Richard William Tregaskis (November 28, 1916 – August 15, 1973) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

whose best-known work is '' Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943), an account of just the first several weeks (in August - September 1942) of the U.S. Marine Corps invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. This was actually a six-month-long campaign. Tregaskis served as a war correspondent during World War II, the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Education and career

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Tregaskis attended the Pingry School in Elizabeth and the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey before going to college at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Prior to World War II he worked as a journalist for the '' Boston American Record'' newspaper. His family name is of Cornish origin. He was tall. Shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, Tregaskis volunteered as a combat correspondent representing the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

. In fact, Tregaskis was one of only two journalists on location at Guadalcanal. Assigned to cover the

war in the Pacific The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, Tregaskis spent part of August and most of September, 1942 reporting on Marines on Guadalcanal, a pivotal campaign in the war against Japan. He subsequently covered the war in Europe against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Italy. Tregaskis' most renowned book, ''Guadalcanal Diary'', recorded his experiences with the Marines on Guadalcanal. As the jacket of the book's first edition noted, "This is a new chapter in the story of the United States Marines. Because it was written by a crack newspaperman, who knew how to do his job. ... Until the author's departure in a

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bomber on September 26th, he ate, slept, and sweated with our front-line units. His story is the straight day-by-day account of what he himself saw or learned from eyewitnesses during those seven weeks." As a testimony to the power of Tregaskis' writing, ''Guadalcanal Diary'' is still considered essential reading by present-day U.S. military personnel. A modern edition is available with an introduction by

Mark Bowden Mark Robert Bowden (; born July 17, 1951) is an American journalist and writer. He is a national correspondent for ''The Atlantic''. He is best known for his book '' Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War'' (1999) about the 1993 U.S. military r ...

, author of '' Black Hawk Down''. The diary was later made into a film of the same title in 1943. He covered the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...

and the

Allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army ...

, recording his experiences in ''Invasion Diary''. He was seriously wounded by German mortar fire while serving with paratroops and US Rangers near Cassino where he was hospitalized for five months, temporarily lost his speech, and had two operations during which a plate was fixed in his skull.. Tregaskis later covered Cold War-era conflicts in China, Korea, and Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, Tregaskis reported on the growing conflict for a decade and accompanied U.S. Marines in command of local

ARVN The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suffe ...

troops recorded in his book ''Vietnam Diary''. Tregaskis' second wife, Moana, followed him to Vietnam, where she put her skills to work as an anthropologist, photographing and documenting the impact of war on soldiers and civilians alike. In 1964, the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

presented Tregaskis with the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for first-person reporting under hazardous circumstances. A

shrapnel Shrapnel may refer to: Military * Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use * Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material Popular culture * ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics) * ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam C ...

-gouged helmet worn by Tregaskis during World War II is on display at the

National Museum of the Marine Corps The National Museum of the Marine Corps is the historical museum of the United States Marine Corps. Located in Triangle, Virginia near MCB Quantico, the museum opened on November 10, 2006, and is now one of the top tourist attractions in the st ...

. Tregaskis was wearing the helmet in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1943 when a shell fragment pierced the helmet and his skull, nearly killing him. Tregaskis died at age 56, when he suffered a heart attack while swimming near his home in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and drowned. He was given a traditional Hawaiian funeral, and his ashes scattered off

Waikiki Beach Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district ...

. The Richard Tregaskis papers are on file in the American Heritage Center at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

in Laramie.

Bibliography

Tregaskis' books include: *'' Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943) *''Invasion Diary'' (1944) *''Stronger Than Fear'' (1945) (novel) *''Seven Leagues to Paradise'' (1951) *''Guadalcanal Diary'' (1955) (Revised, updated version) *''X-15 Diary: The Story Of America's First Space Ship'' (1961) *''Last Plane to Shanghai'' (1961) *''John F. Kennedy: War Hero'' (1962) *''John F. Kennedy and PT-109'' (children’s book, 1962) *''Vietnam Diary'' (1963) *''

China Bomb ''China Bomb'' is a near-future novel written by Richard Tregaskis. It follows the exploits of an elite U.S. attack force in their planning and efforts to thwart an attack by the Communist Chinese on the U.S. Seventh Fleet. On the island of Haina ...

'' (1967) (novel) *''Warrior King: Hawaii's Kamehameha the Great'' (1973) *''Southeast Asia: Building the Bases, The History of Construction in Southeast Asia'' (1975)

In popular culture

The

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

band Guadalcanal Diary took its name from Tregaskis' book.

References

External links

Richard Tregaskis papers
at the

American Heritage Center The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United ...

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tregaskis, Richard 1916 births 1973 deaths American male journalists American newspaper reporters and correspondents American military historians American war correspondents American war correspondents of World War II War correspondents of the Korean War American war correspondents of the Vietnam War Harvard University alumni Historians of the United States Peddie School alumni Pingry School alumni American people of the Korean War George Polk Award recipients Deaths by drowning in the United States Writers from Elizabeth, New Jersey Journalists from New Jersey Accidental deaths in Hawaii 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists Historians from New Jersey 20th-century American male writers