The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, a multi-day battle that would
see more than 1,700 Americans killed, began on this day in
history, Nov. 12, 1942.

Guadalcanal is the largest island in the Solomon Islands, a
country located in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia
and east of Papua New Guinea. 

Exactly three years after the end of World War I, the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in
Virginia during an Armistice Day ceremony presided over by
President Warren G. Harding (below).

Warren Gamaliel Harding
(November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923)

The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions
of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775
in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops
capable of fighting both at sea and on shore.

                  (November 7, 1946 – October 22, 1965)

In action on this day near Phu Cuong, about 35 miles northwest
of Saigon, PFC Milton Lee Olive III of Company B, 2nd Battalion,
503rd Infantry, threw himself on an enemy grenade and saved
four soldiers, including his platoon leader, 1st Lt. James Sanford.

For his actions on that day, he was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Honor.

At a ceremony on the steps of the White House, on
April 21, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson (center)
presented Olive’s Medal of Honor to his father and
stepmother (left).