Hill 84
(King Solomon Hotel)

Hill 84 is now the site of the King Solomon Hotel. On the 27 September 1942, Marines from the 7th Marines / 1st Battalion companies A, B and D under Major Otho Rogers, landed from nine landing craft just west of Point Cruz at 13:00. Rogers' Marines pushed inland and occupied a ridge, called Hill 84, about 600 yards (550 m) from the landing area. Japanese Colonel Oka, recognizing the seriousness of this landing, ordered his forces to close on Rogers' Marines from both the west and east.

Soon after occupying the ridge, Rogers' men came under heavy fire from two directions from Oka's forces. Major Rogers was hit by a mortar shell that blew him in half, killing him instantly. Captain Charles Kelley, commander of one of the companies, took command and deployed the Marines in a perimeter defense around the ridge to fight back. The Marines on Hill 84 were without radio communication and thus could not call for help. The Marines improvised by using white undershirts to spell out the word "H-E-L-P" on the ridge. An Air ForceSBD Dauntless supporting the operation spotted the undershirt message and relayed the message by radio.

Oka's troops had moved into position to completely cut-off the Marines on Hill 84 from the coast. USS Monssen, began to blast a path between the ridge and the beach. After about 30 minutes of firing by the destroyer, the way was clear for the Marines to escape to the beach. Despite taking some casualties from their own artillery fire, most of the Marines made it to the beach near Point Cruz by 16:30. Oka's troops put heavy fire on the Marines at the beach in effort to keep them from successfully evacuating, and the U.S. Coast Guard crews manning the U.S. landing craft responded with their own heavy fire to cover the Marines' withdrawal. Under fire, the Marines boarded the landing craft and successfully returned to the Lunga perimeter, ending the action.