As a matter of fact, his MoH was the first awarded during WWII.
From Hawiireporter.com-
Ten months into World War II, Basilone found himself on the island of Guadalcanal, it was August of 1942. The Americans had secured an airstrip that was vital to the war effort. The Japanese and Americans were involved in one of the fiercest battles of World War II. The Japanese were determined to take the airfield and had assigned an entire Japanese division to the task of capturing the airfield.
Standing between them was only one Marine Battalion. The odds were certainly not in favor of the Americans. Basilone, who was in charge of 16 men, established a defensive position with 4 heavy machine guns in front of Henderson Field. It was October 24th when the Japanese launched a massive attack. The strategy Basilone had established for his unit was to let the Japanese advance to within 30 yards. And then to “let them have it.”
The plan worked. They fired at the first group of attacking Japanese, successfully wiping them out. This first charge was only the beginning of the overall enemy attack. They charged several more times. Eventually this attack took its toll. Basilone, while manning the left two machine guns, heard a loud explosion come from the right setup of the machine guns. Moments later, one soldier from the right side crawled over and informed him that both right guns were knocked out and that the crew was all dead or injured.
Basilone knew he had to get to the knocked out guns to see if he could get them working. The first gun was beyond repair, but the second gun had a chance. There was no light to aid in examining the damaged gun. Basilone would have to troubleshoot the problem in the dark, it was now that Basilone’s expertise with machine guns would pay off. He was able to feel the parts to find out what was causing the gun not to fire. Basilone quickly had the gun working again. As soon as it was back in action, the enemy charged. With the extra gun now working, Basilone and his unit easily beat back the Japanese attack. The attacks kept coming. Basilone told two of his remaining Marines to keep the heavy machine guns loaded. Basilone would roll to one machine gun and fire until it was empty, then roll over to the other one that had been loaded while he was firing the first one. At about 3 AM they were almost out of ammunition.
The Marines had stored ammunition about 100 yards away. However, this would be a difficult 100 yards. There were enemy troops on both the sides and behind their position. Basilone ran and crawled through the jungle. Bullets flew off over his head and grenades exploded around him. But he continued and made it to the ammo dump. Basilone threw six heavy cartridge belts over his soldier.
As he started back to his men, bullets were whizzing all around him again. But he made it back and soon he found another challenge. One machine gun had been smashed. Basilone took parts from another knocked out gun and fixed it quickly. Later in the night, the ammunition ran low again. Basilone would need to go for more, but this time it would be to another ammunition dump, 600 yards away.
Once again the Japanese threw everything at him, but he snaked through the grass well enough so that the Japanese could not find a clear target. Basilone made it back with the much needed ammunition which held off the enemy attacks. Finally the attacks ended around sunrise.
The daylight revealed a scene of utter carnage on the ground. Hundreds of bodies laid dead in front of the American positions, In fact, the entire Japanese regiment, around 3000 men, had been “annihilated." On this night of October 24th, and 25th the U.S. had turned the tide of the war and the previously undefeated Japanese were on their way to defeat. For his heroics that night Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor.