 Soldiers of the press he has been on raids with Marine Colonel Meridae Edson He has been shelled by destroyers cruisers and submarines He has endured with the rest of us our daily bombing raids He has lived a Marine's life under jungle conditions Robert C. Miller is a good Marine That is a Marine's tribute to a newspaper man They are the words of Major General Alexander a Vandergrift commander of US Marine forces at Guadalcanal Robert C. Miller soldier of the press is a United Press war correspondent Accredited to the United States Pacific fleet Disregarding all personal risks Miller accompanied American forces which launched the first great Allied offensive in the Pacific He landed with them on the hostile beach of Guadalcanal early last August and ignoring warnings of grave danger and Recommendations that he withdraw chose to remain there during the first six better weeks of US occupation of those inhospitable islands We recreate for you his story of the adventure the action their heroism that lie behind the official communiques as Miller recorded it for United Press in his Guadalcanal notebook Yes, I'm a war correspondent six months ago I was working in the Los Angeles Bureau of United Press where I got my assignments neatly written out on a slip of paper or From a UP bureau manager who would tell me grab yourself a cab and beat it over to 20th and Pine Streets Some dame has barricaded herself in her apartment and is threatening to shoot the cops With the correspondent assigned to the fleet, it's different. You never know where you're going or what your story will be In fact, you may accept a three-weeks assignment with a task force Come back with nothing to show for it, but a pair of sea legs Then again, you may find all hell breaking loose around your ears at any minute I'd arrived in Honolulu complete with uniform and a green armband with a large white sea which marked me for war correspondent I was itching for a chance to see some action, but for weeks nothing happened Then one afternoon I was called to the phone by a Navy officer who told me to report to him in seagear within the hour I tossed my clothes together hurriedly and soon was clamoring up the ladder of a warship Your credentials, sir. Oh, certainly. Hey, you are Miller's the name Robert C. Miller of United Press Let's see now These seem to be in order. Oh Yes, I have you listed this way, please. I'll take you to the officer of the deck. Thanks. I'm right with you. Here we are Sir, this is Robert Miller of United Press Accredited to the fleet and assigned to this unit of the task force as credentials are in order, sir How do you do Miller glad to know you I'm glad to have you with us. Thank you. I'm glad to be with you, too By the way, I wonder if it's possible yet to give me some idea of what sort of an assignment. I'm on It's my first time out. You know, I'm sorry Miller But all I can tell you at this point is that we are a task force on a secret mission But it might make you feel better to know that the chances are you'll see some action You'll be given full details in due time. Here you are Miller. These are your quarters Supply officer will look in on you shortly to fit you out with steel helmet life jacket gas mask and other gear Well, we're getting underway. I'll have to be off now, but I'll look in on you again after mess Best of luck Miller. Thanks for everything. Good luck to you too, sir He's hoping your predictions pan out that we'll see action for days The task force plowed through the Pacific under a blazing sun an air of tense expectancy filled the ship The equator was crossed and Miller was transformed from a polywag to a shell back It's a ceremony performed with barrel stays for those aboard who are entering the southern hemisphere for the first time Miller wrote the next day's entries in his notebook standing up The task force put in at a South Pacific Island for supplies and reinforcements Speculation mounted then Miller wrote this entry in his notebook. They came today additional reinforcements bought a site Ship after ship popped out of the horizon this afternoon until the whole ocean seemed a mass of ships There's no doubt about it now. Something big is in the wind. I've been put aboard a transport loaded with Marines I'm all ears. It's eight bells the captain is to make an announcement over the public address system To visit the Solomon Islands Our mission is to drive out the occupying Japanese forces and plant the United States flag over those strategic bases Won't be long now Murky haze is providing a welcome screen for the invasion armada Everyone seems to be in good spirits There's little conversation about tomorrow nearly everyone's talking about home. They aren't talking about it. They're thinking about it I've noticed quite a few Marines topside just leaning over the rail and thinking General quarters sounds at 4 a.m. Tell them an hour to go to war. We have steak potatoes and eggs for breakfast I notice everyone is feeding himself forcibly, but everyone fills up the next meal may be a long time coming All officers are decked out in green Indistinguishable from a private uniform and all insignia of rank have been hidden. I Understand the Japs give 10 extra points for shooting an officer Well, I'm putting my green armband in my pocket. Who knows they may give 15 points extra for bagging a correspondent. I Join a group of Marine officers on the signal day. Hello, Miller. Have a nice breakfast. Yeah, just swell I couldn't taste anything, but I can tell there's something in my stomach Butterflies maybe or possibly my heart Well, don't worry. You're not the only one with the jitters. It's this waiting that gets you You'll be all right when the shooting starts. Yeah, this is all going off too smoothly to suit me No, but doesn't turn out to be a trap say I can make out a dark outline off there to the right. That's right That's our objective bottle canal. Hey Look up ahead there a light. Yeah, it's the signal from the ship ahead for us to anchor the unbelievable has happened We're in and the Japs haven't spotted us. What's that? Oh, relax That's one of our own planes catapulting into the air brother There's gonna be another blitz like Pearl