Guadalcanal

Sgt. Eddie Sikua and his men are still out on patrol in the jungles of Guadalcanal, searching for history - and finding it everywhere. They actually stack it in piles - still-lethal piles of rusted hand grenades, artillery shells, machine-gun rounds, mines, bombs, even red phosphorus. "We just pulled this out two weeks ago," Sikua said, standing over the remnants of one such incendiary shell. "When we pulled it out, it burned after 50 years. " And like red phosphorus, the emotion still burns in the hearts of Solomon Islanders who guided the Marines in the jungle, fought beside them, worked for them and ate with them.

In an overgrown field not far from where American Marines stormed ashore on Guadalcanal, Bruce Klahr strolls through the wrecks of old amphibious tractors like a kid in a candy store. This is what he has come halfway around the world to see on his vacation, the wrecks and remnants of the Second World War. And it doesn't get much better than this - piles of live ammunition, sunken warships and a welter of airplane crash sites. A retired exporter from Boulder, Colo., Klahr, 47, fancies himself the world's most widely traveled war tourist, having visited battlefields in 102 countries, from Normandy to Corregidor, from a bridge too far in Holland to the bridge on the River Kwai in Thailand.

Harry M. Marsh, 95, a World War II Navy veteran who served aboard a destroyer at the Battle of Guadalcanal, died Wednesday at his Haddon Heights home of cardiac failure. Born and raised in Camden, he resided in Haddon Heights for the last 47 years. He was an antiques dealer in Haddon Heights for 25 years, retiring in 1967. Mr. Marsh served in the Navy for a total of 15 years between 1919 and 1946. During World War II, he served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, and was aboard the destroyer USS O'Brien during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

The Rev. Frederic P. Gehring, 95, the Vincentian priest who won fame as the Padre of Guadalcanal for his exploits during World War II, died of apparent heart failure Sunday in Orlando (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, where he was recovering from a hip fracture. He had lived in Florida the last five years, since retiring as pastor at St. Vincent's Church in Germantown. At Guadalcanal with the Marines in the early stages of the war in the Pacific, Father Gehring earned the Legion of Merit - for making three trips on a small boat into Japanese-held territory to rescue 28 missionaries trapped there - and a Presidential Unit Citation, which was awarded to the First Marine Division for its actions there.

James W. Nicholson, 80, a retired Marine Corps warrant officer and a combat veteran of the Sino-Japanese War, World War II and the Korean War, died of cancer Thursday at Underwood Memorial Hospital in Woodbury, N.J. He lived in Gloucester City, N.J. After serving in the Marine Corps from 1936 to 1956, Mr. Nicholson, known to most as "Nick," spent the next 10 years working as a federal civil servant as a purchasing officer and equipment specialist at...

It has been 50 years since Salvatore Marchisello helped win the war in the Pacific. Yesterday, he won the battle for the medals he earned there. After five years of struggling with an Army records center in St. Louis, the Sicklerville resident yesterday received five medals - including the Bronze Star - for fighting on the front lines at Guadalcanal during World War II. "It made me feel good because of my children and grandchildren," Marchisello, 76, said. "This way, they can have it if something happens to me. " Sgt. First Class Dorothy Young of the U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis said there was a backlog in sending the medals.

John Richard Carey, 73, a former Glassboro councilman and World War II veteran with six air medals and four Bronze Stars, died Sunday at his Glassboro home. Mr. Carey served as a Democrat on the Borough Council for a year in the 1950s and for two three-year terms, from 1965 to 1971. He served in the Marine Corps during World War II as an aviation master technical sergeant and as radio gunner in a dive bomber SBD-2 with the VMSB- 141 Squadron. He participated in the capture and defense of Guadalcanal and the capture of Cape Esperance and took part in the Bismarck Archipelago Operation and the liberation of the Philippines.

William Kozel, 80, a retired career Marine and longtime resident of Northeast Philadelphia, died Thursday of heart failure at Temple University Hospital. Born and reared in the city's Northern Liberties section, Mr. Kozel was an employee of Gotham's Hosiery in Philadelphia before joining the Marine Corps in 1940. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in an administrative post equivalent to an office manager. He participated in the operation to seize Guadalcanal during World War II and served in Korea during the Korean War. His last assignment was at the Pentagon.

Charles Edward "Chuck" Thomes, former acting coroner for Montgomery County, died Thursday in Abington Memorial Hospital after a short illness . Mr. Thomes was born in Mohawk, Herkimer County, N.Y., and had lived in the Jenkintown area since 1953. Active in regional politics and community affairs, he served as Republican committeeman, Jenkintown highway commissioner and justice of the peace. Mr. Thomes joined the Montgomery County Coroner's Office in 1971 and became acting coroner after the death of John Hoffa in July 1977.

