Commentary Guadalcanal, Henderson Field, the Tenaru River, Sgt. John Basilone. These are places and names that are baked into the collective consciousness of the U.S. Marine Corps and a grateful nation (at least some of us, anyway). Over a six-month campaign from Aug. 7, 1942, to Feb. 9, 1943, 1,592 American troops were killed in action, and 4,183 were wounded in capturing Guadalcanal Island, which is roughly 1,100 miles northeast of Townsville, Australia, across the Coral Sea. Guadalcanal marked the first large-scale U.S. amphibious landing in the Pacific War, with the battle becoming part of Marine folklore (rightfully so!) and the first step on the long and bloody road to Tokyo. Fast-forward to March 31, 2022, when the Solomon Islands “inked a wide-ranging security pact with Beijing, an agreement Western allies fear will pave the way for a first Chinese military foothold in the South Pacific,” according to The Straits …