Sixth Marine Division News and Updates
From Friday Night Lights to the Mosquito Bowl
by Buzz Bissinger, June 18, 2018
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Two years ago, when I was playing around on the Internet instead of working (sound familiar?), I came upon a story that would change my life. I am not sure why I stumbled upon it. Maybe fate and destiny insisted that I find it. It was about a game called The Mosquito Bowl. The more I read, the more intrigued I was, stunned really—the idea of a simulated football game between the 4th and 29th Regiments of the Sixth Division on Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve 1944. I am a student of football—the book I am best known for, Friday Night Lights, was about the impact of high school football in the town of Odessa, Texas. The Mosquito Bowl set a new record for improbability and serendipity. Both teams were stocked with great college players—three All-Americans, seven former captains. The game started as touch but soon evolved (or devolved) into tackle. (Come on, these were Marines!) At least 2,500 fellow Marines watched as the two teams pummeled the stuffing out of each other in what ended as a 0-0 tie. They wanted a rematch, but Alan Shapley, the commanding officer of the 4th Regiment, said no on the basis that if his men were going to unfortunately get hurt, it should be in battle. Which of course is what happened several months later in the battle of Okinawa—one of the most brutal and bloodiest campaigns in modern times, and despite several excellent books, virtually ignored in the annals of history. As proof, go to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico. It is superb and exhaustive, one of the finest museums I have ever been to, except for the depiction of the contribution of the Sixth Division at Okinawa. The battle of Iwo Jima takes up at least two full rooms, which is great. But the Marines at Okinawa takes up half a room if that. As an author and journalist for over 40 years, I am always on the hunt for what I think is a true and compelling narrative. When I read that at least twelve of the men who played in The Mosquito Bowl died in the service of our country and our freedoms, I believed I had one. Over time the idea began to take shape—to use the Mosquito Bowl and its aftermath as a metaphor, a symbol, a narrative spine. To write about football and heroism and honor and just going out and doing a job however terrifying. I am indebted to the Sixth Division, and I have a personal link I did not even know about until I was in the thick of the research: I knew my father was a Marine at Okinawa. I so regret that I never asked him about it before he died in 2001. I believe by that time – age 75 – he would have been willing to talk about it. In any case, it was with the help of the incomparable Jim Monbeck [6th Marine Division Assn. PR Officer] that I finally found out his designation: a rifleman in the 4th Marine Regiment |
 who was at Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve 1944. Knowing my father, he was at the Mosquito Bowl both joyously drunk on beer and gambling every cent he had on the 4th Regiment. I have secured a topflight publisher in HarperCollins, the best in the business. They have contracted to do the book not simply because of my credentials, which at the risk of bragging include a Pulitzer Prize and four bestselling books including Friday Night Lights (made into the film and television show of the same name). Because of the detailed proposal I submitted, they are as intrigued and excited as I am. I have been at work full-time since March and will spend as much time as I have to get it right. I want to emphasize that this is not simply a book about these men and what happened to them. It is tall order, but I want to capture what war is like from the perspective of those who served on the front lines — visceral, chaotic, terrifying...the peaks and lulls of combat. Not just moments of horror but moments of humor, because as one veteran told me, you could not survive without a sense of humor. I am interested in the lingo (my personal favorite so far is REMF—Rear Echelon You-Can-Guess-the-Rest). I will do anything and everything to make this work. If there is any single ingredient to my success, it is this passion and relentless obsession. I want to memorialize your voices so the battle of Okinawa is never forgotten. I want to see the day where the exhibit on Okinawa at the National Museum of the Marine Corps is twice as big as Iwo in keeping with history. I see this book as perhaps a final thank you to the exceptional efforts of the Sixth Division not only in combat but in overcoming what I believe to be the complete ineptitude of the Army command. I also owe it to my dad, the book being the best way I know of finally saying to him: Thank you for your service. ~Buzz |
On April 12, 2023, Buzz Bissinger gave a moving presentation about his new book and the legacy of the Sixth Marine Division at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. The talk was sponsored by the Veteran's Breakfast Club, an organization headquartered in Pittsburgh that encourages veterans to tell their stories so they will never be forgotten. Click on the link above to listen to Buzz's talk. It begins around the 20 minute mark. Green Award for The Mosquito Bowl The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation selected Buzz Bissinger for the 2023 General Wallace M. Green Jr. Award for his book, The Mosquito Bowl. This award is given to the author of an outstanding non-fiction book pertaining to Marine Corps history. Buzz was honored at the awards dinner on April 29, 2023 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Congratulations, Buzz! "Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights is an American classic. With The Mosquito Bowl, he is back with a true story even more colorful and profound. This book too is destined to become a classic. I devoured it.” — John Grisham “Here may be the most uniquely fascinating story ever written about World War II...a great story told with insight and humor and deep feeling. Do not pass this book by. It is magnificent.” — Mark Bowden, New York Times bestselling author of Black Hawk Down and Hue 1968 “For Buzz Bissinger, football is no metaphor; it is the way into one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Deeply researched, told with extraordinary empathy and verve, The Mosquito Bowl will break your heart.” — Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award winning author of In the Heart of the Sea and Travels with George |