Major General Merritt A. Edson

Colonel Merritt A. Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the First Marine Raider Battalion, with the First Parachute Battalion attached, during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands on the night of September 13-14, 1942. After the airfield on Guadalcanal had been seized from the enemy on August 8, he and a force of 800 men were assigned to occupy and defend a ridge dominating the jungle on either side of the airport. Facing a formidable Japanese attack, augmented by infiltration, that had crashed through the front lines, he skillfully withdrew his forward units to a reserve line with minimum casualties. As the enemy launched a subsequent series of violent assaults and engaged the force in desperate hand-to-hand combat with bayonets, rifles, pistols, grenades, and knives, Edson, though continuously exposed to hostile fire throughout the night, personally directed the defense of the reserve position against a fanatical foe of greatly superior numbers. By his leadership and gallant devotion to duty, his men, despite severe losses, held their position on the vital ridge, retaining command of the Guadalcanal airfield and the First Division’s offensive installations in the surrounding area.

Rutland, Vermont · United States