Robert Lechter Edwards

The “November Offensive” push to the west of Guadalcanal’s Matanikau River began badly for the 5th Marines. On 1 November, determined Japanese troops in well-fortified positions near Point Cruz slowed, then stopped 1/5th Marines with heavy casualties. A heavily-armed bivouac near the base of the Point offered the most resistance; plans for 2 November required the First and Third Battalions to hold the enemy in place, while the Second Battalion maneuvered to get behind the bivouac and cut off reinforcement or retreat. In the afternoon, a sudden and spirited bayonet charge by Item and King Companies broke through a troublesome strongpoint and drove the Japanese troops into a ravine west of Point Cruz, where they were surrounded.

PFC Robert Edwards, a member of the Third Battalion’s heavy weapons company, likely manned a heavy mortar or machine gun supporting the main attack. He was shot in the abdomen on 2 November and died of his wounds; no further specifics of his death are known.