Munro
Coast Guard personnel were an important part of the amphibious forces assembled for the Guadalcanal operation. Many of them came from lifeguard stations and their experience with small boats in rough seas was invaluable. They proved to be seasoned coxswains for the all-important landing craft moving men and supplies from ship to shore.
Douglas Munro was one of these Coast Guard sailors. He distinguished the Coast Guard and himself by heroically rescuing a group of Marines in trouble on Guadalcanal. The Higgins boats used by Munro in this action were thirty-four foot plywood craft with no protection for the crews. The story is best told in Munro’s Medal of Honor citation:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer-in-Charge of a group of Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a Battalion of Marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on September 27, 1942… Munro, under constant risk of his life, daringly led five of his small craft toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then placed his craft with its two small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was killed by enemy fire… By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave up his life in defense of his country.181
Douglas Munro grew up in the small town of Cle Elum, Washington. He showed an early aptitude for music and was a leader in his high school and college bands. In 1939 he was twenty years old when he felt the call to serve his country. He picked the Coast Guard because “ it was dedicated to saving lives.”182 By putting this mission before his own life, he became the only member of the U.S. Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
—John 12:24