It's the last stanza from a doggrel written by a Marine on Guadalcanal called "The 'Canal". The rest describes why Guadalcanal was also called Starvation Island by the Marines who served there.
Any Marine who came thru that campaign deserves alot of respect. Most were not only malnourished but afflicted with malaria and other tropical illness's.
The battles fought on Guadalcanal are still Marine Corps legend. Edsons Ridge/Bloody Ridge, Alligator Creek, The Tenaru.
My uncle the oldest brother of my father was KIA on Tulagi Island across the channel from Guadalcanal on D+3. by a "dead" Japanese solider.