Robert Addison joined the United States Marine Corps on 7 January 1942. He spent three weeks at Parris Island and then had the remainder of his boot training at Quantico, Virginia. Being a former football player, he found that training not to be particularly difficult. After boot camp, he was interviewed by Major Bailey [Annotator’s Note: Major Kenneth Bailey] for the 1st Raider Battalion under Edson [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Merritt Edson]. Major Bailey received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal [Annotator’s Note: as would Edson but Bailey received his posthumously]. The interview went well probably due to Addison being a former football player and being in good physical shape. That was despite Addison just recuperating from appendicitis. Raider training turned out to be quite a bit more rigorous than boot camp. It was common to have 22-mile hikes in full gear including back pack. The first echelon of the Raiders departed for Samoa early. Addison was still in training for 81mm mortars but it was decided to forgo that equipment because of its weight and transport difficulty in the jungles of the Pacific. Addison moved to demolition training. He was deployed in June [Annotator’s Note: 1942] to rendezvous with the first echelon of Raiders so that they could jointly ship to Guadalcanal. There Addison found himself back in mortars assigned to Company E.

Robert Addison saw his first action on Tulagi which is a small island off the larger island of Guadalcanal [Annotator’s Note: Addison was attached to the 1st Marine Raider Battalion]. The Japanese were establishing an airstrip on Guadalcanal and it was imperative to prevent them from completing their work. It could have disrupted Allied shipping to and from Australia and other key areas in the Southwest Pacific. Although the airstrip fell quickly, the Japanese put up a stubborn defense of Guadalcanal. A major sea battle off Savo Island drove the American support ships away from Guadalcanal. The Raiders destroyed artillery and supplies on Tulagi. The Japanese had intended to use the heavy guns on the Americans within a week. The Marines hooked the artillery to Higgins Boats [Annotator’s Note: LCVP or landing craft, vehicle and personnel manufactured by Higgins Industries in New Orleans] and pulled the guns out to sea. The action on Tulagi was the first offensive ground action of the war by the Americans.

Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] fought on Guadalcanal. The battle of Bloody Ridge was the turning point of the campaign. The battalion crisscrossed the island in skirmishes and major combat. When it ended, only 300 of them were fit to fight [Annotator’s Note: the battalion had 900 effectives at deployment]. Edson was promoted to full colonel and took over the 5th Regiment [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Merritt Edson]. Some of the island fighting was hand to hand. Raider companies were decimated. It caused conflict between Edson and Vandegrift concerning use of the Raiders [Annotator’s Note: General Alexander Vandegrift commanded the 1st Marine Division]. The Army finally came up and relieved the Marines on 14 October [Annotator’s Note: 1942]. During the battle of Bloody Ridge, the Japanese were landing reinforcements for their troops on the island. Marines had only enemy rice to eat and that was just once a day. The Allied Navy had withdrawn from Guadalcanal. Addison knew the Marines had been left on the island without support. The battle of Savo Island occurred offshore in a heavy rain. The Marines did not wear their ponchos because the sweat was worse than the cleansing rain. Ships were hit offshore as the Marines watched and hoped they belonged to the enemy. They did not. Major Allied ships were destroyed in the fight. It was disheartening. The Japanese warships were able to bombard the American ground troops without hinderance. Every day “Reveille Joe” sailed by and shelled the Marines at five in the morning. Tulagi had caves but Guadalcanal did not. The shelling was hard to take. The Japanese meanwhile continued to land additional troops on the island. After about a month on Tulagi, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion transferred to Guadalcanal on old World War I destroyers called APDs that were used as troop transport ships. No sooner had they disembarked from the APD but that ship departed and an enemy air raid commenced. The ships left quick because of the threat from the Japanese Navy. When Allied ships were sunk, the enemy machine gunned the survivors. When Addison departed the island, Japanese prisoners were onboard his ship. The POWs seemed to be treated better than the American warfighters. Guadalcanal was a foul environment in which to fight or even live. The smell and conditions in the jungle swamps plus mosquitos and various animals made it rough. Addison did not get jungle rot there but he did in New Georgia. Sulfa drugs helped but Addison still has problems with the disease that resulted from his open sores in the swamps. Addison never got malaria while in service. Despite all the conditions, the troops never seemed demoralized. The men busied themselves cleaning their weapons during downtime. For Addison, it was an ’03 rifle [Annotator’s Note: Springfield 1903 bolt-action rifle]. The M1 rifles [Annotator’s Note: semi-automatic M1 Garand rifles] were first issued to the 7th Marines. Those M1s surprised the Japanese. They were used to the ’03 bolt action weapons they faced earlier. The men eventually slept in six-man tents in the coconut grove which improved their condition. Poker was played by some of the men during leisure time. Malaria and other diseases took a heavy toll even on the strongest Marine.

