Ernest E. "Whitey" Eschbach grew up in south Allentown and worked as a knitting machine operator until the Army drafted him two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
He shipped out to the Fiji Islands in the southwest Pacific in May 1942. In the fall, the 24-year-old private first class landed on an island that had seen fierce fighting since August.
On this Veterans Day, Eschbach remembers his role 60 years ago in the six-month campaign for Guadalcanal, site of the first American offensive on enemy-occupied territory during World War II.
Guadalcanal was a stinking mess at that time. There was a lot of bombing and shelling. The only thing good about that island was it had a nice beach. It wasn't sand; it was small pebbles. Beautiful.
The Marines had already landed there. Our duty, more or less, was guarding the airstrip, Henderson Field. There were still about 25,000 Japanese on the island.
