Assigned to Company "A", 1st Raider Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, soon thereafter, Ahrens landed with that unit from USS Little (APD-4) at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, in the second assault wave on August 7, 1942.
That evening, Company "A" took positions for the night west of a cricket ground on the island, as part of the defensive line extending along the ridge.
Isolating the latter near the beachhead, the enemy concentrated their efforts on Company "A" in an attempt to sweep up the ridge toward the residency, a former British government building serving as a Raider battalion command post.
[1][2] In his Navy Cross citation, he was credited with killing at least three Japanese, including the attacking unit's senior officer, and aiding materially in stopping their infiltration.
[3] The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Edward Henry Ahrens (358161), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with Company A, FIRST Marine Raider Battalion, during the landing assault and seizure of enemy Japanese-held Tulagi Island, British Solomon Islands, on the night of 7–8 August 1942.