Guadalcanal Fighting with the 164th, 1st Battalion, Company B

Over the past few weeks, I have discovered that my father, August Christman, was in the North Dakota National Guard, 164th Infantry, 1st Battalion, B Company. We found a company photo taken at Camp Claiborne,LA in June of 1941. In my research on the internet, I found a book that is being written about the 164th's battles in WWII by Terry Shoptaugh. Terry's book was great reading about the war stories that he has collected from many sources. It greatly helped me to see exactly what my father faced in their battles with the Japanese on Guadalcanal.

In Chapter 6 of his book on November 5, 1942, he describes how one platoon of Company B was ordered to advance on Japanese positions as they made a push to Kokumbona. This platoon had moved into a well prepared Japanese crossfire with snipers and machine guns deployed in a horseshoe formation. When the platoon was well into the trap, the guns opened fire. Les Wichmann had witnessed the tragedy with the enemy machine guns on the left and right flanks, and one in front. Some of the men killed were Pvt.Sherman Olson, Pvt.Gerhard Mokros, Pvt.Stanley Ziska, Sgt.Herbert Langard, Sgt.Robert Cross and Sgt.Raymond Johnson. Heroic men tried to go forward to pull some of the injured men back and were themselves hit and killed. Men like Lt.James McCreary, S.Sgt.Arthur Jones and Pvt.Carl Hjelm were brave to face this terrible onslaught.

Many of these men are shown in this picture of Company B taken at Camp Claiborne.
If there is anyone out there who has more information about Company B or its other manuevers, please contact me.

Thanks,

Dennis Christman
dchristman [at] helixelectric [dot] com
Cell phone: 702-218-8218