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WAKE
The Story ofa Battle
Irving Werstein
Maps by Ava Morgan
In December, 1941, only hours after
they struck at Pe...
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i
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WAKE The Story of a Battle Irving
Werstein
Maps by Ava Morgan
In December, 1941, only hours after
they struck at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked the United States outpost on
Wake
Atoll.
gagement
For two weeks
of the Pacific
this first en-
war continued,
shocking the American people into a realization of
what
that
the heroism of the fight
war was
to
be and
men who were
to
it.
The gallant defense of Wake was doomed to failure. The little garrison of Marines was outnumbered and ill equipped. But from December 8 to De-
cember 22 they fought
off
a series of
damage on the Japanese and giving up only
attacks, inflicting great
startled
when
the last American plane had been
down and the defenders overwhelmed by powerful enemy landings.
forced
(Continued on back
flap)
Jacket by Arthur Shilstone
WAKE THE STORY OF A BATTLE
I»
The Story of a Battle
IRVING WERSTEIN MAPS BY AVA MORGAN
by •'
l\\
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY NEW YORK
BY THE
AUTHOR
THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY THE BATTLE OF AACHEN
GUADALCANAL
WAKE
The Story
Copyright
of a Battle
© 1964 by Irving Werstein
All rights reserved.
No
part of this book
may
be reproduced in any form, except by a reviewer, without the permission of the publisher.
Designed by Ava Morgan
Manufactured in the United States of America by the Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., Binghamton, New York Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 64-20693
FIRST PRINTING
f
'
/
u
This book
Captain
Bill
'
is
dedicated to
Reid, his wife, Nan, and
their three sons: Mitchell, Martin,
B318
and Nigel.
Author’s Note
This book deals with a battle fought far out in the Central Pacific at the very outset of American participation in of
World War
II.
The
an obscure place called
geogra phy gave
Wake
military
it
and young men were
battle
and
was
Atoll.
for possession
An
accident of
strategic importance,
killed fighting there in
December,
1941.
A
gallant
band
of
American Marines, swashbuckling
Leathernecks, lived up to the traditions of the Corps
by defending Wake
for 15 days against insuperable
odds.
They fought that fateful
alone, without help or reinforcement. In
December, when the Japanese struck
at
Pearl Harbor to destroy the battleships of the United States Pacific Fleet, confusion
the United States
and ineptness crippled
Navy more than had
the Japanese
bombs.
Only a handful
of
American
fighting
men were
pre-
pared to face the wily enemy. The United States Marines
on
Wake were
in the forefront.
There was noth-
ing extraordinary about the garrison there;
youths
who had
some were
joined the Marine Corps for advenvii
author’s note
Vlll
in
were veteran Leathernecks with service
others
ture;
many
places around the world.
They were not knights
men ready
for anything; they
some had
cities;
in shining
little
armor but brash
came from farms and
education, others were college
and university graduates. They were grocery mechanics, bank
tellers,
shoremen, and teen-agers
men
job.
These
mon
bond: their pride
truck drivers, teachers, long-
who had
of divergent in
clerks,
never held a steady
backgrounds had a com-
being Marines.
Perhaps, to outsiders, that pride seemed overween-
Wake
But on
ing.
— and
that
followed during the
lived
up
fully
endowed
This
acted on
—
prowess with which they had so boast-
to the
is
many terrible battles Pacific War the Marines
in the
themselves.
a re-creation of the 15-day-long
Wake Atoll from December 8 to 23,
drama en1941. I had
no intention of making war glorious or glamorous.
was
who
my
purpose to
fought
curately,
it.
I
tell
have
and not
to
For a book such
many
of the
I
men
tried to portray the Japanese ac-
malign or caricature them. as this one, I
complex and
up the jigsaw pieces thing was as
the story of a battle and the
It
have not included
intricate details that
from
that, every-
in that
predoomed
of a battle. Aside
have recorded
it
make
struggle of the Marines.
What happened
at
Wake, coming on the
heels of
AUTHORS NOTE Pearl Harbor, shocked the American people.
War had
the Civil
the
come
since
so close to total
Fortunately, Americans have the quality of
disaster.
getting
the nation
Not
ix
up
the floor with both
off
enemy learned during almost
swinging
fists
—
as
four years of unrelent-
ing warfare.
In preparing this book
from many people.
had advice and guidance
I
Among them
were:
Lieutenant
Colonel Herbert Baine, Marine Corps Public Information Office,
New
the staff of the J.
York City; Dr. James
New-York
Tarrant, Lieutenant
J.
man,
New
J.
Heslin and
Historical Society Library;
USNR
Leon Weid-
(Ret.);
York Public Library; the
staff of
New
the
York Newspaper Library; Commander D. D. Overby, Office of Information,
Department
of the
Navy; and
John Augustin, United States Information Agency. Miss
Clemence Haefelfinger and Miss Althea
Lister of
Pan
American Airways provided interesting material about the Philippine Clipper on I
must
also
for helping
thank
my
Wake
Island.
agent, Miss
smooth out many rough
Candida Donadio, spots.
My
wife was
a stanch ally, always ready with a sympathetic ear.
young son waited ticing
me
until after
into fun
My
working hours before en-
and games. Mrs. Lee Levin, who
typed the manuscript, deserves special thanks for her
promptness and
efficiency. I.
W.
Contents
1
.
“
Soon the glorious hour ...”
1
2.
“I’m so happy you’re in the Pacific”
3.
“This
4.
“Their wheels are dropping
5.
“I’m an American
6.
“ I’ll tell
7.
“We’re heading for Wake!”
52
8.
“Our
59
9.
“Do you
10.
no
is
28
drill”
,
isn’t
off!”
that enough?”
you when I’m hurt!”
lives
12
belong to the Mikado!”
think this
a ball
is
game?”
34
40 45
65
“I’m praying you idiot!”
76
“The Yankees are a worthy foe”
84
,
11.
12. “All that
can be done
is
being done!”
88
13.
“The enemy
14.
“This
15.
“Do you mean
16.
“What’s wrong with those men?”
126
Brief Glossary of Military Abbreviations
137
is
is
on the island”
as far as it.
we
go!”
Major?”
United States and Japanese Casualties on
Types of Aircraft Used
at
Wake
98 106 117
Wake 138 140
Suggested Reading
141
Index
142
MAP OF THE
PACIFIC
AND FAR EAST BEFORE DECEMBER 7 1941 ,
.
“Soon
the glorious
hour ...”
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the
fifty-seven-year-old
Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, Imperial Japanese Navy, frowned at a
map of the Central
Pacific Area,
spread out on a large table in a conference room of his
Tokyo Headquarters. Next
to
him stood stocky
year-old Vice Admiral Nariyoshi Inouye,
fifty- two-
Commander,
Fourth Fleet, Imperial Japanese Navy, based
at
Truk
in the Caroline Islands.
Bespectacled, shaven-headed Inouye could scarcely
conceal his satisfaction at this meeting with Yamamoto. It
meant the Fourth Fleet chief had not been overlooked
by the High Command. Even though he held
flag rank,
1
“soon the glorious hour
2
Inouye
The
felt his
.
.
present assignment to be an inferior one.
bobtail assortment of old cruisers, aging destroyers,
venerable submarines, and obsolescent land-based craft of the
Fourth Fleet made
far
it
air-
from the Imperial
Navy’s prize command.
But any discontent that Inouye had harbored disappeared that bleak morning in November, 1941, as he
map
squinted at the spot on the
indicated
by Admiral
Yamamoto. The Imperial Navy’s commander pointed American-held islands
Wake
Atoll,
which consisted
—Wake, Peale, and Wilkes —
tral Pacific,
some 1,000 miles west
to
of three
far out in the
Cen-
of U. S. -owned
Mid-
way
Island and 1,300 miles east of American
Guam.
Tiny
Wake
north-
ern to
its
stretched only 13,500 yards from
southern
rising out of the
tip.
But
this
its
blob of volcanic land
ocean was an important link in a pro-
jected chain of U.
S.
naval and
the Central Pacific. Should
air
bases meant to girdle
war break out between the
United States and Japan, Wake’s role would become vital. It
outflanked major Japanese bases in the Marshall
and Gilbert
islands.
In 1941, lonely
Wake
Atoll
was receiving unprece-
dented attention from Japanese
militarists,
for
war
clouds had gathered over the Pacific. Japan’s aggressive policies
were making a showdown with the United
come sooner or later. A Japanese- American war had been made
States
bound
to
inevitable
“soon the glorious hour ...”
when
Army and Navy chiefs Japanese credo known as Hakko
militant Imperial
an ancient
3
revived
Ichiu
—
roughly translated as “bringing the eight corners of the
world under one roof’
and the
Some Japanese
Pacific.
and dreamed
—or Japan’s domination of Asia
of global rule
nationalists
went further
by Nippon.
Hakko Ichiu was
After being dormant for centuries,
reborn in 1921; that year a Japanese fascist Kita wrote a book that was the blueprint
Era
’
in Japan. Kita’s ideology,
known
as
named Ikki for a “New
Kodo-Ha, pre-
sented an Oriental version of Hitlerism.
Among other
things,
he proposed a regime that would
practice suppression of political criticism, abolish representative government, sion for Japan.
Army
officers
and carry out
Kodo-Ha gained
when
expan-
wide following among
Kita called for “freeing” 700 million
Japanese “blood brothers” pines,
a
territorial
in India,
China, the Philip-
and European Asiatic colonies where “the white
devils are grinding our
Kodo-Ha
kinsmen into the dust.”
fanatics rose to political
power
in
Japan by
eliminating the opposition through terror and assassina-
Once Kodo-Ha supporters held high office, Japan embarked on a series of military adventures. The first was launched in September, 1931, when the Imperial tions.
Army marched
into
Manchuria on a trumped-up excuse.
The Mikado’s soldiers soon conquered which they renamed Manchukuo, “Dove
all
Manchuria,
of Peace”
—for
“soon the glorious hour
4
men who had
the
nese control of the Orient
need
to
.
led the unprovoked invasion
To them, peace was
themselves as peacemakers.
eous force”
.” .
—a
rule gained
—should Nippon’s Oriental
‘
by
saw
Japa‘right-
blood brothers”
be convinced of the advantages awaiting them
under the “benevolent protection” of the Emperor Hirohito.
The next rung on
Japan’s “ladder to peace”
was the
invasion of northern China in 1933. This started a long
and
bitter struggle filled
with dangerous international
one of which brought Japan and the United
incidents,
States to the brink of war. In
planes deliberately
USS
boat, the ful
December, 1937, Japanese
bombed and sank an American gun-
Panaij , on the Yangtze River. It took
skill-
diplomacy, profound Nipponese apologies, and steep
reparations to preserve a tenuous peace in the Pacific for a
By
few more
years.
1941, despite Chinese resistance, Japan controlled
most of China’s coastal areas and such important as its
Nanking and Shanghai. World War third year,
had not yet spread
II,
cities
then entering
to the Pacific, but
threatened to do so at any moment. Sorely in need of
and other materials tempted laya,
to spread
the
for a full-scale
oil
war, Japan was
southward and seize Sumatra, Ma-
Netherlands East Indies, the
Philippines,
Borneo, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Australia, Zealand, and the South Seas islands, with natural resources of the Pacific.
all
New
the vast
“soon the glorious hour ...”
Back and
in 1937,
Italy in
5
Japan had signed a pact with Germany
which she pledged
to help
Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini annihilate so-called decadent democracies
communism. The prime
targets
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis were the United
States,
and
of the
‘'exterminate'’
Great Britain, and Soviet Russia. Ironically, for the purposes of the pact, Hitler declared the Japanese “racially
pure” and deemed them “honorary Aryans,” although he
had once
classified the
yellow race as “mongrels.”
Shortly after signing the pact with the Nazis and the Fascists, the
Japanese attempted a perilous venture: an
invasion of Soviet Siberia from sians
met the Imperial Army
Manchukuo. The Rus-
at the
border and trounced
the Mikado’s warriors in a series of pitched battles.
After this setback, Japan was
Russia again. She turned
down
Hitler early in 1941 to declare
wary
of clashing with
a suggestion
made by
war against the Soviet
Union. The Fiihrer’s request puzzled the Japanese.
had the Germans asked them Hitler himself
to fight the Russians
Why when
had signed a nonaggression pact with
them? That mystery was cleared up by mid-1941. In June, Hitler astounded the world prise attack tion,
on Russia. This created a paradoxical
which saw the Russian
become an
ally of
ston Churchill,
A
by springing a savage dictator,
Josef
sur-
situaStalin,
England, whose Prime Minister, Win-
was one
of Soviet Russia’s archcritics.
cartoon of the day depicted Stalin and Churchill
“soon the glorious hour
6
.
.
singing the chorus of a popular song: “You
you;
I
didn’t
As that
want
to
do
it
.
made me love
.
fateful year rolled on, Hitler’s armies fought
approaching Russian winter; and
in the arctic cold of
the lesser Axis partner, Italy’s Duce, Benito Mussolini, sent his Blackshirt Legions across the hot sands of North
Africa toward the Suez Canal.
An
early total victory for
the Axis partners seemed imminent. tell
that Hitler’s
No man
Wehrmacht (Army) was
could fore-
slated to
disaster in Russia or that Mussolini’s grandiose
meet
dreams
would end ignominiously.
The
jealous Japanese
for Mussolini
and
saw only immediate triumphs
Hitler, not future catastrophe.
Kodo-Ha men seethed because
The
was being
the world
“pulled together” under the Italo-German roof; Occidentals, not Orientals,
were achieving Hakko
proved too unpalatable for the Kodo-Ha
Ichiu. This
fanatics,
whose
leader was the Premier of Japan, General Hideki Tojo.
Something had
supremacy
to
in Asia
be done very soon
and the
before Hitler’s shadow
Pacific
fell
to
make Japanese
an accomplished fact
across the Pacific as
it
had
over the Atlantic. Tojo began making plans without consulting his Axis cohorts.
preserve, barred to
and
all
The
Pacific
poachers
was
to
be a Japanese
—including
Germany
Italy.
The prime deterrent to To jo’s ambitions in the Pacific was the U. S. Navy, which was big and powerful al-
“soon the glorious hour ...”
7
though the Imperial Supreme
War
with disdain. In
warmongers were scorn-
ful of
fact, Japan’s
Council regarded
everything American. They derided the “despi-
cable” U.
S.
Army and
scoffed at the
the “ridiculous” U.
cares only for soft living, luxuries
America there
all
not a man,
exists
knows the meaning try,”
Navy and
S.
American people.
“The mercenary Yankee has no stomach
He
it
for war.
and money.
woman
.
.
.
... In
or child
who
of patriotism or sacrifice for coun-
wrote a Japanese journalist in 1941.
Convinced that the United States could be speedily defeated, Tojo and his followers asked
war against America. While
hito to give his blessings for
the
Mikado did not
ica,
neither did he forbid
overtly consent to the it.
The “Son
a discreet silence as his generals
how
of
war on AmerHeaven” kept
and admirals plotted
best to crush the Yankees.
Somehow, the and early
results of their discussions leaked out,
in 1941 the U. S.
Joseph C. Grew, talk
Emperor Hiro-
made
to Japan,
a diary entry: “There
around Tokyo to the
case of
Ambassador
a lot of
effect that the Japanese, in
war with America, are planning
to
go
a surprise mass air attack at Pearl Harbor. ... I
is
Mr.
all
Of
out in course,
informed our government.” (
Mr. Grew’s prophetic and accurate information was
disregarded by U. solutely
S.
no credence
Naval Intelligence. in
“We
place ab-
such an absurd rumor,” Chief
—
)
“soon the glorious hour
8 of
.
.
Naval Operations [CNO] Admiral Harold R. Stark
wrote Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander-inChief, Pacific Fleet
[CINCPAC], with headquarters
at
Pearl Harbor.)
Time ran
swiftly in 1941.
Council completed
its
The Imperial Supreme War
master plan for the Pacific
War
a bold scheme of conquest with four main points: 1.
zon, to
Simultaneous landings of amphibious forces in Lu-
Guam,
the
Malay Peninsula, and Hong Kong.
be preceded by 2.
All
air attacks.
Carrier air attack on the U.
S.
Pacific Fleet at Pearl
Harbor.
by the
Rapid exploitation of
initial
successes
zure of Manila, Mindanao,
Wake
Atoll, the Bismarcks,
3.
sei-
Bangkok, and Singapore. 4.
Occupation of the Dutch East Indies and continua-
tion of the
war with China.
(The Japanese intended
war by embroiling Great as well as the
United
to enlarge the scope of the
Britain
and the Netherlands
States.
The Imperial Supreme War Council did not unanimously support this project. The chief objector was Admiral Yamamoto, one of the Council’s most influential members. trial
of
He
vainly pointed out the tremendous indus-
potential of the United States
manpower.
conflict,
If
and
its
huge reserve
Japan were to be victorious in such a
he warned, the victory had to be
won
swiftly.
