American Valor Quarterly Issue 3 - Summer 2008 | Page 15

the RAF had fighter sweeps where they sent huge gaggles
of fighters up against each other. But in the Pacific we didn’t
have fighter sweeps. The fighters did all escort work and air
defense. For instance, most of the victories at Guadalcanal
were air defense victories. It was people who were there to
defend the Guadalcanal complex. The Japanese were in the
offensive mode, and our Marine and Navy fighters on the
strip there would take off to defend the strip. I don’t want
to take anything away from those people Marion Carl as
well as Medal of Honor recipients Joe Foss and John L.
Smith, but they had the comfort of knowing they were
fighting right above their own home fiel