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Busy week for Bud Pettigrew.
On Monday, the retired high school history teacher and football coach from Valentine had his eyes dilated.
On Wednesday, he’ll board a plane in Grand Island for the first leg of a 7,000-mile trip to the Solomon Islands.
On Saturday, he’ll take a mandatory COVID-19 test in Hawaii.
And on Sunday, the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Guadalcanal, he’ll deliver a speech to an audience of more than 1,000 people – including the prime minister of the South Pacific island chain, and Caroline Kennedy, the late president’s daughter.
He’s looking forward to it. “It’ll be a good time,” he said Tuesday. “I’ll learn a lot and serve my country.”
The former Marine, active in Nebraska’s Democratic Party, was appointed to the American Battle Monuments Commission last fall by President Joe Biden. The commission operates and maintains 26 American military cemeteries and 32 memorials on foreign soil.
He made his first trip for the commission Memorial Day, where he spoke at Flanders Field in Belgium, a World War I cemetery. He sat three seats down from the king.
Marines work on front line defenses around part of the airfield on Guadalcanal Island.
“When the king showed up, it stopped raining. And when he left, it started raining.”
To prepare for this weekend’s trip, he read two books on the battle and is in the middle of a third, about John F. Kennedy’s heroism when his boat – PT 109 – was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.
Launched by Marines on Aug. 7, 1942, the six-month battle to take the islands from the Japanese was viewed as a pivotal victory in the war in the South Pacific. But it was a bloody and deadly victory, too. More than 5,000 U.S. service members died from wounds or disease, and more than 20,000 Japanese perished.
Members of the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines train with an anti-aircraft gun on the island of Guadalcanal.
Pettigrew will spend two nights on Guadalcanal, bookending a full day of tours, receptions and ceremonies. His delegation includes Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman; Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia; and high-ranking military officials.
The visit includes a trip to Japan’s memorial to its own dead soldiers – U.S. enemies 80 years ago -- hosted by the Japanese embassy.
“Which is kind of weird to think about. But it's a peace thing, and we’ll talk about how bad the fighting was.”
The trip is also set against a backdrop of growing international tension between the U.S. and China, which is deepening its ties – and investments – in the South Pacific. China and the Solomon Islands recently signed a security agreement. The U.S., meanwhile, announced it would open an embassy in the capital city of Honiara.
The man from Nebraska won’t get into any of that when he delivers the day’s first speech at the Guadalcanal American Monument.
Marines line up for food on Guadalcanal Island.
“We were briefed to keep our mouths shut about politics,” he said. “That's not my job.”
Instead, he’s prepared a short address explaining the history and role of the American Battle Monuments Commission, and the significance of that site.
“As a former Marine,” he’ll say in his speech, “I stand before you today with great humility, remembering those who fought and persevered – on land and at sea – through this often brutal six-month campaign, opening the door to seizing control in the Pacific.”
He’ll talk about Leonard Roy Harmon, a mess hall attendant killed on the USS San Francisco while protecting an injured shipmate – and the first African American to have a U.S. Navy ship named after him.
A Marine trudges through the rain-soaked island of Guadalcanal.
He’ll talk about Carl Gorman, a Navajo code talker who survived the battle, and the malaria that took so many men, and was awarded the Medal of Honor three years after his death in 1998.
And then, after saying roughly 500 words, his official work will be done. He’ll be a spectator at the rest of the day’s events, and then begin the 7,000-mile journey back to Valentine.
But it’s worth it, he said. His time in the Marines was cut short when he fell down stairs and broke his neck during training.
“This is another chance to serve my country. That’s pretty important to me. They all went through hell for us, and not all of them came home.”
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Reach the writer at 402-473-7254 or psalter@journalstar.com.
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Peter Salter is a general assignment reporter. The University of North Dakota graduate joined the Journal Star in 1998.
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Members of the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines train with an anti-aircraft gun on the island of Guadalcanal.
Marines line up for food on Guadalcanal Island.
A Marine trudges through the rain-soaked island of Guadalcanal.
Marines work on front line defenses around part of the airfield on Guadalcanal Island.
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