THE JAPANESE PLAN OF CONQUEST
“soon the glorious hour
10
.
.
In a drawn-out struggle, the odds were
all
with the
Americans. “If I
am told
run wild I
.
.
to fight regardless of
for the first six
.
consequence,
months or a year
can make no predictions ...
I
.
.
shall .
but
have no confidence for
the second and third years ... of such a war,’’
moto reputedly
I
Yama-
told a former high Japanese cabinet
minister.
Despite Yamamoto’s opposition, the Council approved the four-point
ing the
was
left
first
war
week
plan, in
which was
to
be launched dur-
December, 1941. The exact date
open and designated
as
X-Day.
Although displeased by the Council’s decision, Admiral
Yamamoto, an
officer
who knew how
to take as
well as give orders, energetically prepared for X-Day.
By
late
ers to
November he sent for individual fleet commandbrief them on their X-Day roles. Vice Admiral
Chuichi
Nagumo was awarded
the plum:
command
of
the First Air Fleet, the carrier force attacking Pearl Harbor.
Second
billing
came
to
Vice Admiral Inouye.
Yamamoto personally gave the Fourth Fleet chief his orders: “On X-Day, you will seize Guam and attack
Wake
Atoll
by
air.
When
Wake’s planes and defense
guns have been knocked out, you will despatch an amphibious force to capture
it
and establish an
air
and sea
base on the Atoll.”
Inouye permitted himself a
slight smile.
He bowed
“soon the glorious hour ...” stiffly.
much miral.
thank the Emperor and you for putting so
“I
trust
“That
is
and confidence
why you were
Do you
“Only one,
will
in
me.
I
chosen for
shall not fail.” this mission,
Ad-
have any questions?” Yamamoto asked. sir.
When
“That you will learn
hour
11
is
in
X-Day?” good time. Soon the glorious
come. Very soon,” Yamamoto said and grinned
at Inouye.
”
“Fm so happy you’re
in the Pacific
Nobody had paid much centuries after
its
notice to
Wake
Atoll for several
accidental discovery in 1568
Spanish explorer Alvaro de
by the
Mendana who, while roam-
ing the Pacific, put in there with two ships for fresh
water and food.
Mendana found
neither water nor food and left at
once after noting that
.
.
the land swarms with a
strange type of rat that runs about on
and there are many birds
He named
12
hind legs
.
.
.
of all sorts.”
the unprepossessing place San Francisco,
but failed to note soon
its
it
lost in oblivion,
on
his charts.
Mendana’s find was
and remained so
for
more than 200
“i’m so
happy you’re
years. In 1796, a British
liam Henry
,
in
the pacific”
13
merchantman, the Prince Wil-
touched at the
The
atoll.
ship’s skipper,
Captain William Wake, went ashore for a closer look
at
the islands he had sighted from afar.
Immodestly naming the himself, Captain
added the
Wake
atoll to his
atoll
and
largest island for
its
hauled anchor and departed.
map, showing
mass made up of three separate
as a
it
islands,
He
V-shaped
each covered
with dense, low brush and surrounded by coral reefs that ran at a distance varying from 30 to 1,100 yards offshore.
Capt.
Wake
wrote:
.
the white sand beaches like a is
hundred cannon.
a fifty-yard
lagoon
...
the sea roars continually on
.
.
the surf
is
loud,
The only entry
wide gap between two
to the lagoon
islands.
.
.
.
The
of a boat.”
Wake lay Commodore
forgotten until
December
Charles Wilkes, U.
S.
20, 1840,
atoll.
when
Navy, on an oceano-
graphic expedition in the Pacific, surveyed and the
booming
studded with coral heads that can rip the bot-
is
tom out
.
.
mapped
In his party was Titian Peale, a government
who explored the land area and the waters around Wake. One of the smaller islands was named in his honor. The third island became known as Wilkes, for naturalist,
the expedition’s commander.
Nearly 60 years passed before the United States took formal possession of the three islands.
On
January
17,
14
“i’m so
happy you’re in the pacific”
Commander
1899,
E.
D. Taussig arrived
aboard the gunboat USS Bennington. ashore, raised
and lowered an American
and proclaimed
lute,
He
it
to
Wake
off
sent a boat
a sa-
flag, fired
be United States
territory.
The decades marched by and Wake slumbered. No human lived there. The surf pounding on the coral reef was heard only by the innumerable birds whose cries and screeches echoed across the boundless waters.
Wake remained bosun
a sanctuary for teal, frigate birds,
birds, gooneys,
and a species known
as the flight-
The only other living creatures there were the which swarmed by the thousands through the thick
less rail. rats,
underbrush. Occasionally, a ship sent a boat to inspect the isolated
Once in a while, Japanese fishermen cast their near Wake; from time to time, hunters would drop
islands.
nets
off to it
shoot birds and collect feathers. But on the whole,
was unchanged by the passing
years.
Then, time and progress caught up with Wake. After
World War
I,
the airplane
came
of military
and com-
mercial age. Naval aircraft carriers, once regarded as impractical gadgets by mossback admirals and
partment bureaucrats, became Fleet.
Carrier-borne
Navy De-
vital parts of the
bombing,
torpedo
and
U.
S.
fighter
planes were developed. Tactics were created to use such aircraft as offensive
weapons. The
sounded the death knell of
rise of
naval
traditional navies.
air
power
happy you’re
“i’m so
The U.
to
15
for air bases
during the early 1930’s as Japanese aggres-
mounted.
value. It
the pacific”
Navy began an anxious search
S.
in the Pacific
sions
in
Wake
was an
Atoll suddenly
assumed
strategic
ideal “fixed aircraft carrier’’ according
one high-ranking naval
officer.
Considerable interest
arose in converting that remote outpost into an ad-
vanced base for naval patrol planes and bombers. “Properly fortified,
Wake
in case of war,”
will
little
heed
to the Navy’s
demands,
also included appropriations for putting
base on distant
But
at Japan’s throat
one admiral declared. But an economy-
minded Congress paid which
be a dagger
as
an
air
Guam.
Congress shuffled papers and took no action
about either
Wake
or
Guam, Pan American Airways
decided, in 1935, to inaugurate a transpacific service
using huge Martin- 130 (Clipper) seaplanes.
The
pro-
posed route was to run between San Francisco and Manila, with overnight stops at Honolulu, Midway,
Wake, and Guam. Capable
of carrying thirty passengers
plus a five-man crew, the Clippers were to begin weekly
San Francisco-Manila
A
flights in
November, 1936.
Pan American construction crew went
to
Wake
in
the spring of 1935 and built a weather station, radio transmitter, hotel,
and seaplane ramp on the southern
shore of Peale Island, where the lagoon was suitable for
landing the Clippers.
Once the
flights started,
Wake no
longer slumbered
)
“iM SO HAPPY YOU’RE
16
in the sun, rain,
and
IN
sea.
THE PACIFIC”
Twice every week the big
planes arrived for refueling and an overnight stay.
Pan American
station personnel set out a vegetable gar-
den and a catchment shared
Wake
The
for rainwater.
Human
with the birds and the
beings
now
rats.
Once the Clippers began to use Wake, the Navy renewed its clamor for an advanced air base there. In 1938, Rear Admiral A.
J.
Hepburn, USN, conducted an inves-
tigation as to the suitability of this proposal. His report
recommended program
a 7.5-million-dollar, 3-year development
for the atoll with proper naval installations
Peale, Wilkes,
meant the
and Wake
entire atoll
islands. (In his report,
and included
all
on
Wake
three islands. In-
dividual islands were separately named.
Hepburn suggested building as well.
He
also felt that
facilities for
Guam
submarines
should be similarly im-
proved. Although his report had been issued in 1938,
took 2 years for Congress to move.
were funds appropriated
—not
And
it
not until 1940
7.5 million dollars but
HowGuam.
20 million dollars for the construction on Wake. ever, Congress refused to allot
“We
can’t toss public funds
any money around
for
like confetti.
Peo-
know about Wake because the Clippers land there, but who ever heard of Guam?” a Midwestern Congressman said. “Anyway, we can’t make the Japanese mad by building a base on Guam, right in their front yard ple
“i’m so
happy you’re in the pacific”
During 1940, Contractors civilian
ers,
A
Naval Bases,
company, was awarded the contract
installations civilian
Pacific
17 Inc., a
for building
on Wake. By January, 1941, some 1,100
workers were unloading bulldozers, road scrap-
and digging and dredging equipment. crude camp
(Camp
No. 1) was built on
Wake
Islands southern coast to house the civilians. (Later,
Camp
No.
2,
a
more elaborate
northern tip of Wake Island;
it
affair,
was erected on the
included a post exchange,
a well-equipped hospital, comfortable barracks, and a
movie theater.) Before long, the civilians under a dynamic engineer,
Nathan Dan Teters, had bulldozed an cock Point on
Wake
Island.
airstrip
near Pea-
Thirty-foot- wide
coral-
topped roads were cut through. The channel between
Wake and
Wilkes islands was dredged and the lagoon
cleared of coral heads.
Work
and concrete buildings.
On Peale
also started
on
steel, glass,
Island a naval hospital,
marine barracks, transmitter, seaplane ramps, and control
towers were started. Over on Wilkes Island, the only
construction then contemplated was a
manent
of per-
fuel storage tanks.
All this
At
number
American
activity aroused Japanese curiosity.
intervals, Imperial
Navy observation
planes appeared
over Wake, leisurely flying back and forth snapping aerial
photographs; the type and extent of Yankee prep-
arations
were no secret
to the Japanese
High Command.
happy you’re in the pacific”
“i’m so
18
On
April 18, 1941, barely 2
months
after
he had been
CINCPAC, Admiral Kimmel wrote to AdStark, CNO, from Pearl Harbor. Kimmel stressed
appointed miral
Wake’s key position Urging that the
atoll
in the event of
war
in the Pacific.
be strongly defended with troops,
guns and planes, he stated: .
it
to recapture
.
Wake
if
the Japanese should seize
would require opera-
in the early period of hostilities
tions of
some magnitude. Since the Japanese 4th Fleet
includes transports and troops operations,
it
.
.
suited for landing
appears not unlikely that one of the
operations of the Japanese
Wake
.
may be
initial
directed against
” .
.
Kimmel concluded by requesting
substantial
that
units of the 1st Defense Battalion, U. S. Marines, then at Pearl PI arbor,
be sent to
Wake
not later than June
1,
1941.
The defense
battalion
Marine Corps, conceived
was a new development in 1939, for holding
ing an atoll such as Wake. At full strength of 43 officers
and 909 men
to
man
in the
and secur-
it
consisted
three 5-inch semi-
mobile coastal batteries each with two guns; four 3-inch antiaircraft
(AA)
batteries of four guns apiece with
range finders, computers, and fire-control directors; a radar and searchlight unit; forty-eight .50-caliber machine guns for antiaircraft; and forty-eight .30-caliber
machine guns
for
beach defense. Individual Marines
“i’m so
were armed with
happy you’re
in
the pacific”
’03 Springfield rifles;
War
khaki uniforms and World
I
19
they wore light
type steel helmets and
had sidearms and hand grenades. In the light of growing tensions between the United States
and Japan, even the hidebound Navy Depart-
ment could not ignore Kimmel’s prophetic warning. It took time for the Navy’s ponderous administrative machinery to get into motion, and 1 that
it
6 officers and 173 enlisted
was not
men
until
August
of the 1st
Marine
Defense Battalion tramped aboard the transport USS Regulus
at Pearl
Harbor. They landed at
Wake on Au-
gust 19 after an uneventful voyage, and started to dig
gun emplacements under the direction A.
Holm, who commanded
On October
15,
this
Major James
P.
advance
to circumstances there
weapons. Only one 3-inch
detail.
Devereux arrived with
the battalion’s weapons, equipment, and
Due
Major Lewis
of
more Marines.
was a dearth
of
men and
A A battery had complete fire-
control equipment.
The radar was
lacking and Devereux brought only
twenty-four .50-caliber ticipated forty-eight.
AA
machine guns, not the an-
Even when another batch
of
Ma-
November 2, the garrison’s Marine personnel numbered about 400 enlisted men and officers. rines
arrived on
This was a prime example of “too
little,
malady then infecting the democracies. were
all
kinds of shortages.
too late,” the
On Wake,
there
The Marines needed more
)
“iM SO HAPPY YOU’RE
20
food, weapons,
IN
THE PACIFIC”
and ammunition
in case of a
drawn-out
siege.
Upon his arrival in October, Major Devereux relieved Holm as Marine Commanding Officer (CO). A slight, active man of about forty, with many years in the Marine Corps, Devereux set up a command post CP near Peacock Point on Wake Island and rushed defensive (
preparations. In addition to that duty, Devereux also
CO of the
atoll
except for the civilian workers,
was
who
come under military control. The Marines worked around the clock from the time they set foot on Wake. Besides placing the 5-inch and 3-inch batteries at strategic points on Wake, Peale, and did not
Wilkes islands, putting in communication stringing wire for field telephones, they also
lines
had
and
to un-
load supply ships, dig entrenchments, load machine-gun belts, refuel
tresses
(by hand) a number of B-17 Flying For-
en route to Manila with a stopover at Wake, haul
ammunition, and carry out a score of additional chores. All this ical
was done without the aid
of proper
mechan-
equipment, although bulldozers, pile drivers, and
road scrapers were used extensively by the contractor’s
men. Civilian chief engineer Teters, a
had been a
football star at the University of
and a combat infantry sergeant
wanted
six-footer
in
Washington
World War
to help the Marines. His bulldozers
who
I,
had
and digging
machinery could have saved many man-hours of backbreaking work.
“i’m so
happy you’re
Devereux had asked permission ians
in
the pacific”
21
to
employ the
civil-
from Admiral Claude C. Bloch, the Fourteenth
Naval District Commandant,
Harbor. The ad-
at Pearl
miral radioed “negative” to the request. “Civilians are not to lations,”
do any work on defensive
he ordered. “This
is
purely a
Navy
instal-
task
and
Navy personnel may handle ordnance. Civilians are on Wake to put up buildings, dredge the lagoon, complete the airfield and make roads.” The authorities at Pearl Harbor clung to peacetime only
regulations rather than accept
emergency measures. As
a result, instead of drilling and perfecting their
skill
with the guns, Wake’s defenders were relegated the
work
of stevedores
and
laborers.
Luckily, the 1st Marine Defense Battalion
given rigid training in Hawaii, and though rines
were fresh-faced
old-timers
recruits, there
among them,
including
ans and experienced campaigners in Nicaragua, Haiti,
we
many Ma-
were a number of
World War
who had
I
veter-
seen action
and elsewhere.
“Not even the slaves harder than
had been
who
built the
pyramids worked
did on Wake. Fifteen to twenty hours
a day was standard for us,” a Marine private recalled.
“We had neither rest,
recreation nor respite for weeks at
a stretch.”
men were housed in the rugged civilian Camp No. 1. There, they struggled against roofs (Wake had a spell of unusually wet
Devereux’s quarters at rats,
leaky
22
“i’m so
happy you’re in the pacific”
weather with one rain squall following another, almost daily), miserable food,
and uncomfortable lodgings. In
sharp contrast, the civilian workers lived well.
Camp
No. 2 was stocked with such luxuries as cold beer, steak, ice cream, hot showers, soft mattresses, radios, recrea-
tion rooms,
and movies every night. Supply
ships,
which
the Marines unloaded, brought the latest Hollywood films for the construction workers. “I
began
to hate the sight of civilians.
plenty jealous of a all
the comforts of
man with a home while
fat
You can
get
pay check who has
you’re being paid only
twenty-one bucks a month and getting pushed around in the bargain,” a
After about a
had
young Marine
month
of unrelenting
their guns emplaced.
all
griped.
The
toil,
the Marines
.50-caliber
AA
ma-
chine guns were positioned to protect the 5-inch and 3-inch batteries, and .30-caliber machine guns com-
manded
The searchlight units at and Kuku Point on Wilkes
the beach approaches.
Toki Point on Peale Island
Island could sweep out to sea, throwing their powerful
beams
for miles.
The defensive perimeter was deployed as follows: PEACOCK POINT— (Wake Island): Battery A:
by
1st Lt.
Two 5-inch guns, commanded Clarence A. Barninger. Battery
E: Four 3-inch effective;
AA guns
(only three were
one gun lacked a range finder),
Toki
WAKE ATOLL
24
“i’m so
happy you’re in the pacific”
commanded by
W.
Wallace
Lt.
1st
Lewis.
TOKI POINT— (Peale Island): Battery B: Two 5-inch guns, under 1st Lt. Woodrow Kessler. Battery D: Four 3-inch
AA
guns (only three guns could
be manned due to lack of personnel),
under Captain Bryghte D. Godbold, who also
commanded
Peale Island.
KUKU POINT— (Wilkes Battery L: Lt.
J.
3-inch
A.
AA
Two
Island):
5-inch guns, under
2nd
McAlister.
Battery F: Four
guns
was no personnel
(
there
for this battery).
