Guadalcanal set the tone for what lay ahead in the Pacific.The Japanese where overconfident,and vastly underrated the fighting abilities of the US fighting man.I had a friend...passed away now,God rest his soul,that was at Guadalcanal,and Tarawa,and he said worst part of Guadalcanal was lack of food,sleep,and malaria etc.He said the Japs would charge,and we would pile them up.Kind of callous,but it was the way it was.He was a runner on Tarawa...he was small of stature,so harder target,and he told me,how he got through it was pure luck.