York Sherman Drexler

After spending several days in reserve positions supporting units of the 164th Infantry Regiment, two battalions of the 2nd Marines were ordered to recommence offensive operations against Japanese troops west of Guadalcanal’s Point Cruz. The terrain was rough and hilly – familiar to combat veterans, but physically taxing. “The day was the hottest I can remember on the ‘Canal,” wrote William Rogal of A/1/2.

Able and Charlie Companies advanced together, with Charlie Company on the left flank. After struggling through a jungle-choked ravine and up a steep slope, the Marines were relieved to find a grassy hilltop. Two squads from Able Company crept forward to secure the summit forty feet away. Jim Sorensen (Able Company) recalled how “one squad of ‘C’ company moved up on my left and just as our own company began breaking out of the jungle, the Jap ambush… opened up on us with machine guns and sprayed right down through us.” The exposed squads endured a terrible storm of bullets and mortar shells before finally managed a “strategic withdrawal” to the trees. “We had our asses whipped” admitted William Rogal (A/1/2).

While Able Company took the lion’s share of the casualties, Charlie suffered several men wounded and one killed in action. Private York Drexler was the lone fatality; he may have been a member of the squad seen by Sorensen. Unfortunately, no eyewitness accounts of his fate are known.