12/30/2025
At 0147 on the morning of September 14th, 1942, Major Kenneth D. Bailey stood upright on Hill 123, 900 m south of Henderson Field, blood streaming from a head wound, shouting orders into darkness while Japanese infantry swarmed his position. 27 years old, University of Illinois graduate, Persing Rifles, a man who had learned war from manuals and parade grounds, now using his own body as bait.
3,000 soldiers from the Kawaguchi Brigade were climbing the ridge. 830 Marines held the line. Henderson Field lay 900 m to the north. If it fell, Guadal Canal fell. If Guadal Canal fell, the Allied advance in the Pacific stalled for a year, maybe more, 10 hours until dawn. Bailey had been taught textbook tactics at Quantico, formal doctrine at Staff College.
None of that doctrine covered what he was about to do. None of it explained how an officer with a head wound would transform himself into a human decoy to save an airfield. Kenneth Dempsey Bailey was born on October 21st, 1910 in Porny, Oklahoma. His family moved to Danville, Illinois when he was young.
He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1935. National Society of Persing Rifles ROC training. The kind of young man who believed rules mattered, who studied regulations and followed procedures. He spent three years in the Illinois National Guard's 130th Infantry Regiment before receiving his commission as second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on July 1st, 1935.
His progression through the ranks was methodical. 5 months with the fifth Marines at Quantico, two years aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania 1938 to 1940. naval duty, peacetime routine, the kind of service that earned promotions but taught nothing about combat. He was promoted to captain in March 1941 while serving with the first marine brigade at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Still no combat, still no test. In June 1941, Bailey took command of a company in the Fifth Marines. Eight months later, in February 1942, his unit was redesated as part of the first Marine Raider battalion. The Raiders were an elite formation modeled after British commandos designed for amphibious raids and special operations.
Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson commanded the battalion. Red Mike Edson, a man who had killed Sandino rebels in Nicaragua with his bare hands, who carried a cult 45 and a knife strapped to his leg. Bailey was Edson's opposite. Where Edson was visceral, Bailey was cerebral. Where Edson led by example, Bailey led by organization.
Nobody knew yet which style would work better in the jungle. Bailey was promoted to major in May 1942, temporary rank and given command of company C. 200 men on paper. In reality, after malaria and dissentry and casualties from previous actions, maybe 90 effective combat troops. The first marine division landed on Guadal Canal on August 7th, 1942. This story is probably just the beginning… Click the link below to read it in full. Don't miss it 👉: https://axonghoi.io.vn/how-a-majors-human-decoy-trick-held-off-6000-attackers-for-10-hours-and-won-an-impossible-battle-cus/ 🌜 ❤️ 💡