.
- The Japanese soldier whom Leckie ultimately kills out of mercy is screaming "I'm tired" and "Shoot me."