Mitchell Paige was a platoon sergeant on Guadalcanal in October 1942 and was outnumbered 30-to-1 by an advancing Japanese force bent on capturing Henderson Field, a crucial airfield in the Solomon Islands. During the night, Paige and his platoon, down to 32 men, kept firing their machine guns until all except Paige were dead or seriously wounded. Even though he had been hit with shrapnel and had a Japanese bayonet plunged through his hand, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire. Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings and walked down the hill with it, firing as he went.
In the early morning, Sgt. Paige along with 17 Marines, three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, together with a cook and a few mess men who had brought food to the position the evening before, counterattacked the Japanese postions with a bayonet charge. The enemy broke and retreated. When the smoke cleared, there were 920 dead Japanese soldiers.
Sergeant Mitchell Paige recieved the Congressional Medal of Honor for this heroic action. |
