Merritt A. Edson

The 11th Marines, the 3rd Defense Battalion, and most of the division's supporting units would also land near the Lunga, prepared to exploit the beachhead.

Across the 20 miles of Sealark Channel, the division's assistant commander, Brigadier General William H. Rupertus, led the assault forces slated to take Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, the 1st Raider Battalion, Lt. Col. Merritt A. Edson, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, Lt. Col. Harold E. Rosecrans, and the 1st Parachute Battalion, Maj. Robert H. Williams.

Company A of the 2nd Marines would reconnoiter the nearby shores of Florida Island and the rest of Colonel John A. Arthur's regiment would stand by and reserve to land where needed.

As the ship slipped through the channels on either side of rugged Savo Island, which split sea lark near its western end, heavy clouds and dense rain blanketed the task force.

Others served in two wars, World Wars I and II, or World War II and Korea.

Represented in the photograph is a total of nearly 700 years of cumulative experience on active Marine Corps service.

Three key members of the division, the Assistant Division Commander, Brigadier General William H. Rupertus, the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, Colonel Robert C. Kilmartin, Jr., and the commanding officer of the 1st Raider Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson, were not in this picture for a good reason.

They were on Tulagi, where Rupertus headed the Tulagi Command Group with Kilmartin as his Chief of Staff and Edson commanded the combat troops.