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The late King Sargent and I used to go head-to-head on this forum quite often over the World War II in the Pacific. King always espoused the position that the US should have just sit tight in the pacific after Midway and waited until the full strength of the US fleet came on line in late 1943 and early 1944 and then begin the War Plan Orange island-hopping advance across the central Pacific. King did not want the US to get involved in New Guinea or in the Solomon Islands which he felt were a total waste of lives and resources. King’s dislike for General MacArthur equaled his dislike for the British generals in the war in Europe. My arguments against King were that the action in the Solomon Islands destroyed the Japanese naval and air capabilities. Even though the naval and air losses were somewhat equal, the US had so much capability in production that they could afford the attrition while the Japanese could not. In a recent book (Islands of Destiny), John Prados supports my position. He sees Midway as a check to the Japanese momentum and their real defeat taking place between Guadalcanal and Rabaul.