Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story

by Alexandra C. Clemens

This remarkable memoir tells the compelling story of the near-mythic British district officer who helped shape the first great Allied counteroffensive. Scottish-born and Cambridge-educated, Martin Clemens managed to survive months behind Japanese lines in one of the most unfriendly climates and terrains in the world. After countless partisan and spy missions, in 1942 he emerged from the jungle and integrated his Melanesian commando force into the heart of the 1st Marine Division's operations, earning the unfettered admiration of such legendary Marine officers as Vandegrift, Thomas, Twining, Edson, and Pate. This book is based on a journal Clemens kept during the war and might well be the last critical source of analysis of the Solomon's campaign. His eyewitness accounts of harrowing long-distance patrols and life on the run from shadowy Japanese intelligence operatives and treacherous islanders are unmatched in the literature of the Pacific war. First published in 1998, the story, with an introduction by Allan R. Millett, is essential and enjoyable reading.

387 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2012

Reviews

[Marshall Snyder]

An essential reference on the Battle of Guadalcanal, this book looks at the role of the coast watchers and natives in that campaign. The coast watchers provided valuable intelligence on Japanese ship and aircraft movements. The natives provided excellent service as scouts for Marine patrols and as labor units. Martin Clemens played an important and little known role in the defeat of the Japanese in the first major offensive od WW II.

[Caleb]

This is about a fascinating episode in WWII. Unfortunately, the author is not a good storyteller and so the book fails to hold interest. This is a listing of events and people, not a telling of the story of this episode in the war.

[robert jones]

I !ove this book. It's the second time I have read it. A very interesting book about being alone hiding from the Japs in WWII while providing information for American forces about the enemy.