Robert A. Addison was born in Akron, Ohio on 7 December 1922. The family moved several times but settled down in Alliance, Ohio where his father managed a bowling alley with several lanes. He would buff those lanes manually instead of the automated manner in which they are shined today. Addison helped his father buff the lanes and was a pin boy for a small pay. He had two brothers both of whom served in the military. One served in World War Two. He would meet up with Addison on Guadalcanal. The other brother served in the Korean War. Addison would also be called up for the Korean War. In addition to his brothers, Addison had three sisters.

Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] found that 11th Marine artillery was particularly helpful during the battle of Bloody Ridge. Their rounds fell just forward of the Raiders lines to disperse the Japanese. Vandegrift [Annotator’s Note: General Alexander Vandegrift commanded the 1st Marine Division] had his headquarters just behind the ridge. The Battle of Bloody Ridge saved the Guadalcanal airstrip for the Americans. Edson [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Merritt Edson commanded the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] knew the enemy would try to take the ridge. Vandegrift did not agree but was convinced by Edson. Edson then told his men that they were going up to the ridge to rest. They were deployed as advance units in foxholes to listen for the enemy. A few nights later, they were withdrawn about the time the enemy moved on them through the Lunga River. The Japanese attacked in full force against the Marines. They just kept coming and coming in such numbers that the waist high grass was trampled to the ground. The enemy came screaming and yelling in banzai attacks. Addison first thought the Raiders were surrounded until he discovered it was the 5th Marines coming in to relieve them. The Raiders had learned that after advancing during the day, they planned to pull back at night so the Japanese did not realize where their main line of defense was located. That enabled the Americans to take advantage of surprise during the banzai attacks. That particularly helped in New Georgia. With the attacks predominately at night, the Marines had little sleep in anticipation of the pending action. Men could be itchy wondering when the enemy would come at them. They stood watch in twos to help settle nerves. One night, the man on watch with Addison got so nervous he attacked a tree and lodged his bayonet in the trunk so deeply it took half an hour to free it [Annotator’s Note: Addison laughs]. The men stood guard for about four hours and got very little sleep. They got used to lack of sleep. Edson led his men by example. The Raider training paid dividends during their combat. The second night on Bloody Ridge was the night of the Japanese banzai attack. The 11th Marine artillery support aided significantly aided in defeating the enemy. Years after the war, Addison met the forward observer for the 11th who worked with Edson that night. He was made an honorary Raider for his close ground support and the lack of friendly fire incidents. The artillery kept the enemy scattered even though they just kept coming. The Raiders used many grenades against them.

Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] had his share of close calls on Bloody Ridge and Tulagi. Marine casualties were not heavy near Addison. He saw a Navy corpsman named Billy Smith get fatally shot by a sniper. At certain points during that night on the ridge, Addison wondered if he would survive the battle. He did because someone looked after him with bigger plans for him. Some would crack under the pressure and had to be removed from the front. In New Caledonia, one man was so edgy that he had to be told to shut up. A man like that could not be left in the line. Addison fought for his buddies next to him. Addison became a squad leader on New Georgia even though he was just a PFC [Annotator’s Note: private first class]. There were 312 Raiders killed in action during multiple battles of the war and Korea. Multiple military citations were recognized for battalion personnel. [Annotator’s Note: there is a break in the interview.]