AIRFIELD— (Wake Island): .50-caliber AA machine guns and iber
machine guns served by nineteen
Marines under 2nd
M. Hanna.
Lt. R.
HEEL POINT— (Wake Nine Marines with caliber
rifles
Wake
.30-caliber
Island):
and two
.30-
machine guns.
In addition, there were four four on
.30-cal-
at
Peacock Point;
machine guns, on
,50’s
on Wilkes Island;
four, plus a
number
of
Peale.
The Wake defenses were completed December 3, 1941, when twelve Wildcat (F4F-3) fighter planes from Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-211, landed on Wake
“i’m so
happy you’re in the pacific”
from the
after taking off
which had steamed
25
aircraft carrier Enterprise ,
100 miles of the
to within
atoll.
Squadron 211 was led by Major Paul Putnam.
The Wildcats, an
obsolete type, were without armor,
leakproof gasoline tanks, or radio
Putnam’s or
two
fliers
were green. Except
homing equipment. for the
others, not a single pilot of
CO
and one
Squadron 211 had
had any experience with the F4F’s. Not a man had ever dropped a bomb from one or
When
fired
its
machine guns.
talking about his unskilled fledglings,
Putnam
growled, “They’ll have to learn the hard way, which the only
A
way
for a
Marine
to learn anything.”
few days before the Wildcats flew
Winfield Scott sailors
Cunningham came with
and a few petty
is
officers to
in,
Commander
a small party of
take over the projected
Naval Air Station (NAS) from which Catalina (PBY) patrol
bombers were
to
fly,
although no PBY’s were
available for at least several months.
Cunningham, who outranked Major Devereux, took
Commander. On December 4 (because west of 180° longitude, beyond the Interna-
over as atoll
Wake
lay
tional
Date Line,
it
was a day
later there
than in the
United States or Hawaii) Cunningham and Devereux spent
many
They
visited all the batteries
hours inspecting the defensive positions.
and machine-gun
Both noted unhappily that the
ground gasoline
installations,
airfield
no
posts.
had no under-
tool sheds
and work
“iM SO HAPPY YOU’RE
26
IN
THE PACIFIC”
shops, no revetments or dispersal areas for the twelve
Wildcats lined up at intervals on the
airstrip.
was
It
an inviting target for enemy planes.
Wake had no
Since
radar to warn of an approaching
enemy, a constant watch was kept from atop a 50-foot water tower. Sirens for air-raid warnings had not yet reached the air fired
In the interim, three rapid shots in the
atoll.
by a sentry was the
had been
signal that hostile planes
sighted.
During the
fatal first
week
of
December, 1941, there
were on Wake 449 Leathernecks, broken down Marine
men
(
officers
and 422 men; 10 naval
counting hospital corpsmen ) an ;
cations
team (1
officer
and 4
enlisted
Pan American employees; and 1,146 Neither the civilians nor the
officers,
to
27
58 sea-
Army communimen); about 70
civilian
workmen.
Army and Navy
detach-
ments were armed.
Devereux and Cunningham were worried about ability to
tack.
hold
Wake
in the face of a
their
determined
at-
Both were aware of a recently arrived dispatch
from Pearl Harbor which had warned that the international situation
was deteriorating rapidly and that war
with Japan appeared imminent. After a long silence, Devereux said, “Well,
I
guess
we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”
Cunningham nodded
And
in
glum agreement.
over on Peale Island, a Marine in Battery
D
re-
“iM SO HAPPY YOU’RE read a dog-eared letter from his carrying
October. “.
.
.
it
and
letter
THE PACIFIC”
girl friend.
around since the day he
The
IN
left
27
He had been
Pearl Harbor in
read in part:
darling, as long as
you have
to
be away,
I’m so happy you’re in the Pacific, where you won’t be in
any danger
if
.”
war comes.
.
.
The Leatherneck sighed and sea.
He
stared out at the restless
yond the horizon, perhaps
at this very
Japanese were getting ready to letter into a ball
know
Somewhere
listened to the resounding surf.
and tossed
it
the score; they just didn’t
strike.
be-
moment, the
He crumpled
the
away. Civilians didn’t
know
.
.
.
.
On
“ This
is
Sunday, December
7,
no drill”
1941,
Wake
time (which was
December 6, in Hawaii), Major Devereux made an announcement to his men after the morning flag-raising ceremony. They were to have the whole day off. The only work details were sentry duty on the water Saturday,
tower to look out for
one gun
aircraft,
sufficient
men
to serve
in every battery.
The Leathernecks cheered swimming, playing ters,
and
their
ball, lolling
reading, or sleeping.
CO. Soon, men were
on the sand, writing
Some went
let-
out fishing in the
launch used to cross the 50-yard-wide channel between
Wake and 28
Wilkes.
One group drove
in jeeps over the
“this
coral road linking
is
Squadron 211 were busy with
ing
all
about the
his pilots
that he
one
29
W ake to Peale and snared birds there.
However, not everybody took the day of
no drill”
As
aircraft.
were new
at the
if it
off.
The
pilots
their Wildcats, learn-
were not enough that
game, Major Putnam found
had inherited another irksome problem. Some-
at Pearl
Harbor had “goofed” when ordering 100-
bombs
pound
aerial
bombs
that did not
for
fit
Wake
Island.
Ordnance
sent
the racks of Squadron 211’s ob-
solete F4F’s.
A
Wildcat was designed
but without proper
fittings
on the planes, the bombs
stored in magazines near the useless. First
two 100-pounders,
to carry
Wake
Island airfield were
Lieutenant John F. Kinney, aided by Ser-
geant-Pilot Bill Hamilton, improvised
bomb
racks out of
scrap metal for the Wildcats.
Before sunset, Kinney and Hamilton had rigged a
workable device ers praised
to
them
‘"Necessity
is
each of the dozen Wildcats. Onlook-
lavishly.
the mother of invention,” Kinney said
modestly and was promptly dubbed “Mother Necessity.”
At dusk, a westbound Pan American plane, the Philippine Clipper, en route to
Guam
and Manila, piloted by
Captain John H. Hamilton and carrying twenty passengers,
put
down
in the lagoon off Flipper Point
on Peale
Island for refueling and an overnight stop at the hotel.
No one on
the atoll then realized that this was to be
30
‘this
no drill”
is
the last day of peace in the Pacific. Far out at sea, a
powerful Japanese ships
and
and
fleet,
which included two big
six aircraft carriers,
escorted by destroyers
was approaching Pearl Harbor.
cruisers,
Aboard the
carriers, pilots
had assembled
Akagi signaled by blinker
watching.
is .
.
.
.
.
.
The cream
assault.
.
.
.
We
May you
succeed
light:
in
for last-
Nagumo from
minute instructions and Vice Admiral flagship
battle-
his
“The Emperor
your heroic
efforts.
Navy has been gathered for this must not fail! Heaven will bear witness
of our
to the righteousness of our struggle! Banzai!”
And
that
December
Sunday evening, December 7 (Saturday,
6, in
Pearl Harbor), Admiral Inouye, at Truk,
received a message from Admiral Yamamoto: “The Divine
Wind blows
tomorrow.’’
X-Day was to be Monday, December (Sunday, December 7, Pearl Harbor time). The gloriThis meant that
8
ous hour had come. Inouye assembled his
them the news
for
staff
and gave
which they had been waiting. Mes-
sages flashed to airfields on Roi and
Namur
islands of
Kwajalein Atoll alerting the Twenty-fourth Air Flotilla for preinvasion strikes against
Wake. Orders went
to
naval units to attack
Guam, which was
by only a few U.
Marines and a poorly armed island
S.
lightly
defended
constabulary.
The unsuspecting men on Wake reluctantly watched the sun go down. They had enjoyed fine weather not
—
“this
a single rain squall
had marred
is
no
31
drill”
their pleasure.
“We
sure
hated to see that Sunday end. We’d be right back
work
in the morning,” a
Marine mechanic
at
said.
At 0650 (6:50 a.m.), Monday, December 8 (then 0920 9:20 a.m. Sunday, December 7, at Pearl Har-
—
—
bor), sleepy Marines were streaming into their ram-
shackle mess hall for an unappetizing breakfast of pow-
dered eggs and creamed chipped beef on they called S.O.S.
was shaving roared
Civilian drivers
which
—“Slop on a Shingle.” Major Devereux
in his quarters.
off for
toast,
Guam
at
workmen had
The
Philippine Clipper had
daybreak with
its
passengers.
started their day’s labor. Pile
thunked; bulldozers
growled;
road
scrapers
clanged and clattered; and dredging machines huffed in the lagoon.
A
panting runner dashed into Devereux’s room.
saluted and it’s
urgent,
handed the major a dispatch. “Radio
sir,”
He says
the runner said.
Major Devereux read the message
at a glance. It
was
from Pearl Harbor: hickham field has been attacked BY JAP DIVE BOMBERS. THIS
IS
THE REAL THING.
Devereux wiped the lather from
damn right it’s “We re at war!”
“You’re ner.
The Marine
CO
his face
with a towel.
urgent,” he told the
gawking run-
ran to his CP, where First Sergeant
Paul Agar was on duty. Devereux shouted,
The
“It’s started!
Japs’ve hit Pearl! Get Field Music here on the
)
32
'this
no
is
drill”
(In the Marines, a bugler was called Field
double.’’
Music.
Agar muttered a he
and reached
said,
A
curse. “I always
few moments
hated Mondays,”
for the telephone.
Field Music Alvin
later,
reported to Devereux. "Sound ‘Call to Arms,’
Waronka Devereux
snapped.
"Another "This
sound
is
drill,
no
drill,
son!
”
the bugler asked.
It’s
war!” Devereux said. “Now,
‘Call to Arms’!”
“Yes, sir!”
The bugler gulped and dashed
Waronka blew shrilled over the kits,
Major?
grabbed
“Call to
outside.
Arms” and the urgent notes
encampment. Marines dropped mess
rifles,
and dashed
for
their
positions.
Trucks raced away with ammunition for the 5-inch and 3-inch guns. Telephones jangled in battery CP’s and the
word spread
Some
across the atoll.
civilian
workmen, gripped by panic, bolted
the brush and started digging foxholes.
into
They abandoned
bulldozers and road scrapers, flung aside tools, and fled blindly.
Foreman Teters
tried to halt the stampede.
kicked, punched, and cursed the men.
A
He
few emerged,
shame-faced, from hiding places, but most remained
cowering
in the foliage.
Not every fashion.
One
civilian
behaved
in
such a disgraceful
burly carpenter rushed up to Major Dev-
ereux and saluted smartly. “I’m
Tom Adams,
former
“this
Seaman United
Navy,
States
sir!
no
is
Can you
33
drill”
use me?” he
said.
Other workers with military experience reported to the
CP and volunteered
geant
W.
A. Bousher,
Navy gunners, of Battery
D
to fight.
and three
to serve the
Devereux assigned civilians
unmanned
on Toki Point.
Ser-
who had been
3-inch
Rifles, pistols,
AA
gun
and hand
grenades were broken out and distributed to those
who
asked for weapons.
The Army and Navy personnel were armed and ployed into the defense perimeter. At 1000
Wake
(
de-
10:00 a.m.
),
time, the Philippine Clipper returned. After learn-
ing about Pearl Harbor by radio, Captain Hamilton had
turned back instead of continuing to Guam, which lay 1,300 miles nearer Japan.
The Pan American
pilot offered to take out his ship
on a 100-mile patrol around
Wake if given
fighter escort.
Major Putnam agreed, and the tedious task of refueling
Putnam also sent cover. The remaining
the Philippine Clipper got under way.
up four Wildcats eight
F4F s
stood lined up at the airstrip, armed and
ready to take
off at a
Wake was on its the enemy.
to provide air
moment’s
toes,
notice.
with nothing
left to
do but await
“Their wheels are dropping off!” Even
the Americans were bracing
for the
opening
Japanese blows, thirty-six 2-engined Mitsubishi
medium
as
bombers (“Bettys”) roared and Namur
islands,
off
landing strips on Roi
some 600 miles south
planes, each carrying a capacity
bomb
pounds, deployed into three neat
dozen each
as
V
of
Wake. The
load of 1,765
formations of a
ground crews waved Rising Sun
and made themselves hoarse shouting, “Banzai! miral Inouye anxiously awaited of the sion.
Twenty-fourth Air
When
it
Flotilla
Ad-
that his “warbirds”
had started the mis-
came, he drank a toast to their “total suc-
cess” with his staff officers.
34
word
flags ’
“their wheels are dropping off!”
As the Bettys sped toward
Wake
35
250 mph,
at almost
Japanese naval landing units, supported by destroyers,
came ashore on Guam where and the native police
And the U.
the U.
S.
Marine garrison
resisted gallantly for 72 hours.
almost 3,000 miles to the east, the big ships of S.
Pacific Fleet, victims of the treacherous Japa-
nese carrier plane onslaught, lay burning and twisted
along Battleship
The
Row
in Pearl Harbor.
descriptions of havoc radioed back
by the attack
planes indicated that the surprise raid on the American
naval base had achieved results even beyond the most
sanguine expectations of Premier Tojo, Admiral Yama-
moto, and the Kodo-Ha
men who had master-minded
the thrust.
enemy move against Wake, Major Devereux remembered a day in early November when the same Pan American ClipPerhaps, as he sat in his CP, tensely set for the
now
per
being prepared for
flight in the
lagoon had
landed with the Japanese diplomat Saburo Kurusu then
en route to Washington, D.C., for peace U.
S.
fore atoll
talks
with the
Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. At that time, be-
Cunningham’s
and had
arrival,
officially
Devereux was
CO
still
welcomed Kurusu
to
of the
Wake;
a
Marine Guard of Honor had met the Mikado’s emissary at the seaplane
ramp, affording him the honors cus-
shown a foreign dignitary. Kurusu, who was married to an American,
tomarily
graciously
“their wheels are dropping off!”
36
acknowledged the ceremonies. He told the reception committee
in a brief
speech that his sole aim was “the
preservation of a just peace which a permanent understanding
would cement
between the United
.
.
.
States
and Japan.”
Now, But
this
a
month
later,
the two nations were at war.
was not the moment
international diplomacy.
to
mull over the ironies of
Devereux had much more to
occupy him than dwelling upon such matters. Grave problems confronted the Marine CO.
He
fretted over the lack of
yawned
manpower; wide gaps
in the perimeter. Instead of
900 men, he could
muster only slightly more than 400, and the defense line
was drawn
thin.
Devereux worried about ammuni-
tion shortages, the lack of radar to detect approaching
planes, the dearth of medical supplies
Wake’s Leathernecks were
in a
tough
any hope of reinforcements seemed
slim.
Frag-
for the planes.
spot;
and spare parts
mentary radio reports from Pearl Harbor were
From what Devereux had
heard, the U.
S. Pacific
appeared to have been practically wiped
But U. first
S.
black.
Fleet
out.
Marines had known tight places since the
Leatherneck signed the muster
mained but
all
to face things as they
roll.
No
course re-
came. Devereux was
pleased that his men’s morale was unshaken despite the
mass hysteria of the
He remembered
civilian workers.
a squad of Leathernecks waiting to
“their wheels are dropping off!”
37
board a truck for Toki Point watching the workers ing in
directions. “I never
all
except to get
fast
chow
flee-
saw those guys move
or collect their pay,” a
so
Marine
laughed.
“Yeah! Look at 'em go!
T-bone steaks smothered
I'll
in
Christmas bonus the
fat
bet they’re being served
mushrooms and handed a
way
bunch
that
making
is
tracks,” another said.
A
Leatherneck detail heading for a .30-caliber ma-
chine-gun position on the beach marched past the as
CP
Devereux watched from the doorway. They were
high
spirits.
Major!
A
grinning youth called to the
How does a guy get
“I don’t
in
CO, “Hey,
transferred from this outfit?”
belong here, Major!” a gangling Marine
pri-
vate snickered. “I’m allergic to bullets!”
So they went to war, these very young in their teens.
still
Few had
They were
ever seen violent death. Combat, to them, was
would soon wear
Before long, each one of them would
war.
—many
warriors ignorant of war.
a glittering adventure. But the tinsel off.
men
Some were
fated to die that
know
same day
all
about
in defense
of the lonely outpost.
The Marines stirred and the waiting became unbearwater towers scanned the empty
The morning hours passed uneasily at their guns, able. Sentries atop the
sky and muttered,
“Why
slowly.
don’t they
come?”
At about 1100 (11:00 a.m.) heavy, black rain clouds
“their wheels are dropping off!”
38 closed
in.
Thunder growled
fretfully
and lightning
The clouds blotted out the sun and a strong wind came up, driving the surf against the coral reef with a roar. The noise of the waves was so loud that it became necessarv to shout in order to be heard. As wind J flickered.
and waves reached
their crescendo, a tropical rainstorm
broke on Wake.
The downpour blinded the plane spotters; it was impossible to see more than a few yards through that driving curtain. Breakers crashed furiously against the coral,
hurling frothy squall still
ended
at
spume high
into the
1150 (11:50 a.m.
lingered and visibility
was
),
air.
