On the Pacific island of Guadalcanal, two Marine Corps regiments enjoyed a rare respite from second world war in December 1944. On Christmas Eve, the 4th and 29th regiments squared off in a football game nicknamed the Mosquito Bowl. This was no pick-up game. The teams included some of the top college football talent in the US, their rosters featuring All-Americans, captains from big-name schools and future NFL players or draftees. Tragically, of the 65 players in the game, 15 would die the following year, during the war’s deadliest battle: Okinawa. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Buzz Bissinger brings this wartime narrative back to public attention through his new book, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II.
“I think it was the last time these guys were allowed to be boys, allowed to do something they loved,” Bissinger says. “For three hours – not that long – they got away from training and combat and what might happen at Okinawa. It was joy, pure joy, then back to training.”