Retired Marine Col. Victor J. Croizat, 91, a combat commander in some of the toughest battles of World War II and later a military adviser and diplomat, died of congestive heart failure May 8 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. After retiring in 1966, Col. Croizat gained acclaim as a chronicler of the Marine Corps, particularly its development of an amphibious assault capability. As a second lieutenant, he commanded a company of Marines that landed at Guadalcanal on Aug. 7, 1942.

Charles John Miller Jr., 88, of Ridley Park, a retired Boeing helicopter mechanic who served 21 years in the Navy, died of complications from Parkinson's disease Sunday at Pembrooke Health and Rehabilitation Residence in West Chester. Mr. Miller grew up in South Philadelphia. In 1939 he enlisted in the Navy. During World War II he served in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. He was aboard the destroyer Hopkins when it participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal in August 1942. Later that year, he was aboard an aircraft carrier supporting the invasion of North Africa.

It was a slow news day at The Inquirer's tall white building on North Broad Street. The banner headline that morning had said, "Roosevelt Sends Personal Note to Emperor in 'Final Effort' to Avert War With Japan. " But the only thing going on was the Eagles' game against the Redskins, and that was in Washington. At 2:22 p.m., the Associated Press clacked out: "Flash! White House says Japs attack Pearl Harbor. " America suddenly was thrust into World War II. For Philadelphia, the nation's third-largest city with a population of 1.9 million, the war would mean an industrial revival - a temporary return to its claim of being the "Workshop of the World.

It was a slow news day at The Inquirer's tall white building on North Broad Street. The banner headline that morning had said, "Roosevelt Sends Personal Note to Emperor in 'Final Effort' to Avert War With Japan. " But the only thing going on was the Eagles' game against the Redskins, and that was in Washington. At 2:22 p.m., the Associated Press clacked out: "Flash! White House says Japs attack Pearl Harbor. " America suddenly was thrust into World War II. For Philadelphia, the nation's third-largest city with a population of 1.9 million, the war would mean an industrial revival - a temporary return to its claim of being the "Workshop of the World.

Ralph Gene McCormick, 88, of Abington, a retired finance executive, assistant professor, and decorated World War II veteran, died of complications from lung disease Saturday at Abington Memorial Hospital. Mr. McCormick learned to fly fighters while stationed at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas. He joined the service as a Navy man, but eventually switched to the Marine Corps. During World War II, he flew with Marine Fighter Squadron 311. He shot down enemy planes, sank ships, and covered U.S. ground forces as they battled the enemy on Guadalcanal and Okinawa.

SIXTY YEARS AGO, U.S. Coast Guard Signalman Douglas A. Munro found himself on a boat near Guadalcanal. The Japanese were building an airfield on the obscure island in the South Pacific, and the Marines were sent to neutralize it. Guadalcanal was a miserable, malaria-plagued jungle infested with giant lizards and furry spiders. And enemy snipers and aircraft. The Marines on shore survived on Spam and weevil-ridden rice. Two weeks after their initial landing, they captured the airstrip.

This week, our country is marking an unspeakable tragedy that occurred one year ago. Our memories turn to the heroes and victims who perished that day or narrowly escaped death. We vow that we, as individuals and as a country, will never forget. But I fear that, one day, we will. Certainly, those personally touched by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will forever remember their lost loved ones. And history will forever list the day as one that changed our country. But there have been other pivotal experiences in our communal memory that have faded with time.

G. Willing "Wing" Pepper, 92, charismatic former president of Scott Paper Co. and a leading figure in Philadelphia public life for four decades, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at his home in Media. A member of a prominent Philadelphia family and a descendant of Benjamin Franklin's, Mr. Pepper was Scott's head of international operations and its president during a period of escalating involvement in foreign markets in the 1960s and '70s. At a time when many U.S. companies were still feeling their way through the complexities of international commerce, Mr. Pepper was boldly forging partnerships with foreign companies, drawing on their knowledge of local laws, practices and customs.

A dangerous saltwater crocodile had been previously sighted in the underwater cave called Mirror Pond on Mane, one of many mangrove islands in the Russell chain in the Solomon Islands. "We do not know the behavior of this man-eating crocodile," stressed Scott Waring, dive master on the Spirit of the Solomons live-aboard dive boat. "When he has been seen in the cave, he is usually lying on one of the many ledges. " Waring advised us that the crocodile had previously attacked a snorkeler, but it had never bothered a scuba diver.

Nicholas Marcellino, 78, who got his scars in war and then made his life's work covering the blemishes of others, died last Friday of lymphoma at his home in Toluca Lake, Calif. Mr. Marcellino grew up in Swampoodle, went off to war as a young man, returned a wounded, decorated veteran long before the fighting ended, then went off to Hollywood and accepted a job as a makeup artist offered by a war-hero-worshiping crowd of actors and studio moguls. When he retired in 1981, he was head of the makeup department at Universal Studios.