Megan Bridges Dr. Ann Greene STSC-279-401 May 5, 2014 U.S. Military Malaria Control Efforts During WWII: A Case Study on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands On August 7, 1942, Marine units first landed on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, in the Pacific Ocean theater, followed by Army units two months later. The soldiers were met with torrential rainfall, dense vegetation, and high humidity. 1 They came to loath their new environment, which the official military history record refers to as “that fucking island.” 2 The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered the Allied Armed Forces to gain control of a Japanese airfield base in Guadalcanal to prevent the southward movement of Japanese forces toward the shipping lanes between the United States and Australia. 3 Japanese control of Guadalcanal, which is located approximately 1,000 miles from mainland Australia, would have allowed the Japanese to attack Australia and obstruct safe American supply routes from Hawaii and San Francisco that were crucial to ensuring American troops’ health and military success in the South Pacific. 4 Ultimately, as historian Rachel Wacks writes, “…losing to the Japanese meant losing to Hitler in 1 Downs, Wilbur C., Paul W. Oman, and Norman D. Levine. “Chapter VIII: New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Saint Matthias Group, and Ryukyu Islands.” Communicable Diseases: Malaria. By Paul A. Harper. Vol. VI. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Surgeon General, Dept. of the Army, 1963. 400-74. Office of Medical History. U.S. Army Medical Department. 2 Wacks, Rachel E. “’Don't Strip Tease For Anopheles’: A History Of Malaria Protocols During World War II,” 17. 3 Downs, Wilbur C., Paul W. Oman, and Norman D. Levine. “Chapter VIII: New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, Saint Matthias Group, and Ryukyu Islands.” 4 Wacks, Rachel E. “’Don't Strip Tease For Anopheles,’” 3.