LaVern David Darling

PFC Lavern Darling, an artilleryman with Battery I, 10th Marines, was part of the garrison stationed on Tulagi, Solomon Islands, during the Guadalcanal campaign.

On 25 October 1942, a section of I/3/10th Marines under Lieutenant Woodrow Holland boarded a former fishing trawler, YP-284, for transit from Tulagi to Guadalcanal. Crossing Sealark Channel took two hours; the boat arrived at 0940 and waited to be unloaded. Thirty minutes later, orders summoned the “Yippie” back to Tulagi, with cargo and passengers still aboard.

At 1030, three vessels were spotted steaming towards Guadalcanal – a trio of Japanese destroyers. Warrant Officer Christian Rasmussen tried to run his Yippie to Tulagi, but seeing the enemy on an intercept course, turned back towards Guadalcanal. YP-284 was hit by several salvos from Japanese five-inch guns; she was no match for the powerful warships, and Rasmussen ordered all hands to abandon ship. Everyone escaped except for PFC Darling and Private George McCartney, both of Item Battery. Darling lost a leg to a flying piece of shrapnel; he either died from his wound, or drowned when the YP-284 sank five miles off the Guadalcanal coast.