The sudden
but the thick clouds
limited.
The din
of the
waves never abated, and nobody detected the approaching drone of the thirty-six Japanese aircraft, concealed
from view
in the billowing clouds.
By 1158 (11:58 a.m.) the Bettys were over Wake. They dived down out of the overcast and leveled off at 2,000 feet. Only then were they spotted by a Marine sentry on one of the water towers.
by
firing the three signal shots,
He responded
but
it
was too
at
once
late for
defensive action.
The Japanese bombers headed
straight for the airfield
and the eight parked Wildcats. Within seconds, four the grounded planes
Three others caught holed by
bomb
had vanished fire,
in
smoke and
of
flames.
and the surviving F4F was
fragments. As the Japanese
swung away
“their wheels are dropping off!”
toward Peale Island, twenty-three Marine
men were
enlisted
left
39
officers
dead or dying; eleven others
and re-
ceived wounds.
The Bettys swept down on
Pan American
the
where the Clipper passengers were lunching tel.
One
who saw
civilian
at the ho-
the planes coming cried,
“Somethings wrong! Their wheels are dropping
A
few seconds
later,
station
off!”
he realized that bombs and not
wheels were falling from the
aircraft.
The Bettys
de-
molished the hotel, wrecked the Pan American radio transmitter, air station.
and destroyed almost
The
all
the facilities at the
Philippine Clipper was riddled by ma-
chine-gun bullets but not seriously damaged. Ten ians
were
killed in that swift raid.
By 1210 (12:10 over.
A
spatter of
p.m.) the initial attack on
AA
and the Bettys flew their
did no
fire off,
rolling
harm
Wake was
to the Japanese,
the pilots grinning, waggling
wings triumphantly
smoke
civil-
back
as they looked
up from shattered Wake
.
.
.
at the
i(
l’m an American,
isn’t that
enough?”
Emergency makeshift firefighting crews went action on
Wake
into
Island to extinguish the flames consum-
ing the Wildcats; over on Peale, prodigious efforts were
made
to put out the conflagration there.
were gathered
The wounded
in the unfinished naval hospital,
where
Lieutenant (jg) Gustav Kahn, a Navy doctor, and the contractors’ physician, Dr. L. S. Shank, assisted by Navy
corpsmen, attended to the injured.
Major Devereux and Commander Cunningham made
damage that had been sustained. loss had been suffered by Squadron
a quick survey of the
The most 211.
40
serious
But Lieutenant Kinney and Sergeant Hamilton
AN AMERICAN, ISNT THAT ENOUGH?”
“i’m
went
to
work salvaging the wrecked
to
Major Putnam,
.
.
.
until not
swapped
.
.
and
engines, stripped of
December
of the
planes. According
they traded parts and assemblies
one aircraft could be
By nightfall had made one
identified.
.
.
8,
damaged
now numbered
The same cloud cover
Kinney and Hamilton ships flyable.
Added
five out of the original
that
They
.
rebuilt them.”
the four Wildcats that had been on patrol, the air force
41
to
Wake dozen.
had enabled the Japanese
to
sneak in unnoticed had also served to conceal them from the Wildcats.
“Luck was riding with the Nips,” declared one
of the
patrol pilots. “If we’d spotted the raiders, we’d have
jumped ’em and tumbled
a few. At least the Nips
wouldn’t have gotten away without a scratch.”
There was intensive
activity all over the atoll during
the hours after the attack and throughout the night of
December 8-9 (Wake few dozen
time).
The Leathernecks and
civilian volunteers repaired
built revetments,
and
filled
a
bomb damage,
sandbags for gun emplace-
ments. Dynamite charges were laid along the airstrip
runway and made ready the
enemy attempt an
for instant detonation should
airborne landing.
Big Nate Teters rounded up some stray bulldozer drivers
who had
civilians
pushed
the airfield.
recovered from their dirt into the
bomb
The bombing, and news
initial panic.
The
holes that rutted that both
Guam
42
l’M
AN AMERICAN, ISNT THAT ENOUGH?”
and Pearl Harbor had been attacked, brought a number of construction workers out of the brush.
Chamorros from Guam, raised assault
on
their
Many were by the
to a fighting pitch
homeland. Others, both Hawaiians and
Some
native Americans, also drifted in from hiding.
climbed aboard abandoned bulldozers and road scrapers.
A
Many
took up picks and shovels and went to work.
few reported
The Marine a
to
Devereux
for
combat assignments.
CO eyed a husky New Yorker who asked for
rifle.
“Why
are
a civilian.
you doing
You
this?” the
major queried. “You’re
don’t have to fight.”
“I’m an American,
isn’t
that enough?” the worker said.
Devereux nodded. “Give him a weapon,” he ordered First Sergeant Agar.
But of the more than 1,000
civilians
on Wake, only
about 100 actually volunteered their services. During
beyond
the afternoon, the Philippine Clipper, loaded
capacity with Pan American personnel, lumbered out of the lagoon
on the
atoll
and limped away from Wake. Those
watched the giant
aircraft until
left
disap-
it
peared. Several wept as the last connection with
home
vanished.
One
civilian, a
gray-haired plumber from Ohio
Orrin Fritz, stammered,
“W- we re
c-creek w-without a p-paddle.”
s-sure 1-left
named
up
t-the
AN AMERICAN, ISNT THAT ENOUGH?”
“i’m
A
43
Marine standing near him sneered,
teen-aged
“What’s the matter, Pop? You aren’t scared are you?” Fritz glowered at him.
s-sonny. I-I’ve s-stuttered
During the over
Camp
splinter.
all
my-my
life!”
bombardment, the American
aerial
No.
“N-no, I’m n-not s-scared,
had been torn from
1
Devereux ordered
it
its staff
flag
by a bomb
raised again late that aft-
ernoon. Marines snapped to attention as Field Music
Waronka sounded “To
the Colors” and the flag rose
slowly to the top of the pole.
When
the bugler’s last haunting notes had faded
away, Devereux
said,
day.
The only time
fight
any more.”
“That
it'll
flag’s
going to
come down
fly
night and
when we
is
can’t
After the ceremony the Marines trudged back to their posts.
A
sergeant turned for another look at the Stars
and Stripes flapping
wonder
“I
if
in the breeze.
people back in the States give a
about what’s happening out here,” he said
“They’d better, yet, it
but we’re
pal.
all in
Maybe no one
bitterly.
there realizes
the same boat. If our
won’t be too long before the Nip
flag’ll
flag’s
and
starts
it
lowered,
be waving over
the Capitol in Washington unless everybody rolls sleeves
damn
up
his
swinging,” a companion remarked.
As darkness came, the embattled Wake garrison stood to
its
guns. Only a few hours earlier, they
had been
44
I’M
AN AMERICAN,
ISN T
THAT ENOUGH?”
carefree boys in uniform; then, war, death,
were merely words.
Now
and combat
they had seen, tasted, and
felt
The dead were silent under tarpaulin sheets. The wounded moaned in agony. The world had been turned
war.
upside down. These youths were about to endure the ordeal that fighting
memorial.
men have
faced since time im-
6
“I’ll tell
.
you when
I’m hurt!”
The
thirty-six Bettys that had raided
to their bases
Wake
returned
on Roi and Namur without a single mis-
hap; only three or four of the two-engined
medium
bombers had suffered even minor damage. The
jubilant
pilots
boasted that they had “erased the Yankees on
Wake” “A squad
Wake
of overage
after the
Tokyo policemen can capture
pummeling we handed the Americans,”
crewman noted in his diary. The reports that came into Admiral Inouye at Truk were highly optimistic. The admiral was well pleased with what obviously had been a successful mission; but a Betty
45
46
“i’ll
tell you
when i’m hurt!”
an old Navy man, Inouye did not quite trust the brash
as
cocky breed, too
According
full of
Wake
Atoll
munition hit
aviators
to the dispatches
from Twenty-fourth Air
every major installation on
had been reduced. Fuel dumps,
piles,
barracks
buildings,
and the path opened
Inouye was a conservative
fliers,
planes,
—everything
officer
who
did not like to
knew
it
practice
A
would
the need of another raid,” a
Betty pilot said, “but since the Admiral wanted
no objections.
had
Inouye ordered a second attack on
Wake for December 9. “We did not agree with raised
am-
However,
for a landing.
take unnecessary chances. Although he
not please the
were a
swagger and braggadocio.
Flotilla Intelligence officers,
been
The
of the Imperial Air Force.
fliers
.
.
.
Besides,
we
felt
the
it,
we
bombing
would do us good.”
flight of
twenty-seven Bettys was
made ready
for
the attack, which was scheduled at 1145 (11:45 a.m.),
December 9 (Wake
time). At the same time that he
alerted the Twenty-fourth Air Flotilla, Inouye flashed
an order to Rear Admiral Samakoshi Kajioka,
manded
the
Wake
Invasion Force.
Kajioka was instructed to haul anchor and
Roi on Tuesday, December to
11
who com-
9;
sail
the invasion force
from
was
Wake at 0300 (3:00 a.m. Thursday, December (Wake time), when a naval bombardment would
be
off
cover the landing force.
)
“ill tell you
The
when i’m hurt!”
units mobilized for the invasion of
neither large nor powerful.
The make-up
47
Wake were of the force
contemptuous attitude toward Americans
reflected the
War Council. Admiral 450 men to capture the
then prevalent in the Imperial Kajioka had been given only atoll.
His ship);
fleet
consisted of the old cruiser Yubari (his flag-
two obsolescent
and
light cruisers, the Tatsuta
the Tenryu; six destroyers, Mutsuki, Kisaragi, Mochizuki, Yayoi , Oite,
and Hayate. In addition, the transports
Kongo Maru and Konryu Mara
two creaky patrol
plus
boats carried the 450 shock troops of the Special Naval
Landing Force. These men were armed with the usual infantry
weapons such
Two
chine guns, and small cannon. lookout for U.
S.
knee mortars,
as rifles,
light
ma-
submarines on the
surface units ranged far ahead of the
main group. Admiral Kajioka raised the signal “All Ships from the halyard of the Yubari 9.
The convoy
set a course for
banzais from ships and shore. oka’s vessels
at
A
Sortie!”
daybreak, December
Wake amid
prolonged
band played out
and the admiral acknowledged
from the bridge by personally leading
Kaji-
this salute
his staff officers in
a series of banzais.
The Wake Invasion Force was soon in open waters that sparkled with sunshine. The troops were serenely confident.
“.
.
.
everyone behaved as though on a cruise
“ill tell you
48 .
.
.
when i’m hurt!”
relaxed, contented
and cheerful
.
a Yubari crew
.
man remembered. As
his ships
plowed through the placid ocean, Kajioka
reviewed the plan of
Following a brisk cannon-
battle.
ading of the shore, the troops were to make landings: “.
.
.
men on Wilkes Island south side of Wake Island
150
on the
.
.
.
the remaining 300
to capture the airfield.”
In the unlikely event that the Yankees stalled the tackers or even drove
would reinforce the
them back, the destroyer crews
assault troops.
Admiral Kajioka was ready;
would be known
hours, he
in slightly
as the
more than 48
“Conqueror of Wake.”
The admiral was
so certain of swift victory that he
already chosen a
name
Otori Shima It
had
for the atoll after its surrender:
—“Bird Island.”
was an appropriate name.
cember
at-
9, as
the Imperial
Kajioka’s ships
On
the morning of De-
were steaming ahead and
Navy submarines poked
off
Wake’s shores,
the myriad birds rose wheeling and screeching in mass terror at 1145 (11:45 a.m.
)
when Marine
sentries spot-
ted twenty-seven Bettys from afar and every that could be brought to bear
AA
gun
on the planes went into
action.
So
many
the sun rine.
.
.
.
birds
were
in the air that “they blotted out
like feathery clouds,”
Hundreds
machine-gun
of
them were
according to one Ma-
killed
by
AA
shrapnel and
bullets during the furious barrage that the
“i’ll
Marine 3-inchers and poured up
at the
The Betty
tell you
AA
.50-caliber
Japanese
pilots,
when
i’m hurt!”
machine guns
aircraft.
who had
anticipated a "milk run/’
AA
were taken aback by
this
grew when a 3-inch
shell scored a hit that
Betty into the sea.
49
savage
fire.
Then two Wildcats
Their dismay
knocked a
(piloted
by Sec-
ond Lieutenant David D. Kliewer and Sergeant
Bill
Hamilton) suddenly closed in on a second bomber and set
it
ablaze with bursts of .50-caliber bullets.
Despite the shock of realizing that the Yankees were far
from “annihilated” and
pilots pressed sufficient
AA
fighter planes
The
home
still
firepower to drive
were unable
installations.
The
hospital
fifty civilians.
The Japanese scored
link
was breached and the
that killed four Marines, eleven hospital
corpsmen, and about
mitter,
enemy.
No. 2 was flattened in a relentless strafing and
bombing attack
dropped
the Japanese
The Marines lacked them off and the few
to stop the
thin defensive cordon
Camp
fight,
their attack.
bombers plastered the ground at
could
its
a crippling
load squarely on the U.
blow when a Betty S.
Navy
radio trans-
which had been the principal communications
with
CINCPAC
at Pearl Harbor.
The planes made
persistent passes at Battery E, the 3-inch
AA
guns
at
Peacock Point, commanded by Lieutenant Wally Lewis.
The enemy failed to hit the gun emplacement but wounded several men, among them Sergeant Andrew
"ill tell you
50 J.
when i’m hurt!”
Paszkiewicz, a veteran of 20 years in the Corps. Pasz-
kiewicz was operating a .50-caliber
near Battery E. position
A bomb
and sent him
AA
machine gun
blew the sergeant out
flying
through the
He
air.
of his
got
up
bleeding from a half-dozen shrapnel wounds and stag-
gered back to his gun, which was undamaged, although the entire crew had been wounded.
The sergeant blazed away singlehandedly
emy
planes.
first aid,
Go
When
him
a corpsman approached to give
Paszkiewicz roared,
take care of
at the en-
“I’ll tell
you when I’m
somebody who needs
After about 15 minutes, the
hurt!
help!”
enemy broke
off
the at-
tack and flew away. This time there was no exultant
wing waggling. The Bettys had not escaped unscathed.
Two
of
them were shot down over Wake and three
others, badly to their
Every the
first
damaged, reportedly never made
home
back
base.
pilot in the
attack
it
second raid
had been a
now understood
fortuitous surprise.
Even the
loudest braggarts had to admit that their earlier
mates of the defensive situation on
that
Wake were
esti-
inac-
curate.
Admiral Inouye went into a rage when he heard the results of the
second
raid.
"Those conceited aviators
have endangered the whole operation! Even assaults the
Yankee defenses are
to a staff officer.
intact,”
after
two
he complained
“ill tell you
A
when i’m hurt!”
was ordered
third aerial foray
for
Wednesday, De-
cember 10 (Wake time). Inouye emphasized: aircraft
must pave the way
In the Emperor’s name, until the foe
is
I
the
.
.
for our invasion force.
.
.
.
charge you to press the attack
battered helpless.”
The chagrined commander Flotilla radioed to
Truk
on December
10.
above ground
will
miral Inouye.
51
.
be
of the Twenty-fourth Air
that he .
I
left
vow
would
hit
Wake
at
noon
that this time nothing
standing,” he assured Ad-
We’re heading for
Wake!” No sooner had
the last Betty disappeared than Wake’s
defenders again began clearing away the wreckage.
With the
hospital at
ical quarters
up a
had
hospital in
to
Camp
No. 2 demolished,
be improvised.
which had not yet been placed
Dr. Shank and Lieutenant patients
abutted the
was decided
these
into
airfield
Kahn
bombproof
and were
by means
mounted on a
shelters,
also near the
52
of a powerful portable
truck.
The
first
in use.
supervised moving
message
which
Marine CP.
Communications with Pearl Harbor were lished
to set
two large underground concrete ammu-
nition magazines,
their
It
new med-
re-estab-
transmitter
to reach
Wake
“we’re heading for wake!”
new
over the
came from
setup
a
CINCPAC
53
staff officer.
Marked urgent it read: personnel will wear leggins AND LONG SLEEVED SHIRTS BUTTONED AT THE CUFF FOR PROTECTION AGAINST POWDER BURNS.
Major George H. Potter, the Marines’ Executive Officer,
slammed
that’s all
radio!”
his
helmet on the ground in disgust.
they have to say, we’d be better
off
“If
without a
he exclaimed.
The second message, addressed ningham, asked
to
Commander Cun-
for his regular report
on progress of
construction work. Cunningham, usually a mild, easy-
going man, sarcastically radioed back: due to circum-
stances BEYOND CONTROL, CONSTRUCTION
WORK HAS BEEN
INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED.
“What’s the matter with those guys at Pearl? Don’t they as
know
there’s a
war on?” growled the radio operator
he sent the
CO s
dispatch.
take a
little
time to sink
“It'll
red tape that fast,” said
Although some
in.
