MUNRO: The Untold Story of America's Only Coast Guardsman to Earn a Medal of Honor

by Andrew King, Kaitlin Baker (Editor)

On the beach of an isolated island in the South Pacific, hundreds of United States Marines faced almost certain death.

It was 1942, and the United States was amid the Guadalcanal Campaign – America’s first counterattack against the Empire of Japan during the Pacific War. Thousands of Japanese troops were entrenched in Guadalcanal’s thick jungles and steep hills, and the Marines had gone in to dislodge them. The operation quickly fell apart, and the Marines called for an evacuation.

The United States Coast Guard heard the call and sped towards the action. One brave Coast Guardsman led the rescue effort. Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro. And he was prepared to do whatever needed to be done.

Against overwhelming odds, the Coast Guard flotilla saved the life of every Marine trapped between an advancing Japanese force and the endless ocean. Yet as Munro raced his boat back to base full of Marines, he was struck by a bullet and died in his best friend’s arms.

Douglas Munro’s ultimate sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds enabled the Marines to continue fighting and, ultimately, beat back Japan’s onslaught in the Pacific. Douglas Munro, alone and unafraid in his small landing craft off Guadalcanal, changed the course of the entire Pacific War.

132 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2022