Their first action came when two companies of the 2nd Raider Battalion were rushed to reinforce the garrison of remote Midway Island, where they participated in the successful defense against Japanese air attacks June 4-6, 1942. Their next action was at Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, as a diversionary operation in support of the Guadalcanal landing. Two companies of Edson’s 2nd Raider Battalion (13 officers and 208 enlisted men) raided the Japanese base there on Aug. 17, 1942, transported by the submarines USS Nautilus (SS 168) and USS Argonaut(APS 1). Fire from the subs’ 6-inch deck guns sank a patrol boat and transport in the lagoon, and two attacking Japanese aircraft were shot down. The Raiders engaged the small garrison in a protracted firefight and destroyed a fuel dump and a radio transmitter. But in the confusion, nine men left behind were captured and later beheaded by the Japanese. Marine casualties totaled 18 killed and 12 missing. Lessons learned from this raid would prove to be of great value in planning future amphibious assaults.

The Raiders’ next contact with the Japanese on the ground came on Aug. 7, 1942, at Tulagi, a tiny but strategic islet in the Solomon Islands chain. The 1st Raiders, along with three other Marine battalions, stormed the island, surprising and quickly eliminating 900 Japanese defenders.

They later moved to Guadalcanal, where they anchored the defense of Henderson Field. Edson’s Raiders, along with Marines of the 1st Parachute Battalion (together about 840 troops), fought an epic defense of a key ridge overlooking the airfield Sept. 12-14, smashing repeated night frontal assaults by Maj. Gen. Kiyotake Kawaguchi’s 35th Infantry Brigade. During the nightlong battle, Edson remained standing about 20 yards behind the Marine firing line on Hill 123, exhorting his troops and directing their defensive efforts.

Said Marine Capt. Tex Smith, who was in position to observe Edson for most of the night, “I can say that if there is such a thing as one man holding a battalion together, Edson did it that night. He stood just behind the front lines – stood, when most of us hugged the ground.”

The Marines counted 500 Japanese dead; hundreds more died later of wounds. About 80 Marines were killed in the fight, and Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for this action, which is known by two names in Marine Corps battle history: “Bloody Ridge” and “Edson’s Ridge.”

On Nov. 4, 1942, Carlson’s Raiders also landed on Guadalcanal, deep behind Japanese lines. Over the next month, in an epic jungle march, this “Long Patrol” killed more than 500 Japanese troops and knocked out the infamous “Pistol Pete” – a pesky 75 mm mountain gun that had been shelling Henderson Field – while losing only 16 dead and 18 wounded, although malaria and other tropical diseases took a heavy toll on the unit.