Robert Joseph Budd

The First Battalion, 5th Marines saddled up in the early morning of 27 March 1942, marched to Kukum, and boarded a small fleet of Higgins boats for a westbound trip along Guadalcanal’s northern coast. They were in the dark about the specifics of their mission. Their “Old Man” – Lieutenant Colonel William E. Maxwell – had been instructed to land near the village of Kokumbona and sweep eastward, making trouble for any Japanese in his way before re-boarding the boats near the Matanikau River. For reasons unknown, Maxwell did not see fit to share this information with any of his subordinates. By 0730, 1/5 was hustling across the beach near Kokumbona. Companies A and B located a road – a dirt path regally named “Government Track” – and set an easterly course. Fearing some mischief from the wooded hills on the right, Maxwell dispatched C/1/5 as flank guards.

Moving along Government Track was laborious, but slogging along the ridges was torture. The murderously hot weather was bad enough; negotiating steep inclines and pushing through tall kunai grass while on constant alert for hidden enemies drained the Marines’ strength as quickly as they drained their canteens. A few men swayed and fainted, overcome by heat prostration. In less than an hour, C/1/5 was dangerously far behind the rest of the battalion. Faulty walkie-talkies added to the frustration, and after a pause to reorganize, the sweating Company C was called off the ridge and placed into column behind Company B.

About a mile out east of Kokumbona, the ridges angled towards the sea, narrowing the passable ground to a mere 200 yards. It was a natural choke point and, as Company B discovered, an excellent ambush site. The point squad withered under a sudden fusillade of machine gun fire. “We all jumped for cover, but several of the men were hit,” said the skipper, Captain William Hawkins. “You couldn’t see the [Japanese] so we began firing in the direction from which their fire had come.” While Hawkins’ men shot blindly into the jungle, the leading platoon of Company C swung to the left, searching for a clear field of fire.

The BAR team in Corporal Charlie Wolff’s squad, Privates Robert J. Budd and Thomas W. Phillips, were getting into position when the Japanese gunner shifted his field of fire. A bullet caught Budd in the chest; as he crumpled to the ground, Phillips lunged for his best buddy, only to be shot through the body by the next burst of fire. The two friends died side by side.

While this tragedy was playing out at the point of his battalion, Maxwell issued no decisive orders, merely telling his companies to “stand fast” while he radioed for more men or an evacuation by boat. He received reinforcements late in the afternoon – a furious Colonel Leroy Hunt, who relieved Maxwell of his command on the spot. By this time, the Japanese had retreated of their own volition, and the battalion spent a “quiet and uneventful night” near the beach.