"Guadalcanal was almost an unknown name in 1937 when young Dick Horton was posted to the Solomons. In 1942 he was swept into the arena where the United States and the Australian and New Zealand allies fought it out with the armed forces of Japan. After a short period of evacuation to Australia, where he eventually succeeded in fretting himself clear of the permanent civilian status imposed on him by Officialdom, his knowledge of the Solomons earned him a place with the 1st Raider Battalion of the US Marine Corps. Later he was commissioned as Lieutenant, RANVR, in the Coastwatching service of the Royal Australian Navy but still maintained his close liaison with the US Marines. This book tells his story and that of his companion Coast Watchers in those dangerous days--enlisting the devoted aid of the islanders, reporting Japanese sea, air and land activities, helping Allied airmen to safety, and occasionally--though this was not their primary function--harrying and harassing the Japanese forces in the Solomons. A particularly interesting feature of the book is the inside story of the rescue of Lieutenant John F. Kennedy and the crew of PT 109 by Reg Evans and his islander Coast Watchers - but this is only one of scores of incidents that grip the reader's attention. Mr. Horton's description of his landing on Tulagi with the 1st Raider Battalion, for example is a memorable study in suspense. In his earlier book, The Happy Isles, the author drew an idyllic picture of island life before the war. In this new book it is fascinating to see how an apparently primitive people adapted themselves to survival in the war raging around and above them, and with what outstanding courage, cunning and devotion they served the Allied cause"--Dust jacket.