A U.S. Marine Corps honor guard conducts a 21 gun salute in honor of Coast Guard Signalman First Class Douglas Munro at the 75th Anniversery ceremony 27 Sept 2017. Munro is the only non-Marine on the Wall of Heroes at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Photo CPO David Mosley
On September 20, 1942, Munro volunteered to lead a small boat
search-and-rescue mission seeking to recover the crew of a Navy airplane that had been forced down off
Savo Island. During the operation, Munro's craft came under intense fire from Japanese shore positions, though he was able to maneuver the boat back to base with only minor injuries to his crew. The downed aircrew was ultimately found and rescued by a
flying boat.
On September 27, Lt. Colonel
Chesty Puller ordered three companies of Marines to
attack the flank of Japanese positions on the west side of the
Matanikau River. Munro was placed in charge of two
landing craft tank (LCT) and eight Higgins boats tasked with transporting the Marines to their landing points. Preceded by a beach-clearing ship-to-shore bombardment from the destroyer
USS Monssen, the amphibious force landed and began moving inland towards its objective. Meanwhile, Munro withdrew his boats to
Lunga Point as ordered, carrying with him injured sailors and Marines, among them Navy coxswain
Samuel B. Roberts, who had been mortally wounded while using his landing craft to draw Japanese fire away from the Marines.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps landing force came under attack in a Japanese counter-offensive and quickly found itself encircled on a hill. With the Marines in danger of being overrun,
Monssen opened fire on the Japanese positions with her 5-inch (127 mm) caliber guns, managing to clear a narrow corridor to the beach. Using
Monssen's
signal lamp, Puller ordered the Marines to fight their way to the shore.
At Lunga Point, the landing craft were instructed to return and extract the besieged Marines. Commander Dexter asked Munro and Evans if they would take charge of the mission, to which Munro answered, "Hell yes!" As the boats under Munro's charge approached the recovery points, they came under heavy fire from Japanese forces at a ridge abandoned by the Marines. Munro used a
.30 caliber machine gun aboard his landing craft to direct
suppressing fire against the Japanese positions as the other boats recovered the American forces. With Japanese troops moving against the beach, Munro piloted his boat closer to shore to act as a shield. Though the initial extraction was successful, one of the LCTs became grounded on a sandbar. Munro directed the other LCT to help extricate the grounded vessel as he maneuvered his own boat to shield the Marines from Japanese fire from the shore. Munro was shot in the base of his skull and lost consciousness.
The LCT was ultimately freed and the boats resumed their withdrawal. When out of range of Japanese forces, Munro briefly regained consciousness before succumbing to his wounds. According to Evans, his dying words were, "Did they get off?" Evans said later that "... seeing my affirmative nod, he smiled with that smile I knew and liked so well, and then he was gone".
Colonel Puller, the Marine officer who had ordered the attack in which Munro perished, nominated the Coast Guardsman for the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. personal military decoration. The nomination was endorsed by Admiral
William Halsey Jr., and
President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt approved the decoration on or about May 1, 1943. The medal was presented to Munro's parents on May 24 by Roosevelt in a
White House ceremony. The citation reads:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer-in-Charge of a group of Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a Battalion of Marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, on September 27, 1942. After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly 500 beleaguered Marines, Munro, under constant risk of his life, daringly led five of his small craft toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then in order to draw the enemy's fire and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft with its two small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was killed by enemy fire, but his crew, two of whom were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave up his life in defense of his country.
As of 2019, Munro is the only member of the U.S. Coast Guard to have received the Medal of Honor for service in the Coast Guard