Following the Battle of Bloody Ridge, Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] was relieved by the 5th Marine Regiment commanded by Edson [Annotator’s Note: Colonel Merritt Edson commanded the 1st Marine Raider Battalion prior to taking over the 5th Marine Regiment.]. The Raiders returned to their camp in the coconut grove until Edson called upon them to aid the 5th at the Matanikau River. He knew what the Raiders were capable of doing. There was heavy hand to hand combat prior to Addison reaching the battlefield. The enemy losses were significantly greater than the Marine casualties. The carnage was unforgettable. Addison saw his image at the Matanikau in a newsreel while he was in New Zealand. He helped load Marine dead following the fight. A wounded enemy soldier was discovered and placed under all the dead Marines. There was a feeling of revenge. He buried Japanese on Tulagi. Some men took souvenirs including Japanese gold teeth. The dead would blow up like a balloon when left unburied. They would deflate when stuck. The hardest part was burying Marines. Addison will always remember one man’s name, BAUER. They were not in the same outfit, but the name stuck with Addison. Names would be carved on a wooden cross over the grave and one of the round dog tags left there. After a period of rest back at the base in the coconut grove, the Raiders would be called upon to again support the fighting at Matanikau. That was when Major Bailey was killed [Annotator’s Note: 1st Raider Battalion Major Kenneth Bailey was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions]. If the enemy had attacked at the Tenaru River, Bloody Ridge, and the Matanikau River together, the Marines could not have turned them back. Vandegrift [Annotator’s Note: General Alexander Vandegrift commanded the 1st Marine Division] did not have the personnel to defend all those areas simultaneously. The piecemeal attacks favored the Marines. A large percentage of the Marines were fresh from boot camp while the Japanese soldiers were seasoned troops. The Raiders departed Guadalcanal with 300 effective fighting men on the same day the Army relieved them with 3000 fresh troops. It was 13 October [Annotator’s Note: 1942]. Edson did not want them to leave. Addison was glad to leave. The Army troops would perform well. They fought on Bloody Ridge also.

Following departure from Guadalcanal, Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] was assigned to the 81’s [Annotator’s Note: 81mm mortars]. He was astounded at the Army National Guard unit’s ineptitude in handling their 81mm fire over their defensive protection. Without proper firing clearance, the round could rebound back on the weapon’s position. That happened to the Raiders on Tulagi. The Raiders had departed for New Georgia on 4 July [Annotator’s Note: 1943]. They landed at Rice Anchorage. Allied troops had penetrated the jungle with a path. The Marines went into the jungle and then the swamps where they were up to their shoulders in muck. It took three days circling around the Japanese to surprise attack them from an unsuspected direction. Mud covered the Marines’ camouflage outfits. The Raiders took Enogai and then hit Bairoko, but they did not take the latter objective. The Army took Bairoko after the airfield at Munda was captured. The Marines tricked the nearby much larger enemy force on Kolombangara into bombing unmanned areas through a deceptive used of Higgins Boats for resupply. Addison was a PFC [Annotator’s Note: private first class] on New Georgia acting as a squad leader. He was in 60mm mortars. He carried the base plate, the sights, the compass, and binoculars. The gunner carried the tube and bipod. When he was with 81mm mortars, the squad consisted of three men. The bipod was separately carried by the third man. Replacements that came in had to get some experience to perform better. Addison would have several men of various capabilities. One of the larger fellows ended up dropping the mortar ammunition and could not find it. All in all, most of the replacements were pretty good. The Marine Raiders were knocking out enemy supply bases that supported Munda airstrip on New Georgia. The Japanese would eventually pull out of New Georgia and nearby Kolombangara. Addison encountered the Japanese during the battles in Enogai and Mburuku. Later, Addison found out that his brother was at Munda. His brother was in the Army 181st Engineers. They got together briefly. Addison wrote home from Guadalcanal and New Georgia after Tokyo Rose proclaimed the 1st Marine Raider Battalion was wiped out. The troops wrote home to let relatives know that was not true. Addison and his brother used a numbering code to inform their mother of their location in the Pacific. Each island had a code number that would be placed in the letter home to indicate their base of operations. It passed the censors. Tokyo Rose provided nice music and helped the morale of the Americans. She was forced to provide the propaganda by the Japanese.

Following departure from New Georgia, Robert Addison [Annotator’s Note: with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion] reached Guadalcanal, then New Caledonia and finally home. It was unusual for troops to regret the dropping of the atomic bomb. The invasion of Japan would have faced tunnels and hardened defenses. The bombs saved millions of lives. The people of Okinawa had jumped off cliffs rather than accept surrender. The Japanese who fought against Addison were much worse than the Japanese people at home. His softening toward the Japanese people was hastened by his brother marrying a girl from Japan. Addison had little adjustment difficulties returning home. He returned to college and played sports. That aided his transition to civilian life. He earned 12 varsity letters in multiple sports. He is a member of the Heisman Club. He had been coached by John Heisman. Addison's degree was in physical education. He attended NYU [Annotator’s Note: New York University] for his masters. He retired a full professor at Adirondack Community College. He was instrumental in establishment of their sports and physical education programs. Being a Marine made Addison more happy - go lucky as an individual. There must have been additional plans for him after he discharged. It is difficult to explain to others what he experienced. He always felt the war was worth fighting.