You
can’t unravel
Cunningham with
staff officers
were
still
a grin.
mired
in the
morass of peacetime bureaucracy, most faced the war situation realistically.
service record
Admiral Kimmel, whose excellent
had been spoiled by the Japanese sneak
attack on Pearl Harbor,
was determined
to restore his
tarnished reputation.
Even ber 8 at
bombs shook Wake on December 9 (DecemPearl Harbor), Admiral Kimmel called a staff
as
“we’re heading for wake!”
54
meeting
in
CINCPAC
Headquarters. Columns of smoke
poured from the twisted hulks of burning
still
battle-
wagons along Battleship Row, where the Japanese had done
their deadliest work.
Admiral Kimmel could see the blackened superstructure of the Arizona poking above water. She
had been
her mooring with some 1,200
and men
sunk
at
trapped aboard. The Arizona and her
were
lost;
officers
sister battleships
nothing could change that dismal
fact, revive
the dead, or ease the suffering of the wounded.
Never before had the U.
S.
Navy
tering defeat. Gazing out his office still
waving from the mainmast
suffered such a shat-
window
of the
Admiral Kimmel undoubtedly did not
As CINCPAC, he was responsible
Blame
Fleet.
coming
at
for the Pearl
him from
Kimmel and
at the flag
sunken Arizona,
relish his position.
for the U. S. Pacific
Harbor debacle was already
Rumor had it that both Admiral Stark (CNO), were
all sides.
his superior,
slated to be replaced very soon.
Kimmel, an old sea dog, knew that the fortunes of war did not always smile.
The only way
for
him
to
wipe
clean his slate was to hit back at the foe.
Nine months
earlier,
tentions against
Wake
he had warned of Japanese
—a prophecy that had come
Kimmel now proposed enable the U.
Navy
.
.
.
S.
to aid
in-
true.
Wake’s garrison and
Pacific Fleet to ’‘get at the Imperial
with surface, underwater and
air units.”
At
,
;
,
“we’re heading for wake!”
55
the staff conference, Kimmel’s aides were told to
draw
up a plan
for
“mounting a counterblow
to relieve
Wake
and harass the enemy.” smarting under the
Still
Kimmel’s
foe’s success at Pearl
worked overtime
staff
attack built around Task Force
Harbor,
to prepare a counter-
(TF )
14,
which included
the aircraft carrier Saratoga (Sara) flying the flag of Rear
Aubrey
Admiral
(CRUDIV) and
its
6
(
W.
Fitch,
plus
Cruiser
Astoria Minneapolis , and San Francisco ,
destroyers, the transport Tangier
Neelies).
Division
CRUDIV 6 was commanded
and the
oiler
by Rear Admiral
Frank Jack Fletcher aboard the San Francisco.
The plan
also involved
TF
Admiral Wilson Brown (the
11,
commanded by Rear
aircraft carrier Lexington;
and Portland
the cruisers Indianapolis , Chicago oiler
Neosho; and escorting destroyers). The third
ment
in the
Wake
Relief Expedition
aircraft carrier Enterprise or
was
TF
the ele-
8 (the
Big E, a cruiser group, and
commanded by Rear Admiral Wil-
a destroyer squadron,
liam “Bull” Halsey).
The
TF
actual relief of
Wake was
to
be accomplished by
The Saratoga steaming at full speed from San Diego, California, had aboard Marine Fighter Squadron
221
14.
,
—eighteen FA2
(Buffalo) fighter planes
as reinforcements for
CINCPAC’s bring
TF
—earmarked
Squadron 211.
general idea was for Admiral Fitch to
14 to within striking distance of Wake, where
56
“we’re heading for wake!”
he would
fly off
the Buffaloes, and then land units of the
4th Marine Defense Battalion from the Tangier.
At the same time, Admiral Brown’s
TF
11
would un-
leash diversionary raids against Japanese bases in the
Marshall Islands to pin
down
the enemy’s naval and
The fighters and bombers of the flattop Lexington (known as the Lady Lex) were to “seek out aerial strength.
and destroy Japanese surface facilities
.
.
.
and engage enemy
“Bull” Halsey’s in this operation,
Islands
and
vessels
TF
.
aircraft
.
.
bomb
where
shore
possible.”
8 was relegated to the side lines
being assigned to patrol the Hawaiian
to lend a
hand only
in the event of a
major
sea engagement.
Admiral Halsey, destined
to
become one
of the Navy’s
best-known fighting men, stewed and fumed over
this
passive role, but prepared to implement the orders that
reached him on December
9,
while
TF
8 was out search-
ing for the Japanese carriers that had raided Pearl Har-
bor two days
earlier.
Halsey promptly put Big the rest of
TF
8,
made
full
E
about and, followed by
speed toward Pearl Harbor
for refueling. Simultaneously, the set a course
11,
toward the Japanese-held Marshall Islands
with instructions to refuel at
weather prevented to Pearl
Lady Lex and TF
Harbor
this
sea.
However, rough
and forced Admiral Brown back
for refueling operations.
Meanwhile, events moved rapidly
at battered Pearl
“we’re heading for wake!”
Harbor.
By
afternoon of
December
10,
57
Marines of the
4th Defense Battalion were alerted for immediate embarkation aboard the Tangier. Their destination was not disclosed but quickly
became an open
secret.
“Were heading for Wake!" shouted Leathernecks who had not yet been in combat, and rolled full field packs in preparation for the long voyage out. They spent that day
and the next loading machine-gun
ing ammunition, uncrating cases of
belts, haul-
rifles,
removing
grease from spare parts, and trucking mountains of
equipment
to the dockside
where everything was loaded
aboard the Tangier. Before long the transport’s holds bulged with 9,000
rounds of 5-inch
and
.30-caliber
shells,
12,000
AA
ammunition, spare
shells (3-inch), .50-
parts, rations,
and
ra-
dar equipment of the latest design, just arrived from the States.
The Leathernecks waited on
the dock for hours but
received no orders to go aboard, and at night were
marched back
to barracks. Their
embarkation was de-
layed by the tardiness of the Saratoga from San Diego.
The Sara had been forced from her path due
Not
until
to reports of
Japanese submarines.
—exactly one “Day of Infamy" —did the big
Sunday, December 14
after the historic finally
to take several long detours
week
flattop
reach Pearl Harbor. Once the Sara slipped into
her berth and began to refuel, more than 500 Leather-
“we’re heading for wake!”
58
necks tramped up the gangplank of the Tangier. The next day she lifted anchor and, accompanied by oiler
Neches and four destroyers, moved out
fleet
to sea for
a rendezvous off Pearl Harbor with the Saratoga. At
1145 (11:45 a.m.) Tuesday, December escorted by
CRUDIV
finally set sail.
the Sara ,
plus a squadron of destroyers,
(Command
eration devolved in
6,
16,
of
upon Admiral
TF
11 and the relief op-
Fletcher,
who was
senior
grade to Admiral Fitch.) Succor seemed at hand for the besieged
men on Wake,
where Devereux’s Marines already had beaten
off
one
Japanese invasion attempt and were girded for another.
“Our the
lives
Mikado
While Admiral Kimmel’s of helping
staff
Wake, Devereux and
belong to !”
was finding the means his
beleaguered Leath-
ernecks were helping themselves. After the air raid on
Tuesday, December
emy ers
Devereux was positive that en-
planes had spotted Battery
Peacock Point
at
9,
would
ingly,
—and
try to
E
—the 3-inch AA guns
felt certain that
knock out
the next attack-
this vital position.
Accord-
he ordered the battery CO, Lieutenant Wally
Lewis, to
move
his
guns some 600 yards east and north
along the beach. This was a back-breaking job, for each 3-incher
weighed about 8
tons.
However, the arduous task of 59
“our lives belong to the mikado!”
60
digging emplacements for them with pick and shovel
was eased by Nate
Teters,
who brought
in a
crew with
mechanical digging equipment.
“Old Nate and
his
boys sure
made
the dirt
fly,”
a
Ma-
was on Easy Street not hav-
rine observed. “I felt that I
ing to swing a pick.”
The semimobile 3-inchers had to be hand-hauled part of the way when two trucks bogged down in the sand. Marines and civilian volunteers dragged cases of nition to the
new
position.
They
E was
ammu-
toiled all night long
The exhausted men dropped to the sand for a few hours’ sleep. Meanwhile, carpenters had hammered together decoy guns of and, by daybreak, Battery
ready.
scrap lumber which were exposed in the old Battery
emplacement. Camouflage nets concealed from
E
aircraft
the true deployment of the 3-inchers.
The Japanese bombers appeared at
right
on schedule
about noon. Devereux’s guess had been a shrewd one:
The
made
Bettys
pulverized
“Had we
it
for Battery E’s former position
with a hail of 132-pound
left
the guns where
we
and
projectiles.
originally
had placed
them, they’d have been pounded to pieces,” Lieutenant
Lewis wrote. “As least
it
was, Battery
E knocked down
at
one Betty and damaged another.”
The high
came when “Hammering Hank,”
point in the defense that day
Captain Henry Elrod, known as
took up a Wildcat and “tumbled” two of the foe’s
air-
‘our lives belong to the mikado!” craft.
run,
AA
curtain
beach on Wilkes Island. During a
strafing
However, the Japanese penetrated the
to plaster the
61
machine-gun
bullets
from a Betty blew up a con-
struction storage shed housing 125 tons of dynamite.
The
resultant blast set off
the ready ammunition
L and denuded
on Batteries F and brush and foliage.
all
It also started a
Wilkes Island of
number
of grass
fires,
destroyed a searchlight unit, ruined control equipment,
wrecked the range
finder of Battery
—and damaged some valuable spare
L
—the 5-inch guns
parts.
Miraculously, the casualties were minimal. rine
was
killed.
Four Leathernecks and one
One Ma-
civilian suf-
fered wounds. Marine Corporal Bernard Richardson
(Battery L) incurred an irreplaceable
who had been
in
show
business,
loss.
Richardson,
was writing a novel
about stock acting companies, tent shows, and carnivals.
He had some script,
150,000 words of
stowed
in his
completed. The manu-
it
musette bag, was destroyed by the
big explosion.
“From now
on,” the corporal
vowed
ruefully,
“I’ll
stick to writing short stories.”
Another Battery
L
Marine, Private First Class Verne
Wallace of Philadelphia, had managed a movie theater in his
home town. Back
in 1940, a
group of friends had
dared him to join the Marine Corps. After the Bettys flew
off,
here?
I
he stood muttering aloud, “What should be in Philly where
I
am
I
doing
belong! God,
I
62
‘
wish
OUR
I’d
Before
LIVES
BELONG TO THE MIKADO!”
my
kept
many
mouth shut and stayed
big
hours passed, everyone on
there.”
Wake would
long to be elsewhere. The Japanese invasion force was almost within striking distance.
wind
A
strong northeasterly
rose shortly after nightfall. Thick mists swirled
about Wake, and watchful sentries stared at the shifting gray mass that limited
Aboard
his
visibility to only a
the
flagship
paced the bridge and cursed
made
few
miles.
Yubari,
Admiral Kajioka
at the
heavy swells that
and sway. He could barely make
his cruiser pitch
out the signal lights of the
T enryu and the T atsuta
blink-
ing through the milky fog to other ships in the convoy.
The rough water worried
Kajioka;
to launch small assault boats. as a
mixed blessing
vision, the mist also
—
if
it
it
would be
difficult
The murky haze he saw
cut
down
own field of move unseen
his
allowed his ships to
by any prowling American submarines. After midnight,
December
11, a stiffening
breeze
dis-
moon came out, although the abate. Kajioka summoned his staff
pelled the fog and the
heavy seas did not officers to the
over
Yubari
final details.
cluded, stewards filling
s
cramped chart room and went
When
the hour-long conference con-
moved among
the assembled officers
small silver cups with sake , the traditional Japa-
nese drink.
Admiral Kajioka raised
his
cup high and faced the
group. “Our lives belong to the Mikado!
’
he said and
“our lives belong to the mikado!” tossed off the rice wine.
The
63
others drank, then filed out
of the chart room. Blinkers signaled the patrol boats (
PB 32 and PB 33 “Alert
all
)
carrying the storming parties.
hands! Prepare for assault! Banzai
The wiry men of the went to predesignated
!”
Special Naval Landing Force positions.
The wind moaned.
Spray sloshed over the gunwales of the clumsy PB’s, dousing the tense warriors rels
who
clutched their
rifle
bar-
within sweaty palms. Surely, even these stoical Nip-
ponese must have been gripped by the same misgivings that have tormented every warrior in the long
agony of
waiting before combat.
Every Japanese
soldier
had been taught
that his life
belonged to the Mikado. But he was young, and precious.
He remembered
soming cherry
trees;
life
was
summer sunshine, bloshe remembered laughter and music, a
girl,
the taste of savory cooking, snow-capped mountain
He wanted with all his heart to live. So the soldier his fears and doubts. He wore a blank mask and
peaks.
hid
forced himself to believe that death in battle was his greatest glory.
He
stood in the lurching boat listening to the throb-
bing motors, the wind, and the waves slamming against the sides of the vessels. Every second brought
unknown shore of Shima. And he knew not
closer to the
the place
Otori
if
there.
now
him
called
death awaited him
“our lives belong to the mikado!”
64
winked from ship
All around, in the darkness, signals to ship across the
churning waters.
Gun crews
stripped
canvas covers from their pieces. Extra ammunition was
hauled up on deck. Turret commanders plotted range
and
High
firing
charts.
Gunners double-checked weapons.
in crow’s-nests, lookouts
scanned through night
glasses the adjacent waters in a constant, tense search for
Yankee warships.
The time
of decision
was nearing
.
.
.
9
.
“Do you
think this
is
a hall game?”
At about 0300 (3:00 a.m. ), Thursday, December 11 (Wake time), a Marine sentry walked his solitary post near Battery A at Peacock Point on Wake Island. The night was black, the silence broken only by
waves pounding on the
reef.
The
booming
lone Leatherneck
paused atop a sand dune and stared seaward into the darkness.
The wan moon shone through restless water; only a
few
stars
a slight overcast on the
were
visible.
As he
sur-
veyed the heaving ocean, the Marine saw something startling.
Several miles from shore, he noticed tiny
specks of light blinking and bobbing. 65
“do you think this
66
At stars
first
is
a ball game?”
the sentry thought that they were stars; but no
had ever hung that low were playing
that his eyes
many
times he turned
in the sky. tricks;
Then he decided
but no matter
away and looked back,
how
the lights
remained, dancing and weaving in the distance.
The Leatherneck
called the corporal of the guard,
and
the noncom, scanning the sea with night glasses, agreed that lights
were
flashing out there.
The
CP. Soon, Major Devereux, Major Potter,
notified the
and Commander Cunningham, the grouped
The were
at
corporal then
atoll
CO, were
Peacock Point, peering through binoculars.
had drawn
lights
closer
clearly discernible.
by 0400 (4:00 a.m.) and
A half-hour
later,
the watchers
could make out the shadowy hulls of ships. “It’s
the Japs!'’ Devereux said. “Alert
all
batteries
and
beach positions!”
Moments
later, field
telephones were jangling in bat-
tery CP’s. Intercom radio loud-speakers gently. Sleepy
Commanders
men awakened and dashed
squawked
ur-
to their posts.
of 5-inch batteries at Peacock,
Kuku, and
Toki points took sightings and began to track targets.
On the beaches, riflemen and machine gunners crouched in foxholes
and squinted hard across the water.
As dawn neared, everyone saw the approaching en-
emy
fleet.
The
ships,
steaming in array, must have
seemed overwhelmingly formidable shore.
With the Y ubari
to the
Marines on
in the lead, battle flags flying,
"do you think this
is
a ball game?”
the cruisers, destroyers, and transports sive sight.
made an
67
impres-
However, the laconic Leathernecks were not
overawed.
"Anything that
B on Toki
tery
A
is
Point pointed out.
the baby
There was a
among
that’ll
lot of
do
he boasted.
it,”
brave talk and nervous wisecrack-
the Marines.
5-inchers of Battery to
can be sunk,” a sergeant of Bat-
gunner patted the barrel of a 5-inch cannon. "And
this
ing
floats
A
The gun crews
on Peacock Point made bets
which gun would sink the But the banter stopped
foe,
some four miles
firing run.
ward
off
serving the two
at
first
enemy
ship.
0500 (5:00 a.m.) when the
at sea, started
The Yubari and
as
maneuvering
four destroyers
the southern shore of
Wake and
for a
swung west-
Wilkes islands
while the Tenryu and Tatsuta, with their destroyers,
headed
for Peale Island.
The sun had risen well above the horizon by then; the day was cloudless, but a strong northeasterly wind still
caused heavy swells to thunder against the
reef.
In his CP, Major Devereux was busy checking with his battery
commanders. He issued a blanket order: "No
The slender made contact with Major Putnam and found
one will open officer also
that
fire until I
give the word.”
