[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
Just started a book called COMBAT OFFICER, by Charles H. Walker. he was a platoon leader in the U.S. Army in the PTO, one of the first landing in Guadalcanal in October 1942 to relieve/reinforce the Marines. I'm only 30 pages in so far, but he's made definitive references four or five times now to 'Bren Gun Carriers' in their service on the island. Carriers on the U.S. Army PTO TO&A???!!!

Came across this quote by coincidence:

October 13th, 1942...At daybreak, the USS Washington's transports land the 164th Infantry at Guadalcanal's Lunga Point. The battleship and her escorts maneuver east of San Cristobal and Malaita, but no enemy forces attack.
*snip*
That same morning, two American transports reach Lunga Roads and commence unloading. Going ashore are 210 men of First Marine Air Wing, 85 Marine replacements, and, most importantly, 2,850 men of the 164th Infantry Regiment of the North Dakota National Guard. This regiment is part of the Americal Division, formed in Noumea, New Caledonia, from homeless National Guard regiments left without a division (when American divisions switched from square four-regiment formations to three). The 164th is well led by Lt. Col. Bryant E. Moore, a West Pointer. On one occasion, Moore has once swooped down on a company commander and first sergeant and ordered them to exchange jobs and ranks.
*snip*
The Americans also unload 12 37mm AA guns, ammunition, provisions, and 16 British Bren gun carriers, familiar sights to Commonwealth forces, but something new to Americans. The little tracked carriers, however, are useful for hauling supplies and men through the jungles.
Source: WORLD WAR II PLUS 55

Which triggered a further search turning up some more snippets:

Vehicles of this type [LP2/LP2A] seen on Guadalcanal are not Australian but are of New Zealand manufacture. 13 of which landed in October 1942.
Source: http://www.thunderandsteel.co.uk/lpc.html

November 12, 1942: Ceased unloading, having unloaded all cargo except six Bren-Gun carriers.
Source: REPORT FOR COMMANDER COMBAT TROOP TRANSPORT AP37

Between October 25th and 29th, the 164th fought alongside the 1st Marine Division to protect a critical airstrip called Henderson Field. After the fierce battle on the night of the 25th, the 3rd Battalion of the 164th took up positions separate from the Marines. The 2nd Battalion took a position on the flank, and the 1st Battalion prepared to meet thousands of enemy troops streaming out of the mountains from the south.

Historian Glenn Smith writes, “At dusk, the Americans could hear the Japanese coming again, and come they did. By this time many of the stragglers of (Japan’s southern) force had reached the front with added mortar and light artillery. As wave after wave attacked the American positions, once again the Japanese depended heavily upon their superior fighting spirit, their bushido. But the men of the 164th now had confidence in themselves... Behind the lines of the 164th, service personnel and others hastily threw up a perimeter close to Henderson Field in case the Japanese broke through, about 175 cooks, messengers, clerks, and others manning positions and waiting for the worst. Band members served the regiment as litter bearers... Every member of the 164th had some role in the battle, the biggest and fiercest of the entire campaign.

“Midst the roar of the battle,” Smith continues, “Sergeant Kevin McCarthy of Jamestown... noticed several Marines at an outpost surrounded by the enemy. Using a Bren gun carrier, a small...open-topped, tracked vehicle, he drove to the beleaguered Marines and (carried) them to the comparative safety of their own lines. The sergeant made three trips and rescued all eighteen Marines, many of them seriously wounded,” Smith says. “For this courageous deed, performed under heavy enemy fire, he received the Distinguished Service Cross.”

Source: Dakota Datebook, October 28, 2004, "Guadalcanal Part 4"

And there's loads more to be found if you just google along.

H.