Willard Woodward Keith, Jr.

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, and distract them from the movements of Second Battalion.

At 0715, 2/5 moved out from their foxholes on a ridge south of Point Cruz and began advancing towards the beach, hoping to surround the bivouac and cut off lines of reinforcement or retreat. The Japanese met the attack with machine guns emplaced in coral bunkers; Marines responded with small arms and mortars.

Captain Willard W. Keith, Jr., a 22-year-old Californian, was up on the front line. He had served as a platoon leader in George Company earlier in the year, before being plucked out of his unit to serve as the battalion adjutant. Keith rejoined G/2/5 on 22 October 1942 – probably replacing another wounded officer – and may have been anxious to prove himself as a combat leader. Showing “exceptional skill and inspiring courage,” Keith took a platoon and squared off with an equally-sized Japanese unit reinforced by machine guns. “Although the Japanese positions were firmly entrenched on commanding ground and concealed by heavy jungle growth, Captain Keith, recognizing the inability of our mortar and artillery fire to dislodge the enemy, initiated and led successive bayonet and hand grenade charges in the face of tremendous fire until the hostile group was annihilated,” reads the citation for his Navy Cross. The attacks were so well executed that only three G/2/5 Marines suffered wounds during the entire day’s action.

Unfortunately, Captain Keith’s position at the head of his platoon made him a conspicuous target. At 12:21 PM on 2 November 1942, a short message reached the regimental command post: “Capt. Keith killed 2-5.” A few minutes later, George Company was ordered to pull back and let American artillery work over the area. Keith’s body was left in the field.