Squadron 211 had four planes capable of
"Stay
down
Devereux
said.
flying.
until the shore batteries start to shoot,”
s
“do you think this
68
is
a ball game?”
Putnam passed the word to the three pilots who would take to the air with him. He had picked only his most experienced fliers for the mission: Captain “Hammering Hank” Elrod, Captain Herbert C. Freuler, and Captain Frank Thorin. The ready to go
at
men
sat in their Wildcats,
any time.
The Yubari and her
escorts arrogantly
steamed past
some 5,700 yards out. At 0530 Admiral Kajioka nodded to his staff gun-
the tip of Peacock Point
(5:30 a.m.
nery
)
officer,
who gave
the signal for the cruiser’s big
guns to begin the bombardment. The Yubari’ broadside flamed and thundered; the destroyers joined the crashing chorus.
The Yubari
cruised the length of
Wake
Island and
Wilkes Island with guns blazing. However, neither she nor her destroyers caused any major damage. The rent of shells ignited
No.
1,
some
oil
storage tanks near
tor-
Camp
but no Marine casualties resulted. At the same
time, the Japanese PB’s
and transports deployed
boats for the storming parties. their efforts. Several of the
troops, capsized.
The heavy
to lower
sea balked
launched boats, loaded with
Weighted down by packs and weapons,
the unfortunate soldiers drowned.
As enemy shelling increased
in
tempo, Major Dev-
ereux was besieged by requests from his gun ers for permission to
to wait.
open
fire.
The
command-
CO calmly told them
“do you think this
is
a ball game?”
69
Puzzled by his superior’s reluctance to give the necessary orders, Major Potter asked, “What’s wrong, Jim?
Why
are
you delaying?”
“I don’t
want the Nips
make them teries. If I
give
them
to spot our guns. I’m trying to
believe their planes knocked out our bat-
can bring the Japs a a black eye,”
little closer, we’ll really
Devereux
replied.
His canny plan worked. Convinced that the Amer-
had nothing
icans
left
with which to hit back, Kajioka
indiscreetly ordered his ships to
By 0610 (6:10
a.m.
)
move in at shorter range.
the Yubari was again off Peacock
Point making ready for a second
down
the coast. As the foe
swung
phoned Lieutenant Barninger yours, Barny,” he said.
“Lay
it
bombardment run
about, Devereux tele-
at
Battery A.
on the
flagship
appeared
all
line!”
This was what Barninger wanted to hear.
quick check of range and elevation.
“It’s
When
He made
a
the Japanese
in his gunsights, the lieutenant yelled,
now!
The
5-inchers spoke.
Two
hits
shook the Yubari and ,
then two more shells exploded on the enemy cruiser. Flames enveloped the stricken ship. She limped away over the horizon, behind a protective smoke screen sent
up by the
A
escort destroyers.
little later,
Battery
L on
Wilkes Island opened on
the Hayate, which led two other destroyers. sighted by Battery
CO
The
guns,
McAlister, struck the Hayate in
y
/
//
*•
y
A'OU* F*fF's
//
/
-/
/// / /
/
/' *
•
# /
/
• • •
JAPANESE INVASION FORCE
9
/
(Admiral Kajioka ) f
CRUISERS
( DESTROYERS 1
TRANSPORTS
•S,
S' a 0
DECEMBER
11
,
1941
“do you think this a vital spot. She
hands
at
blew up, broke
is
a ball game?”
in two,
71
and sank with
0652 (6:52a.m.).
When the enemy destroyer exploded,
Battery L’s gun-
ners broke off firing for a spontaneous celebration.
men
all
The
whacked one another on
the
back, and turned handsprings. But a granite-jawed
Ma-
cheered, laughed,
rine veteran, Platoon Sergeant
Henry
Bedell, squelched
their high- jinks.
“Get back to the guns, you this is a ball
damn
fools!
Do you
think
game?” he bellowed.
The chastened Leathernecks scurried to work again. They mollified the bristling sergeant by immediately hitting the destroyer Oite
Konryu Maru, causing cruiser
and damaging the transport
casualties
on both
ships.
The
Tenryu was the next victim; she dropped out
of
the fight trailing clouds of smoke. Later a Marine said,
“The Japs scrammed because they were afraid Bedell
would
holler at them!”
Three Imperial Navy destroyers, Yayoi, Mutsuki, and
B on Toki commanded
Kisaragi, ventured within range of Battery Point,
where Lieutenant Woodrow Kessler
the 5-inchers.
The
and staggered fast
off.
Yayoi, which
leading, took a salvo
The Mutsuki and
the Kisaragi stood
and raked the Peale Island bastion with a barrage.
Japanese shells rained its
was
all
around Battery B, damaging
control communications, but after a hot fight, those
two ships
also turned
tail.
“do you think this
72
While
action
all this
is
a ball game?”
was going
on,
Putnam, Freuler,
Thorin, and Elrod took off in their F4F’s.
The Wildcats
dropped 100-pounders from the makeshift releases and swept low to
strafe the harried
enemy.
A bomb
put the
torpedo battery of the Tennju out of action, and another
demolished the radio room of the Tatsuta.
“Hammering Hank”
Elrod’s plane
was
hit
from the crippled Kisaragi yet he managed ,
to
by
flak
drop a
100-pounder squarely amidships on the hapless destroyer.
With
his plane
burning and almost out of con-
Elrod crash-landed on the
trol,
The plane was walked away from
airstrip.
completely destroyed but the pilot the wreckage.
“Honest, guys, I’m sorry as hell about the plane,” El-
rod said as corpsmen raced up to give him medical assistance that he did not need.
When down
the Wildcats completed this mission and
to refuel
and rearm,
tain Freuler’s engine this, off.
he
tried to
Luckily, he
it
came
was discovered that Cap-
had been pierced by
flak.
Despite
go up again, only to crash on the take-
emerged uninjured.
With only two planes
in usable condition,
Putnam
substituted Lieutenant Kinney and Sergeant Hamilton for Freuler
and Thorin.
At 0731 (7:31 a.m.), Kinney sighted the maimed Kisaragi and circled for an attack. Just as he to release his
bombs
was about
a great explosion rent the ship.
“do you think this “Bits
and pieces flew high
is
a ball game?”
73
and a sheet
of fire
in the air
shot ’way up,” Kinney later reported.
down, there was nothing
few pieces
of
wreckage
The doomed
ship
“When
looked
I
the destroyer except a
left of
on the surface.”
floating
had been carrying an
extra load of
depth charges on her deck. Apparently, Elrod’s
had
set off those lethal missiles. This
of the
first
Japanese invasion
effort.
was the
bomb
last act
Only a minute be-
fore the Kisaragi disappeared without survivors, Dever-
eux had ordered a
was
cease-fire, for the foe
in full
retreat.
One
of Kajioka’s staff officers explained the Japanese
retirement: “because
.
.
.
we had
already suffered losses
and the defense guns were very accurate, the Admiral decided, at 0700, to retire to Kwajalein and other attempt
when
conditions were
more
make
an-
favorable.”
This bland statement sought to cover up an ignominious defeat for the Imperial Navy. Admiral Kajioka’s losses
were
large:
about
500
men
2 destroyers sunk, 7 ships damaged, killed,
and
an
wounded. The Americans came out
unknown number of the
engagement
almost unscathed. Their casualties totaled only one
Ma-
and four wounded. The defenders had
lost
rine killed
two planes and the damage tions in Battery
to the control
B which hampered
communica-
the operation of
those guns.
The beleaguered Marines
still
had plenty
of fight left.
“do you think this
74
is
a ball game?”
At noon, eighteen Japanese bombers appeared. The
maining Wildcats shot down two Betty s,
AA
guns ac-
counted for another, and four more were seen to trailing
re-
fly
away
smoke.
Nor was Squadron 211 in the afternoon,
finished with the
enemy. Late
one of the Japanese submarines that
had preceded the Wake Invasion Force suffered a mechanical breakdown, which forced repairs.
it
to
come up
While the sub was surfaced, a Marine
for
pilot.
Lieutenant Kliewer, happened to be on patrol in his
F4F.
A
deeply religious man, Kliewer had grave doubts
over the propriety of taking
human life, even
in
wartime.
According to a friend, he had joined the Marines as a
when he saw the enemy submarine, Kliewer hesitated barely a moment before hitting it with a 100-pound bomb. The sub disflier
only because he loved planes. Yet,
integrated into a thousand pieces.
Upon
Kliewer reported to Major Putnam.
his return,
CO
Squadron 211’s
comforted the troubled young
“Don’t feel too bad, Dave. During a war
we
all
pilot.
must
do many things that go against our natures.” “I
know, Major.
abandoned
all
December
my
11
.
.
.
What
worries
me
is
how
easily I
principles,” Kliewer replied.
came
to a close. It
rable day for the Marines.
had been a memo-
Never again during the
fight-
ing in the Pacific would coast defense guns succeed in
“do you think this
stopping an amphibious landing. justifiably elated,
to
and one
Major Devereux
as the
of
CO
is
a ball game?”
75
The Leathernecks were
them expressed
came by on an
his pride
inspection
tour.
“We had
quite a day, didn’t we, Major? Quite a day!”
The boyish Marine
grinned.
“That’s right, son,” Devereux agreed.
The Leatherneck enough
to tell
my
sighed. “Golly,
I
hope
grandchildren about
it.”
I live
long
70
m
CC T)
I
.
praying,
you
idiot!”
Though pleased by illusions
their victory, the
about the future.
emy was coming
Marines had no
No one doubted
that the en-
again, the next time in greater force.
Devereux eagerly read every communique from Pearl Harbor, hopeful for word that help would soon come.
The only ten off
Wake was
marines
the presence of
—the
around the “lend
indication that the U.
all
Tambor and the atoll. The undersea
movements
.” .
.
.
Navy had not
two
craft
.
.
writ-
Pacific Fleet sub-
Triton
possible assistance to the
by attacking enemy shipping
76
S.
—
in the waters
were supposed
Wake
garrison
.
to .
.
and reporting enemy
“i’m praying,
you
77
idiot!”
For one or another reason, neither the Triton nor the
Tambor was
of
much
help.
The Triton took
aggressive action against the Japanese.
the only
On December
spread of four torpedoes at an
10, she fired a
enemy
cruiser (possibly one of Kajioka’s ships) but her “tin fish’
missed. Although both submarines were in the area,
they took no part in the December 11 fighting.
A
few days
back
to Pearl
CINCPAC ordered the submarines Harbor. When advised by Pacific Fleet
later,
authorities that the “pig boats”
Cunningham
A
were here?
much
tartly
for us
left,
Commander
commented, “Who could
case of poison ivy
tell
they
would have done
as
.” .
.
During the days
CINCPAC
had
after the
Japanese invasion attempt,
hinted that something big was in the wind.
Dispatches urged Cunningham and Devereux to be “patient”
and “hold on.” The two men interpreted
CINCPAC’s
could be expected.
stantial aid
Even
the
intimations as veiled assurances that sub-
mere promise that something might be done
bolstered morale on
Wake. Marines and
civilians re-
garded every favorable whisper, every optimistic
bit of
“scuttlebutt,” as gospel. Fanciful stories, without basis
or logic, sprang up. Pacific Fleet
Someone had heard
was en route
to
“have
it
that the “whole”
out with the Nips.”
Another Marine swore he had seen a decoded dispatch
from Pearl Harbor which
listed “a
dozen Army and
78
“i’m praying,
Marine for
you
idiot!”
on transports coming
outfits
as reinforcements
Wake.” And so the gossip went and the rumors
flew.
The only news from via radio broadcasts
December
the outside
came
to the
Marines
picked up by short wave.
On
only 24 hours after they had repelled
12,
Admiral Kajioka, the Leathernecks heard themselves heralded by commentators as “the defenders of the sec-
ond Alamo.”
A
Marine from Texas boastfully declared,
“Yes, that’s right! This
is
another Alamo!
By God,
it
takes us Texans every time!”
He proceeded
to bore
everyone within earshot about
the legendary prowess of the
Lone
Star Staters,
and was
promptly nicknamed “Sam Houston.” After listening his
to
bragging for a while, a youth from Michigan called
a halt.
“Why
don’t
you
rest
your
tonsils,
Sam Houston?”
the
Michigander asked. “And please stop comparing us with the Alamo.”
“Why?”
the
“Don’t you
Texan demanded.
know what happened
man was killed!” “Oh!” Sam Houston
at the
Alamo? Every
last
said,
and
fell
into a
morose
si-
lence.
According to one imaginative broadcaster, Major Devereux, shortly after the Japanese withdrawal, had radioed Pearl Harbor the details of the victory and
al-
T’m praying, you
79
idiot!”
legedly concluded his report with the improbable state-
ment: SEND US MORE JAPs!
When Devereux heard that one, he laughed hollowly. “Why the devil would I ask for more Japs? We’ve got enough trouble with those we already have!” But back
in the
United
States, a public, confused,
shocked, angered, and humiliated by the naval disaster at Pearl
Harbor, thrilled to the defiant
(if fictitious)
words, and “Send us more Japs!” was enshrined with
such historic declarations as “Don’t give up the ship!”
have not yet begun
to fight!”
“I
and “Damn the torpedoes!
Full steam ahead!”
In that hectic period of December, 1941, newspapers
exhorted their readers to
“Remember
and “Remember Wake!” and cry
“Remember
of youths
from
also revived the old battle-
the Alamo!” Thousands cities,
Pearl Harbor!”
upon thousands
towns, and villages flocked to
recruiting stations, unwilling to wait for the draft.
The
Wake
attack on Pearl Harbor and the gallant defense of stirred
Americans
ing of the battleship
as
nothing had since the sink-
Maine
in
Havana harbor
—the
spark that touched off the Spanish- American War.
Americans
who had remained
apathetic to Hitler’s
aggressions and atrocities were outraged
sneak blow.
on
the
A wave
by Japan’s
of jingoism swept the country,
West Coast,
(American-born), were
all
Japanese,
moved
including
and nisei
inland to special camps.
— “iM PRAYING, YOU
80
IDIOt!”
Despite their grisly experience in World icans
unrealistically
War I, Amer-
believed that the nation could
They had what war meant. They
“spring to arms” overnight and crush the foe. to
be reminded the hard way of
had forgotten the admonition liam T. Sherman
who
of Civil
“War
said,
is
War
General Wil-
Hell!”
The men trapped on Wake already had ample proof that Sherman was right. The day after the invasion attempt (December 12), no Japanese planes attacked the
The Marines gazed skyward
atoll.
gard
men eyed each optimism he
flicker of
suspiciously.
other hopefully. felt;
perhaps
perhaps the Nips had called
it
None voiced
—oh,
quits.
let it
Maybe
old Tojo
to
one said
man knew what was
it
aloud, but every
the
be true
had been hurt bad enough
throw
Hag-
in the towel.
No
going
through the other fellow’s mind.
That thought turned out
be wishful thinking, for
to
on December 13 the Japanese returned. They came greater
numbers than
in
ever. Just before noon, fifty Bettys
converged on Wake. The torrent of bombs that
fell ex-
ceeded anything the Marines had ever been subjected
to.
The A A gunners fought back
tigerishly. “I
never
knew
a three-incher could shoot so fast,” said a Marine in
Battery E. (The battery had changed position again after the invasion attempt
500 yards north of
its
and was now emplaced about
former
site.)
“i’m praying,
you idiot!”
81
The planes came from so many directions and skimmed so
low that the
I
recalled.
“Once
clobbered one of
ily, it
I
swung
my crewmen
the
gun
cause he
owed me
and swore
with the muzzle. Luck-
I
did
it
mad
at
me
on purpose be-
five bucks.”
Bombs exploded without attack, a
firing in
so quickly that
caught him on the helmet, but he was
for days afterwards
letup.
Leatherneck rifleman
buddy mumbling. “What first
gunners were
was getting dizzy twirling around,” a former
circles. “I
Marine
AA
.50-caliber
are
At the height of the
in a foxhole
heard his
you doing?” asked the
Marine. “I’m praying, you idiot!” snapped the sec-
ond.
“And
After
if
you had any
what seemed an
brains, so
would you.”
eternity, the
enemy
departed,
bombs gone and machine-gun ammunition expended.
The Marines staggered out find nothing standing
of their holes expecting to
and torn corpses sprawled on the
sand.
bombardment caused no casualties, although one gun in Battery E had its sight smashed, and the elevating mechanism damaged. HowIncredibly, the furious
ever, the
weapon was
the 3-incher dragged
mounted
as
still
operable. Devereux ordered
down
to the water’s
an antiboat gun, since
it
could
edge and
now
fire
only
in a flat trajectory.
That
air assault
on December 13 (the 12th
Harbor) marked a change
in
Japanese
tactics.
at Pearl
The num-
“iM PRAYING, YOU
82
IDIOt!”
ber of daily raids was increased; planes came at dawn, noon, and dusk. The days blurred; there was no rest for
men stumbled
the Marines;
tattered, dirty,
and craving
about
like
zombies, hungry,
sleep.
