My grandpa left me a very old acoustic guitar from WWII and the interesting thing about it is that on the back it has the names and or nicknames of all the guys in his company, 108 names in all. It's a very cool item and I want to know more about it. On the back it says "New Zealand" then "Guadalcanal" then it reads "DIV. TRANS. CO. 3RD. MAR. DIV. F.M.F." What does that all mean? I know Guadalcanal is a battle but that's about it. I can provide pictures if needed. I would also love to know I there is any information on his division. There is some maybe significant names on the guitar including "Capt. Good Joe Harrod" "Capt. Horseshoe Bloch" "Lt. Jolly Henry" "Capt. Horrible Horgan" and "Mar. Gunner Groucho Peterson" Any information would be awesome! Thanks!
The Third Marine Division was activated in California, was sent to Auckland New Zealand, then sent to Guadalcanal, in May 1943. The famous battle of Guadalcanal was over by the time the Third Division arrived, but there they went through additional training.
The Third Marine Division fought in three battles; Bougainville, Guam and the famous battle of Iwo Jima. There are several websites about the Third Marine Division, but since the unit also fought in the Vietnam war, for a much longer period of time than the three World War II battles, a quick glance at these web-sites show they look more at the Vietnam war than the war your grand father fought in.