Sunday 21st October.

51 days to go

My alarm went off at 0555. Just enough time to wake up and watch the Rugby Final. To my surprise the band was not loud at all. I went out after dinner to the Mendana and had a couple of G & Ts. Returned at about 2200. Only slight noise, so I turned the telly on for a while, but it was crap.

Well, England lost, not helped by a referee who seemed to think that only England broke the rules. Some interference and knock ons as well as a forward pass not given against South Africa. They were the better team on the day; however, I just hate it when bad decisions are made by the officials. Some breakfast and off to work. Well I have an exciting afternoon planned.

I came into work, even though there is not an internet connection. I did a bit of work for a couple of hours. Went back to the hotel and had lunch. I then went to the airport to pick up Duke and Nemo. They have had a week off. Nemo back to Brisbane and Duke combined his with some work and some R & R, he was away for 2 weeks.

I was going to do some ironing, but the iron is not working. Tweety lent me his ironing board. It would not look out of place in a kids play set. It is about 800mm high. The leg is also held in place by a nail. The nail actually sticks through the board. The nail falls out and the board collapses onto my unshod foot. I shall have to do the ironing tomorrow with different implements.

In early November the US reshuffled their forces. They moved the 3rd Marine Battalion, who had been here since August 7th back to Tulagi for some rest and moved the 1st and 2nd Marine Battalions in. They also increased the Eastern perimeter by moving the 7th Marines and 2 Battalions from the 164th Infantry to Koli Point, a distance of about 1 mile.

Another Japanese attack came at Koli Point. They landed at the Point, however it was well defended. The Japanese retreated to Aola Bay, which is about 33 miles from Henderson Field. Finally, in disarray the Japanese fell further back and tried to link up with other troops dug in near Mt. Austen. This was the start of an epic chase launched by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. They pursued the escaping Japanese force over 150 miles. During the pursuit they killed a further 400 of the Japanese and lost only 17 of their own men.