The Marines began to gripe bitterly for the first time. They despaired of relief, and cynically called themselves the “Orphans of the Pacific”
who “had no momma, no
poppa, no Uncle Sam.” They cursed the Navy that had “forsaken” them, the government that had thrown
on that benighted place where
their
bleach in the sun.” The catch phrase on
them
“bones would
Wake
grueling days was, “The Navy’s coming, and
in those
so’s Christ-
mas!
But when Japanese planes roared over, the gunners
pumped still
sent
them and Squadron 211
shells
and
up
“junk heaps” to fight the bombers.
its
bullets at
Lieutenant Kinney, Sergeant Hamilton, and a volunteer helper, Machinist’s
U.
S.
Mate
Navy, with some
First Class
civilians,
kept patching the
planes, switching parts, propellers, blies,
and actually
and motor assem-
rebuilt four planes;
of ingenuity,” according to
James Hesson,
it
was “a miracle
Major Putnam.
Because the numerous bombings made cooking impossible, the
were cached
men had
to subsist
at various points
on
on the
tributed to the batteries twice a day. position at Heel Point
(Wake
C
rations, atoll
which
and
dis-
The machine-gun
Island) was overlooked
“i’m praying,
and no rations came
you
83
idiot!”
two days. The famished ma-
for
chine-gun crew was desperate for food.
A civilian named
“Sonny” Kaiser offered to find some for the ravenous Leathernecks, and went
He
off
on
his
mercy
mission.
returned a few hours later driving a jeep laden
with cases of rations; in addition, Kaiser brought several boxes of cigars
the
bottles of whisky.
When
happy Marines questioned him about the source
his booty, Kaiser
my
and three
merely smiled mysteriously.
ways,” he said.
He
“I
have
“Who wants
held up a bottle.
of
a
drink?” Despite persistent questioning, Kaiser never
revealed his secret.
The days
passed, the
bombs
fell
—and the
came unbearable. Not only the humans sands of birds fluttered in blind colliding with each other,
The were
explosions affected.
with terror during the
And
felt
it.
Thou-
flight, flying crazily,
and plummeting into the
sea.
Even the
rats
had upset
They ran
strain be-
their balance.
in frenzied packs, squealing
air raids.
the Marines stared moodily at the
empty expanse
of sea, silently praying for a glimpse of friendly ships,
unaware that they were between the jaws pincers
made
in Japan.
of a cruel
The enemy had already
plans for another invasion.
laid
“The Yankees are a
When Admiral
Kajioka’s defeated invaders fled from
Wake, the shaken Japanese made for Roi with all possible speed. Once the ships reached their anchorage on
December “I
13,
Kajioka radioed his chief, Admiral Inouye:
have disgraced the Emperor
responsibility for
cember
... I
suitable
what transpired
am prepared for
.
.
at
.
Wake on
84
11 De-
/’ .
.
This was a
ritualistic suicide
a disgraced Japanese performed self.
all
any punishment you deem
Kajioka’s staff officers feared that he hara-kiri.
and assume
would commit ceremony that
by disemboweling him-
In order to prevent the admirals self-immolation,
“the YANKEES ARE A WORTHY FOE”
85
the officers maintained a discreet but constant guard.
However, that
drastic
when Inouye enabled him another chance
The admiral then aged
was made unnecessary
act
Kajioka to regain face by giving
to capture
Wake.
flagship, the Yubari, to consider
The
next.
spokesman
chief
dam-
called a meeting aboard his
what must be done was Rear
at the conclave
Admiral Marushiye Kuninori, Operations Officer of the Fourth Fleet. .
.
He
declared:
the Americans were very brave
coast artillery marksmanship .
.
.
.
.
.
was remarkably accurate
We must reassess our opinions
of the
enemy and
knowledge that the Yankees are a worthy foe
The all
.
ac-
.
operations officer then reviewed the casualties
and assured
suffered in the abortive attack that
Their sea-
the
damaged
his listeners
ships could be repaired at Roi.
outlined a plan for the second invasion attempt;
an example of Japanese
inflexibility, for
it
He was
Kuninori pre-
sented the precise blueprint that had failed on Decem-
ber 11. The only difference was that this time the invasion force
The sunken
would be much
powerful
six
the
Hay ate were reAsnagi and the Y unagi.
destroyer, the
Oboro which mounted
destroyers Kisaragi and
placed by their
A
stronger.
sister ships
new
5-inch guns,
was added
,
to the invasion fleet.
The crack naval 2d Special Landing Force, which had captured Guam, was rushed to Roi from Saipan.
86
“THE YANKEES ARE A WORTHY FOE”
This time, Kajioka would have 2,000 men, not 450, to do
High Command, now
the job. In addition, the Japanese
convinced that
Wake was
and Hiryu each with
tough, sent the carriers Sortju
fifty-four aircraft to bolster the
expedition. Both flattops
had participated
in the strike at
Pearl Harbor. Their pilots
and planes were among the
best in the Imperial Navy.
The
commanded by Rear Admiral Accompanying the
carriers
aerial striking force
was
Hiroaki Abe.
were the heavy
Tone and Chikuma with escorting
destroyers. Vice
more
miral Inouye, at Truk, wanted no
cruisers
fiascoes
Fourth Fleet.
He
plement of a
first-rate cruiser division:
Ad-
from
his
dispatched to Kajioka the entire comthe
Aoba the ,
Furutaka, the Kinugasa, and the Kako with their destroyers
and
auxiliary vessels. This impressive
flew the burgee of Rear Admiral A. Goto,
squadron
who had
sup-
ported the invasion and conquest of Guam.
On December
20,
backed by
Rear Admiral Kajioka
Steaming behind
his
left
this
Roi for
flagship
powerful armada,
Wake
came
in the Yubari.
the old cruisers
Tenryu and Tatsuta, fresh paint drying on the repaired damage.
A
hastily
covey of destroyers guarded the
troop-laden transports that followed the cruisers. Three
submarines, R-60, R-61, and R-62, had been ordered to
go on ahead of the main force for the purpose of scouting out any United States surface units.
Alone in
his quarters, Kajioka
pored over the
new
“the YANKEES ARE A WORTHY FOE”
87
invasion plan. According to the schedule, the landings
were
to take place
about 0300 (3:00 a.m.) on Decem-
ber 23. Intensified bombings, led by carrier planes from the Soryu and the Hiryu, plus land-based bombers and big four-engined Kawanishi flying boats
(“Emilys”)
from Kwajalein, would begin on December 21
up Wake and eliminate
its
to soften
defenses.
The landings were to be made by PB’s 32 and 33. They would run aground on the south shore of Wake Island near the airstrip. Then, six barges, each carrying fifty
men, would come
along the south shore of
in, all
the atoll: two barges on Wilkes Island; two between the
end of the
airstrip
and
Camp
No.
1
and the
last
two
near Peacock Point.
Counting the men on the PB’s and the barges, almost 1,000 troops
would be sent
force a decision, another 500
ing parties
men from
still
not be enough, Kajioka had orders
beach the destroyers and throw
the Americans. “You are to capture
This
is
the ships’ land-
would be committed.
Should these to
ashore. If they could not
a fight to the
finish!’’
their crews against
Wake
at all costs.
Admiral Inouye had radioed
Kajioka just before the invasion force sailed.
Kajioka well understood what that meant.
He had
a
second chance to redeem himself. There would be no third opportunity for him.
He vowed
not to
fail.
“All that can be done
On December
is
20, the
being done
same day
l”
Kajioka’s fleet left Roi,
away from Wake and gave the Marines a brief respite. They needed even these few hours of rest. Enemy aircraft had been bombing them three times a day since December 13. Almost every installation above ground had been hit. The defenders were worn out, yet they still were not whipped. a driving rainstorm kept the Japanese
Squadron 211 had only two planes
left;
somehow, un-
believably, these indestructible Wildcats continued to fly.
Their fuselages were so riddled with bullets that
“they looked like Swiss cheese,” according to one rine.
88
Ma-
.
“all that can be done
But the
went
aloft to battle the
89
men
bombers. Putnam’s
took
up the ramshackle Wildcats; the squadron
had suffered heavy
bombing
being done!”
were undaunted and unhesitatingly
pilots
turns taking
is
casualties
Of the
raids.
on the ground in the
original twenty-six pilots, only
twelve remained. Conditions on
Wake were bad
Decem-
that Saturday,
ber 20. Battery commanders reported alarming shortages of 3-inch and 5-inch ammunition. Cartridges for
AA
the .50-caliber
began
to give out
guns were running low. Food stocks
and Lieutenant
from the hospital that
his
(jg)
Kahn reported
medical supplies needed
re-
plenishment.
To make been
who had
matters even grimmer, the civilians
living in the
to get out of hand.
bush
for nearly 2
They raided
with Marines, and fought perate, frightened
starting
the food caches, brawled
among
men formed
weeks were
themselves. These des-
into
marauding “outlaw”
bands that grew more troublesome every day. Both
Cunningham and Devereux Harbor asking “Those
for the evacuation of the civilians.
who have
co-operated are magnificent
the rest serve only to
They
persistently radioed Pearl
are using
hamper the defense
Cunningham
.
.
of this post
up needed food and water
contributing anything,”
.
.
.
.
but .
.
without
said in one dis-
patch to Pearl Harbor.
But no word had come about any immediate
—or
fu-
“all that can be done
90 ture
—action
to
is
remove the
being done!”
from Wake. The
civilians
Marines had to deal with that unhappy situation on their
own. Devereux and Cunningham were prepared
by
to put into effect stringent rules including death
ing squad for anyone caught looting.
were warned
civilians
Marines or
come
The “outlaw” and help the
in
else to stay clear.
had enough
“I’ve
either to
fir-
clared. “I intend to
of this nonsense,”
make an example
Devereux de-
of the next trouble-
maker who’s caught.” His tough attitude had the
men
pilfering
in the
its
Almost overnight,
effect.
bush began to behave better and food
ended abruptly. However, the
deteriorating for the defenders. Every
the garrison could not hold out
much
situation
was
man knew
that
longer.
Then, on December 20, good news arrived
in the
form of a Catalina patrol bomber from Pearl Harbor, the
first
outside visitor to
Wake
since
December
8,
when
The PBY
the Pan American Clipper had flown away.
arrived at 1530 (3:30 p.m.) and settled neatly in the
lagoon where the Clippers used to land.
Its
presence
evoked great excitement. Dirt-streaked Marines with matted hair and scraggly
beards
crowded the bomb-wrecked seaplane ramp.
They must have looked
like
creatures from another
planet to the nattily uniformed, clean-shaven, eight-man
PBY
crew.
A
Marine watching the
PBY men
disembark
“all that can be done
is
being done!”
91
among them
noticed that the highest-ranking officers
were only ensigns. “Hey, guys!” the Leatherneck cried. “Look I
at that!
guess the big shots back at Pearl think Wake’s too
dangerous to send anything more than an ensign!”
“Now
I’m really worried!” another Marine laughed.
The Catalina bearded
had with him
official
mail and
in-
Cunningham and Devereux. He pointed
structions for to a
pilot
man
in a
crumpled uniform that bore no
insignia of rank.
“You there!” the
pilot said.
“Right here,” the
ningham
The
— I
man
“Where’s your CO?”
with the beard
said.
.” .
.
flustered pilot saluted. “Sorry,
sir! I
—
mean you look I didn’t recognize Cunningham waved his hand. “That’s I
don’t recognize myself.
what goodies you brought As the the
“I’m Cun-
atoll
PBY crew
CO
Come on
didn’t
know
” all right, son.
along,
and
let’s
see
us.”
walked away with the
pilot,
one of
looked about wide-eyed at the carnage
wrought by the Japanese. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to some charred ruins.
“The world-famous Wake Island Hotel, said.
“Renowned
excellent cuisine.
for
its
and
As you can
surf.”
a Marine
luxurious accommodations and
was only recently renovated sea, sun,
sir,”
see, sir, the
establishment
to afford a better
view of
“all that can be done
92
PBY
“Gosh,” the
is
being done!”
ensign gasped. “You guys are really
at war.”
“No, no. We’re only actors in a movie. Don’t you
The Marine laughed. PBY pilot gave Cunningham
think the sets are effective?”
At the Marine CP, the
and Devereux particulars of the
had
sailed
relief
on December 16 (Pearl Harbor time). The
news cheered the harried men. Their even higher by a
Devereux ber
.
.
letter
24 December
“That’s
to
wouldn’t
let
by 23 Decem-
ready for evacuation by
.” .
.
as
he read the dispatch, which he
Cunningham. The
more
were raised
CINCPAC which instructed
all civilians
Devereux smiled
handed
from
spirits
to “prepare to receive aircraft
and have
.
expedition that
like it,”
he
latter
said. “I
perused
always
it
knew
quickly.
the
Navy
us down.”
He would have been less cheerful had he known that the hastily mobilized Wake Relief Expedition was running into all sorts of unforeseen difficulties. On December 17 (Pearl Harbor time), the day after the Saratoga
had
sallied out of Pearl, Secretary of the
Knox formally
W.
Kimmel as CINCPAC. succeed Kimmel was Admiral
relieved Admiral
The man appointed Chester
Navy Frank
to
Nimitz, an admirable choice.
However,
Nimitz could not reach Pearl Harbor for several days, since he
was then
in
Washington.
Vice Admiral William
PAC until Nimitz arrived
S.
Pye was designated CINC-
at Pearl
Harbor. Pye,
who had
— “all that can be done
commanded if
being done!”
the Pacific Fleet battleships,
unimaginative,
officer.
own
His
had been sunk on December
nia ,
is
was a
93
diligent,
flagship, the Califor7,
and Pye was too
painfully aware that the fleet could not afford to lose
any more big ships
As a
result,
—and especially any
aircraft carriers.
Wake Relief Expecaution. He was worried
he issued orders to the
dition, calling for
extreme
about the safety of the flattops Lady Lex and Sara then ,
when from Admiral Wilson Brown, commanding
proceeding into enemy waters. Pye’s anxiety grew
he learned
TF
11, that his cruiser
tice,
only to find
group had held antiaircraft prac-
much
of the
ammunition aboard
failed
to function. This
was indeed a grave predicament
ships expecting to
meet land-based and possibly
for
carrier-
based enemy planes.
Admiral Pye was
in a
quandary; Intelligence reports
claimed that the area into which
TF
was
11
many enemy submarines ... on patrol admiral ordered Brown to join CRUDIV closing on Wake ahead of the Saratoga. .
CRUDIV 6 plus
oiler
—under
was having
were forced
“had
.”
The anxious
6,
then slowly
Astoria , Minneapolis, and San Francisco
destroyers
Fletcher,
.
sailing
to stay
its
Rear
own
Admiral
trouble.
Frank
The speedy
Jack ships
with the transport Tangier and the
Neches, which could make only 12 to 15 knots per
hour. This delayed the
Wake
Relief Force
and endan-
gered every ship, including the Saratoga.
There was much tension aboard the Sara. Every hour
“all that can be done
94
being done!”
is
brought submarine alarms, reports of overwhelming Japanese naval
units, scuttlebutt
about “clouds of Jap
planes from four carriers,” and other fanciful to a
man, the Sara crew, her
officers,
and
tales.
fliers,
But
were de-
Wake
termined to push on. They meant to relieve the garrison at any cost.
The
pilots of
to get at the
Marine Fighter Squadron 221 were eager
enemy. After
was
all, it
their
comrades
in
Squadron 211 who were bearing the brunt of the Japanese attacks. The men lined the rail and cursed the snail’s
pace at which the ship moved
(Wake time)
the Sara was
from the besieged planes.
The
ship
still
—by December 21
more than 600 miles
beyond the range
atoll, far
would have
to sail another
of her
400 miles
before her aircraft were close enough to reach Wake.
On December
22, at
2000 (8:00 p.m.), Fletcher, con-
cerned that his destroyers were running low on
decided to
refill
them
at sea
ward movement was slowed
from the Neelies. The to 6 knots
work was not
a day in their journey to
finished,
for-
and the tedious
more than 10
refueling process started. After delay, the
fuel,
hours’
and the ships had
lost
Wake.
Meanwhile, that American bastion
felt
the
first
on-
slaught of Kajioka’s grand offensive. At 0650 (6:50 a.m. the of
PBY
)
flew back to Pearl Harbor. For a brief period
two hours, there was complete calm on the
Some Marines grouped around
atoll.
a short-wave radio re-
“all that can be done ceiver that cast
is
being done!”
95
had picked up an English-language broad-
from Tokyo. They laughed derisively
as the an-
Wake
to the vic-
nouncer described the surrender of
and “unconquerable” Japanese.
torious
“Man, some guys never get anything a Marine
The
right,
do they?”
commented.
lull
ended
at
0850 (8:50 a.m. ), when planes from
the Japanese carriers Soryu and Hiryu hurtled
A wave
Wake.
of twenty-nine Aichi-99 dive
(“Vais”), escorted atoll.
They
fense
by
by eighteen Zero
down on bombers
fighters, hit the
struck out of the overcast and took the de-
surprise. Luckily, the attack
and caused neither
casualties nor
proved ineffective
damage.