Harbor, but this time the Japs will be on the receiving end There's the curtain raiser Man look at those explosions and the beat there go up boats and tank lighters over the side Listen to those leather next whoop it up. Okay, Miller. It's no concert down the rope ladder and enter the boat with me Okay, I'm right with you This business of loading reminds me of the subways Pack them in slam the door and ready for the next one Landing boat circular ships waiting for the zero hour while our boroughs mounts to even greater fury Finally the bombardment lets up in the first boats race shorewood I watched through glasses as the first of them hit the beach in the tiny figures race inland I noticed that the ones that fall get up and run on a reassuring indication that possibly there's not much enemy resistance Now it's our turn the bow of the landing boat rises high as the cocks and guns are wide open and aims for the palm stuttered beach We catch sight of a signal indicating landing successful I'm poised in the bow of the boat surveying landing possibilities when we run aground Someone gives me a shove and I land waist deep in the surf There's a precarious split second as I waver between a landing and a dunking with a magnificent recovery I managed to stumble up to the beach and die for the nearest thicket Good lesson for a newspaper man in that first landing Never get in the bow of a landing boat It puts you in the embarrassing position of leading the charge up the beach totally unarmed August 8th night has settled down over the rugged islands for the second time since the marine set foot on its soil Nerves are taught Japanese warships are reported moving in on Guadalcanal Everyone knows the Japs are going to attack the convoy rides at anchor in Lunga Bay spewing out its troops and supplies for the Solomon's invasion 20 miles away the little American of the Australian fleet stands guard night falls black sudden tropical night a Japanese plane drones overhead and the dark is cut through with flares Miller watches from Guadalcanal Beach In his own words The cold drizzling rain I stand and watch the grand and terrible night battle between United States and Australian warships in a Japanese fleet Almost at the instant the flare spread their cold glare across the black of the sea Mushrooms of yellow flame belch out of the west Seconds later the first rumble of the canadating reaches the beach where the Marines and I stand silently Watching the warships pour their tons of steel at each other Searchlights run their long white fingers through the night we stand awestruck Suddenly an Australian cruiser they can bear a burst in the flame with a roar of explosions that drowns out the guns Other explosions follow from other ships. We can't tell who's There is a tremendous roar from the eastern end of the straight and someone shouts that the a story and vincennes American cruises are a fire Going to their deaths at full speed straight into the face of the enemy minutes seem like hours Finally the gunfire dwindles stops The flares sizzle out in the sea The battle is over and the most important convoy possibly that the United States ever send out has been saved The Japanese have been beaten and the Marines are on Guadalcanal Next day Miller established what he described as the first United Press Bureau on Guadalcanal an Assortment of crates and boxes of captured Japanese foodstuffs which were moved into headquarters tent of his handy work Miller said It's not much to look at but it does give support to your correspondence typewriter and back sides Later that afternoon Miller and Sherman Montrose a photographer for acne news pictures accepted an opportunity to accompany a patrol into the jungle Hey, hey Miller that patrols moving on ahead. Come on. Let's get a move on Well, that's a trouble with you photographers Monty of no curiosity You want somebody to strike a pose for you so you can click your shutter and move on Well, what do you see that's so interesting? I don't see anything here that'll enable you to burn up the cables Look off left there. That looks like a couple of abandoned Jap tents. Come on. Let's go nuts I got a camera full of pictures of Jap tents. Here's a Jap machine gun. It's like somebody left in a hurry Say Monty, there's a dead Jap in this tent Hey Monty ain't dead. That chap is alive. Hey lieutenant. Hey, hey you guys with the guns. We got a live Jap prisoner here Well, that's the way Montrose and I managed to capture the first Jap prisoner taken on Guadalcanal island Amply reinforced by a company of Marines Have to admit it scared me out of ten years growth But before Francis McCarthy arrived at Guadalcanal to relieve me six weeks later that experience seemed tame I managed to be shot at and fortunately missed by just about every weapon the Japanese possess With the possible exception of one or two experimental jobs that they hadn't brought down to the Guadalcanal proving ground Included were all types of naval craft 75 millimeter artillery machine guns both light and heavy mortars also light and heavy Then there were bombs sizes ranging from 1,000 pounders to the 250 pound so-called grass cutters But my personal nomination for the height of human misery is to lie in the jungle ringing wet in a tropical downpour While snipers bullets wine past your head or plot themselves in the trees near you You get the feeling that those 25 caliber rifle bullets have been cast in Japan for you individually and are being delivered personally By little fella high in the timber above behind or beside you. You never do find out just where the hell he is Yes in the words of Major General Alexander a vander grift Robert C. Miller is a good Marine and Robert C. Miller is likewise a good reporter Conscientious accurate true to the finest traditions of American journalism He is one of hundreds of such men on the worldwide staff of the United Press We will be back soon with another of these stories of the Correspondents who gather and write the news for this station be sure to listen and meanwhile Remember to listen for United Press news on the air look for it in your favorite newspaper It's your guarantee of the world's best coverage of the world's biggest news