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rest of us would fly up the next morning on the transport plane.
    A couple of us borrowed a jeep and took a tour around the island. We saw the Lunga River, the Tenaru, Bloody Ridge—all scenes of gallant, costly Marine victories. We saw that the Army had been there, too. Even though they had come much later than the Marines, they’d had their share of fighting. Over one of the roads a sign read:
    KILL THE BASTARDS!
    On this road 20 wounded soldiers
of the regiment “Queen of Battles”
—being carried on litters—were
bayoneted, stabbed and shot by the
yellow bastards.
    KILL THE BASTARDS!
    They were playing for keeps here.
    The next morning we took off shortly after seven o’clock and landed in the beautiful Russell Islands some 30 minutes later. The Russell Islands could have been a Hollywood set for a tropical movie. The water was a clear, cobalt blue. The sand was clean and white. Tall coconut palms waved lazily in warm breezes scented with frangipani and other exotic flowers.
    But as our truck began to climb a short hill to our quarters, we saw that this was no time for lazy contemplation and lolling on the beach. Beside the road was a sign: “Marine Air Group 21, where the extermination of Japs is a business, not a pastime.”
    Our squadron had been assigned Scramble Alert duty for the day. That meant that the pilots were to stand by, to take off at short notice to intercept any enemy planes that might come our way.
    Boyington took advantage of the opportunity to give the pilots some instruction on tactics. He sat on his heels in the shade of the ready room, with the pilots gathered about him like players around their coach, and covered the crushed coral surface of the ground in front of him with diagrams.
    â€œThere’s one thing you must always keep in mind,” he said. “Carry out your mission. If you’re covering bombers, cover them to the target and back. Don’t take off some place to attack a couple of Zeros off to one side. I know you all want to shoot down planes. But our first job is thecompletion of the mission, whatever it is. Keep in mind that when you do get your opportunity, it’ll just be a quick flash and your chance will be gone. Be prepared to take full advantage of it. When you get your chance, attack immediately and let him have it.”
    Boyington then went over the differences between the Zeros and our Corsairs.
    â€œYou’re flying one of the sweetest fighters there is,” he said. “But there are certain things a Corsair won’t do. Don’t try to loop with a Zero because the Zero is a lighter, more maneuverable plane and will loop inside you and he’ll end up on your tail. The same goes for turning—don’t try to turn with him. But your ship is faster; it will climb away from him in a shallow climb, and you can outdive anything they’ve got. So what does all this add up to? Just this: get above him; come in on him in a high stern pass; hold your fire till you’re within good, close range; let him have it and watch him burn. When they’re hit right they burn like celluloid.
    â€œIf you miss him, don’t stick around to dogfight. Dive out—get the hell out of there—climb away and come back into the fight with some altitude and speed.
    â€œStay together if you can, particularly your two-plane section. Unless you’re completely swamped on all sides, you’re in good shape if you keep your section together.
    â€œDepend on your plane; it’s built to take a beating and still bring you home. And try to bring them back, men; they’re all we have.
    â€œRemember that fighter planes are built to fight. That’s our primary general mission. Any time there are enemy planes in the air and we have fighters up, we should tangle with them if we can do so without leaving our own bombers or photo planes unprotected.”
    That was the essence of the Boyington