Joseph John Seymour

On 1 November 1942, the 5th Marines opened the “Matanikau Offensive” by forcing their way across Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River. Their First Battalion crossed near the river’s mouth using footbridges built under cover of darkness, and began advancing west at 0630 hours. The first two hours passed without opposition – but the morning would not stay quiet for long.

At 0840, Charlie Company reported receiving machine gun fire from their front and right flank. Casualties mounted quickly as the Marines attempted to break through a well-camouflaged Japanese defensive line running through a ravine west of Point Cruz. Machine gun sections from Dog Company deployed to provide supporting fire, but quickly became targets themselves.

Minutes before the firing started, Corporal Anthony Casamento – a Dog Company section leader – assigned objectives to his two squads. One would head to the left of a small ridge, while the other hooked around to the right. Casamento stayed with the right-hand squad, under Corporal Lewis Robarts. They soon found themselves in enemy crosshairs. “We were at the head of the column and were cut off by very heavy fire coming from [Japanese] coral fortifications,” recalled the assistant gunner, Private Michael Ciavarelli. “Our squad was surrounded completely by the enemy and we found ourselves under very heavy machine gun and mortar fire that the Japanese were laying down continuously.”

Private Joseph Seymour, the gunner in Robarts’ squad, was responsible for laying down the weapon’s tripod when ready to fire. The first burst of Japanese fire mortally wounded Corporal Robarts; Privates Seymour and Ciavarelli were hit moments later. With the top three men in the squad out of action, Corporal Casamento took over the gun.