Manuel "Berk" Berkowitz
Bloody Ridge, Returned to Guadalcanal

The day we landed, I can tell you quite a bit about that day, our platoon was put on a working detail on Red Beach! That first night, we slept on the beach. We had no combat until 2am in the morning. The beach there on Guadalcanal after 50-75 feet, the beach drops off to deep water. A Jap Cruiser came in at 2 am, they knew all the terrain. They pulled up, we were sacked next to each other, using our helmet as a pillow. We had taken off our boots, put them by the palm trees.

All a sudden, that cruiser's search lights turned on… the whole beach lit up! Then, that cruiser started firing - WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! They started firing, although they were paying no attention to us, they were firing towards the line and Henderson. The most comical thing was we couldn't find our rifles, and couldn't see anything because we were blinded by the light. That was our first taste of life on Guadalcanal!