The Mosquito Bowl: The lesser-known Christmas football game
On Christmas Eve 1944, Marines on Guadalcanal played the Mosquito Bowl. Within months, 15 of the 65 players were dead. Here’s the real story behind the Netflix film.
Image: US Marines competed in a famous American football match prior to the deadly Battle of Okinawa | Public Domain
On Christmas Eve 1944, more than a thousand Marines gathered on a Guadalcanal field to watch an American football game. Within months, 15 of the players would be dead.
The story of the Mosquito Bowl is one of those human moments that cut through the violence and tragedy of war, though it does come with a fair share of tragedy after the event. Peter Berg is set to explore the story in his upcoming Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl, based on Buzz Bissinger’s 2022 book of the same name. The film stars Bill Skarsgård, Tom Francis, Nicholas Galitzine and Ray Nicholson, and arrives on Netflix on 25th November.
Sky HISTORY looks at the game that brought together Marines on Guadalcanal just months before one of the deadliest battles of the Pacific.
US Marines in WWII
During World War II, the Marines were instrumental in the Pacific War. The conflict spread across various islands within a broad geographic area, and the Marines primarily launched sea-based attacks on land. At the time of the Mosquito Bowl, the Marines in question were stationed on Guadalcanal one of the Solomon Islands, where the US had launched its first major ground assault of the Pacific War in 1942.
The 6th Marine Division
In December 1944, members of the 6th Marine Division were preparing for what would become a bloody invasion of Okinawa while they were on Guadalcanal. Located within the Guadalcanal Province of the Solomon Islands, northeast of Australia, Guadalcanal made for a particularly humid and uncomfortable training ground. The terrain was known for its swampiness, but also for its insect infestations, including mosquitoes.
Training was also tough due to the taxing conditions. However, on Christmas Eve 1944, two regiments from the 6th Marine Division, the 4th and the 29th, were given the go-ahead by higher-ups to organise an American football game. This game went on to be known as the Mosquito Bowl, partially because of the number of mosquitoes on the island.
What was the Mosquito Bowl?
Many of the Marines within the 6th Division were not just casual football fans. Some of them had been well on their way to the big league. A great deal of them were either all-conference or All-American collegiate players. Some had already been drafted into the NFL, while others went on to play in the professional league after the war.
The game was properly organised and given a designated regulation-size field to play on. There were goal posts, a marching band, a programme with information on the player roster and even a group of over a thousand spectators. The game was intense, as the two-hand touch rule was not in play, meaning that physical contact was allowed. Eventually, the match ended in a nil-nil tie.
The Battle of Okinawa
In the spring of 1945, several months after the Mosquito Bowl, the 6th Division was part of the brutal 82-day Battle of Okinawa. Lasting from 1st April to 22nd June, the battle saw US forces storm the island of Okinawa, a prefecture of Japan. The 6th Marine Division alone numbered roughly 24,000 men.
Of the 65 Marines who played in the Mosquito Bowl, 15 were killed during the battle. More than 240,000 people are estimated to have died in total, including many Okinawan civilians, and the US forces suffered around 49,000 casualties.
The Mosquito Bowl was more than just a football game to keep the Marines entertained during their training. It was the last chance for the young men of the 6th Division to play the game that they loved. It was a moment of respite in a war that saw millions of deaths. It was a chance to embrace their passion and to imagine what the future may have been.
The 15 players in the Mosquito Bowl who lost their lives would not see that future, among them Dave Schreiner and Tony Butkovich, who are played by Tom Francis and Ray Nicholson in the film. Their love of football and their sporting prowess have become a story of humanity in one of the darkest moments in human history.
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