Gerald Paul Hopkins

PFC Gerald Hopkins participated in the campaigns for the Solomon Islands as a member of G/2/5th Marines. By mid-September 1942, he was a veteran of landings on Tulagi, combat patrols on Guadalcanal, and the battle for Edson’s Ridge. “Hopkins was a young kid with a good sense of humor,” recalled G/2/5 Marine Ed Newell. “He took a little kidding because he had prominent front teeth. Like a good Marine, he gave it back”

On September 25, Hopkins’ battalion was ordered to saddle up and head into the boondocks to support a friendly combat patrol. They were placed under the temporary command of LtCol. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, and patrolled west towards the Matanikau River. They followed the eastern bank towards the river’s mouth and attempted to cross over a sandspit on the morning of 26 September. Japanese defenders knocked back scouts from Easy Company, and the Marines formed up along the bank to force their way across.

Captain Tom Richmond’s George Company was ordered to lead the assault across the spit, with Corporal Charles H. “Buddy” Waldron‘s squad on the point. “He had seven guys,” recalled First Sergeant Francis Lieberman. “He got the whole squad across. Then the roof caved in. They shot machine guns, mortars – goddamn, they used everything. The rest of us were pinned down on that open beach.”

Ed Newell remembered the sudden bloodbath that obliterated several of his friends in a matter of minutes.