Still,
the
presence of carrier planes was highly disturbing. Major
Putnam ing to
flew off in one of the two remaining F4F’s, seek-
tail
the
enemy back
to their carrier,
have enough gasoline to follow them
all
but did not
the way.
Commander Cunningham sent an urgent call to CINCPAC, saying that carrier-borne dive bombers had struck. This was picked up by the San Francisco many ,
miles away, but Admiral Fletcher, in the midst of his refueling operation,
toga
still
Soon
was helpless
after the carrier planes departed, thirty-three
Wake
with disastrous
effect.
bombs straddled Battery D on Peale, knockthe director unit. The defenses were crumbling
stick of
ing out
and the Sara-
cruised too far away.
land-based Bettys plastered
A
to assist,
“all that can be done
96
is
being done!”
under the merciless pounding. After that attack only eight of Wake’s twelve 3-inch
AA
guns were
still
effec-
tive.
The enemy followed up ing.
this
beating early next morn-
Lieutenant Carl R. Davidson and Captain Herbert
Freuler, flying the early patrol, spotted thirty-three Vais
down on
escorted by six Zero fighters. Freuler dived
down two
the Zeroes and within minutes shot
In that brief fray, he was pled.
wounded and
As Freuler turned back
chasing a Val.
A
to
of them.
his plane crip-
Wake, he saw Davidson
Zero came up behind and blasted the
American; Davidson’s Wildcat belched smoke and dived into the sea. Freuler brought in his disabled craft, but
wrecked
The
it
in a
pancake landing.
survivors of
Squadron 211 gathered around the
They helped Freuler out and moment.
hopelessly shattered F4F.
stood in silence for a
Then Lieutenant Kinney threw up his hands. “That’s it! No more planes! We’re scratched!” Major Putnam smiled ruefully. “Well, boys, our flying days are over. Let’s see
The twenty-odd was
left of
if
officers
Squadron 211
Dev can
use us as infantry.”
and enlisted men
—marched
to the
—
all
that
Marine CP.
“We’re reporting for ground duty,” Putnam
said.
Everywhere on Wake, men made preparations
for the
big Japanese push. Extra ammunition was trucked to the batteries.
Machine gunners piled up boxes
of
am-
“all that can be done
munition.
Hand grenades were
is
being done!”
passed out.
97
And
the
Marines waited.
Devereux flashed a message
to Pearl Harbor:
attack imminent, all that can be done BUT THERE
IS
is
enemy
being done,
SO LITTLE TO DO IT WITH.
In a Peacock Point foxhole, a machine gunner turned to his crew. “If the Japs
to cost
them
want
this lousy place,
plenty.”
“Amen, brother!” a Leatherneck grunted.
it’s
going
13
“ The enemy
.
is
on
the island”
Vice Admiral Pye, temporarily designated
PAC, was beset by darkness of
burden
as
a thousand anxieties in the
December 22
of a decision that
CINC-
predawn
The
(Pearl Harbor time).
might cause the
loss of
Ameri-
can warships had fallen on him. Yet that same crucial decision could bring about a victory over the Japanese
and
at the
same time rescue the men defending Wake.
As daylight tinted the eastern miral
still
paced
his office,
sky, the troubled ad-
hands locked behind
his
back, head thrust forward, as though walking the bridge of the
sunken California.
and forth that way 98
all
He had been
striding
back
night long. Sleep was out of the
“the enemy question.
How
could one sleep
is
on the island”
when
many
so
99
lives de-
pended upon him? Pye’s instincts as a fighting sailor told
TF’s 14 and 11 in a no-quarter that.
him
to send
Wake and engage the enemy free-for-all. He had the ships to do just
full tilt to
The Lady Lex and
the Sara , with
and destroyers, plus Halsey’s Big
all
E and
their cruisers
the ships of
TF
8 in reserve. If
was
ever the United States needed a naval victory, at that
dark hour in her history.
It
and daring
called for reckless deeds
was a time that
feats.
Americans
faced a bleak Christmas in 1941; the Japanese had
hum-
bled the mighty nation and shaken the confidence of people.
The
silent, twisted,
Harbor remained
as
it
its
burned-out hulks at Pearl
dumb monuments
of national hu-
miliation.
This was the
It
for an epic
blow against the
Wake was
the place for American
was a moment
for boldness, not timidity;
haughty enemy. vengeance.
moment
audacity, not hesitation. But Admiral Pye
stop-gap commander.
Navy would
An
all-out fight
surely entail
and Pye was reluctant
was only a
with the Imperial
some American ship
to give
losses,
Admiral Nimitz, the per-
manent CINCPAC, a Christmas present
of additional
casualties.
At 0350 (3:50 a.m.), December 22 (the 23d on
Wake), Pye received a
brief, disturbing
message from
“the enemy
100
on the island”
is
Commander Cunningham enemy apparently landing. :
About an hour
later, at
tressing signal crackled IS
ON THE
ISLAND.
Irresolution
CRUDIV 6 was
THE
0500 (5:00 a.m.
another dis-
by radio from Wake: the enemy
ISSUE
IS
IN DOUBT.
gripped Admiral Pye. in the
),
He knew
that
midst of refueling, a ticklish busi-
ness under the best of conditions, and those that prevailed were far from ideal. Yet, Pye could not remain inactive; rison,
At of
he wanted to do something for the
Wake
gar-
but worried about making a disastrous mistake. first,
he decided to send the Saratoga to a distance
200 miles from
Wake where
planes, search out,
she could launch her
and attack the enemy. This order
he countermanded, for the Saratoga would then be vulnerable.
A
bit later,
Tangier, unescorted,
he called on Fletcher to have the
make
a run to
Wake
pose of evacuating the Marines and the too,
for the pur-
civilians. This,
was countermanded.
During the day, Fleet Intelligence informed him that the latest available information placed at least two
enemy
carriers,
two
battleships,
and two heavy
with attendant destroyers in the vicinity of the
Concern
for the safety of the Sara
cruisers atoll.
plagued him; the
admiral doubted the wisdom of pitting the flattop against such a force. If she were sunk or seriously
aged, the Japanese might be encouraged to
dam-
make
an-
other pass at Pearl Harbor and the Hawaiian Islands.
“the enemy
is
on the island”
After a hurried meeting with his staff
decided not to
risk that eventuality
a.m.) ordered both bor, thus sealing
TF
14 and
Wake’s
TF
fate,
outpost but also the brave
men
and
officers,
at
101
Pye
0911 (9:11
11 back to Pearl Har-
writing off not only the fighting there.
The order evoked a storm of protest aboard the Saratoga. The carrier’s captain, A. H. Douglas, pleaded for a fast run-in
ready fueled.
by the
flattop
He proposed
and
all
the destroyers
to attack,
al-
with his planes,
“the
102
every
enemy is on the
enemy
Fletcher,
Marine
who
ship in sight.
turned
aviators,
rades, cursed
island”
it
The plan was relayed
down.
primed
com-
to fly to rescue their
and even shed vexed
and stormed, shouting
to
their rage
tears.
and
They
railed
frustration.
The
Saratoga rang with talk “so mutinous” that Admiral Au-
brey Fitch
left
cially since “I
said,”
the bridge to “avoid hearing
it,”
espe-
agreed with everything that was being
he admitted
later.
But neither ranting nor wrath could change anything.
The
and the task forces returned
ships turned around
to Pearl Harbor, “licked
without a
an
fight,” as
officer
on the Sara observed. This behind-the-scenes drama was enacted without the knowledge of the
Wake
garrison.
For them, Decem-
ber 23 (the 22d in Hawaii) was slated to be merely
another day of continuing ordeal and ebbing hope that rescue forces were at hand.
The day began sea
in misty rainfall
and thick clouds. The
was turbulent and the waves boomed sonorously
upon the
coral reef.
No one on Wake was
yet aware
that out in the night the ships of the powerful Japanese
invasion force had been jockeying into positions for
landing since 2300 (11:00 p.m.
Admiral Kajioka’s
fleet
voyage from Roi. For the
),
December
22.
had enjoyed an uneventful first
20-21) the weather had been
two days (December
idyllic: tropical
sunshine
“the enemy
and smooth water. At
was pleasant
to
sit
on the island”
103
night, the ships sailed placidly
under a benign moon and “It
is
glittering stars.
on deck and study the heavens,
picking out constellations, lulled by a gentle breeze with
blue sky above and blue water below us,” a Japanese soldier jotted in his journal.
The journey was without brief, false
incident except for one
submarine alarm; aside from
that, the Japa-
nese had not the slightest indication of any American
naval units in the Central Pacific. However, the weather
proved
fickle
and, during the afternoon of
December
22, turned foul.
Suddenly, the brilliant sun was obscured by heavy
“The wind rose
clouds.
screeched about the masts ships I
.
.
.
From my
a furious howl
to .
.
.
.
.
.
Driving rain lashed the
place on the bridge of the Yubari
could barely see the outlines of our escort vessels
Huge waves washed
and
.
.
.
over the prow and the cruiser was
tossed about like a toy boat,” one of Kajioka’s staff
offi-
The storm abated somewhat by nightfall but the sea still heaved; the Imperial Navy ships maneuvered with difficulty as the admiral tried to keep them cers noted.
in formation.
However, while the dirty weather caused the Japanese grave
difficulties, it also
gave them protection from
the Americans. Despite his undetected approach
Wake, Admiral Kajioka was
fearful that
upon
American sub-
“the enemy
104
is
on the island”
marines, surface craft, or planes would spot the ships.
Kajioka might have spared himself unnecessary anx-
The
came within 5 without being seen from shore. The first the Marines had of its presence came iety.
invasion force
when
a.m.),
gun
sentries noticed
miles of
Wake
indication that at
0100 (1:00
The
flashes out to sea.
man alerted. The and aroused much specula-
alarm was given instantly and every firing
continued for a while
tion about
sumed
its
meaning. The Americans wishfully •
was going
that a naval battle
long-awaited U.
Navy
S.
relief force
as-
on. Perhaps the
had run
into the
Japanese and was “clobbering the Nips,” in the words of
an excited Leatherneck.
Nothing of the
sort
was taking
place.
An AA gunner
on an enemy cruiser had mistaken some oddly shaped low-hanging clouds for American planes and started to blaze away.
Once he opened
fire,
an epidemic of wild
spread through the
firing at nonexistent targets
As the shooting went on, the rumor that a big sea
fleet.
fight
was raging persisted on Wake. One overly enthusiastic radio operator even reported that he States warship claim
ships
were
it
had sunk a
had heard a United
cruiser
and the enemy
fleeing.
The rumor soon died with
man on Wake had
the gunfire. Probably every
guessed that the alleged naval en-
gagement was only a
fantasy.
hard truth was accepted by
all
At 0145 (1:45 a.m.) the
when Lieutenant
Kessler,
“the enemy
commanding Battery
is
on the island”
105
CP
that a
B, notified the Marine
lookout on Toki Point (Peale Island) had seen lights
bobbing on the water. Kessler thought that small boats or landing barges
this indicated
were heading
for
shore.
This proved to be the case. At about 0130 (1:30 a.m.
)
the order rang out on the Japanese transports: “Land
An
the naval landing party!”
what followed
invasion ships described
men clambered
“Without hesitation, tossed barges
.
.
.
observer aboard one of the
.
.
into the storm-
wearing white sword sashes
Officers
led the perilous descent
next:
.
The hardships they encoun-
tered in the landing boats can barely be imagined
Men tumbled .
.
.
into the sea
and were swept
but others took their places
carrying
fifty
men
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Soon
six
looming bulk of
finest warriors
1
doom
barges each
made
for the
while the barges pitched towards the
Wake
Island
.
.
.
Suddenly an American
searchlight stabbed the night ...
The red
lines of .50
caliber tracer bullets streaked in the darkness ... final battle
was joined
.
.
.
The death
struggle
The
had be-
The time was 0245 (2:45 a.m.) ... I muttered prayer for all the brave young men, who had so gal-
gun a
.
the Patrol Boats scraped aground on the reef
Camp
south of
.
.
followed by Patrol Boats 32 and
33 with about 700 of our shore
.
to their
.
.
.
.
lantly
and
battle
.
.” .
unselfishly
plunged into the ghastly
hell of
“ This
as far as
is
we go”
The
initial resistance to the Japanese landings on
Wilkes Island came from Captain Wesley M. Platt and
about seventy Marines
who had light,
at
0235 (2:35 a.m. ).
It
was he
illuminated the beach with a 60-inch search-
throwing a flood of light on the beach. Corporal
Clarence McKinstry, operating a .50-caliber machine
gun near the boat channel between Wilkes Island and
Wake
Island, immediately
swarmed of
rifle
Platt
106
ashore, while Platt
and s
opened
.30-caliber
s
fire as
men
unloosed a torrent
machine-gun
furious barrage halted the
the Japanese
bullets
on them.
enemy on
the beach,
“this
and a wild
is
as far as
we go!”
107
between the outnumbered
battle broke out
Marines and the Japanese. The fighting swirled on Wilkes Island for hours.
As
this struggle
was
joined,
hundreds of Nipponese
troops began swarming off the PB’s onto the south
shore of
Wake
Island.
None
of the 5-inch guns could
be brought to bear against these landings, and the Americans
had nothing heavier than machine guns
to
cope
with them. However, Lieutenant Robert Hanna, with a
Marine corporal and three
civilians,
dashed down the
beach and manned the 3-inch gun that had been
moved from Battery
re-
E.
This weapon, emplaced between the beach and the airstrip,
had
to
proved
be the main obstacle that the enemy
to
overcome. Hanna and his scratch crew reached
the 3-incher just as the foe’s troops were climbing off the grounded PB’s.
Since the cannon’s sight had been damaged, laid in the piece
by peering
through the muzzle.
When
into the
hits
like a trained
open breech and
he had the gun lined up,
Hanna commenced firing. His first shot slammed into crew worked
Hanna
a PB; the improvised gun
team and scored fourteen
on the two patrol boats, which burst into flames,
causing casualties
burning vessels
lit
among
the
men
up the landing
still
aboard.
The
areas with the bright-
ness of day to give Marine machine gunners and
rifle-
108
men
“this
as far as
is
we go!”
a clear view of the target.
A
Leatherneck
at
Toki
Point later said, “It looked like the Fourth of July.”
The Japanese units that landed on Wake Island were among the best in the 2d Special Naval Landing Force the Uchida Company and the Itaya Company (named
—
for their
of the
commanding
officers).
Takano Company had
The Uchidas,
A
hit
hundred picked men
Wilkes Island.
the van, waving swords and
officers in
screaming “Banzai!” rushed Hanna’s gun. They probably
would have overrun
that position but for the
appearance of Major Putnam and the few ron 211. The
fliers
men of Squad-
had been holding a defensive post
near the beach, but the
enemy landing swept over
small group and encircled
Putnam
sudden
rallied his
the
it.
men in
a charge that broke through
the Japanese. During the hand-to-hand fighting that
marked Squadron
Weak from
each hand, shooting
there,
Putnam shouted, “This
fliers
men
Time
attackers.
is
as far as
we
go!”
turned to face the onrushing Uchidas.
Three or four armed line.
at the foe as his
up the beach toward Hanna’s gun.
retreated
and the
Putnam was wounded.
the loss of blood, the major stayed on his
feet, a pistol in
Once
211’s escape,
civilians joined
after time, the
Putnam’s defense
airmen beat back frenzied
As daybreak came, the hard-pressed Ameri-
cans could see dead and dying Japanese piled up before their
position.
Among them were unwounded men
“playing ’possum,” waiting the right
moment
to spring
“this
up and hurl a grenade
One such
or fire a
is
as far as
few shots
we go!”
109
at close range.
wily Japanese lay alongside the corpses un-
the Uchidas launched a banzai charge, personally
til
led by Captain Uchida. As the attackers reached a
screeching peak, the “dead
man” jumped up and
“Hammering Hank” Elrod
in the back.
was riddled with rod
bullets.
Elrod
charge stopped in
its
tracks
The banzai
and the Japanese
But the pressure on the Americans was too Japanese were closing in on the
airfield
and Major Devereux was forced half-finished
north of
its
killer
s
At the same moment that El-
a bullet pierced Uchida’s heart.
fell,
shot
to
fled.
great.
from two
move
his
CP
bunker some two hundred yards
The
sides,
into a to the
former position. The hospital was also evac-
uated and the patients carried to a partially completed building near the CP. Major George Potter, with some forty
the
men,
CP
By
as a
up
set
a perimeter around the hospital
secondary defensive
and
line.
then, almost 1,000 Japanese
were on Wake
opposed by fewer than 100 Marines and
Island,
civilians.
The
bulk of the defenders were on Peale Island and the northern end of Wilkes Island. Meanwhile, small parties of Japanese in
rubber boats had
infiltrated across the
lagoon and were moving through the thick brush. They cut communication lines between the teries so that
units
Devereux could not contact
and did not know the
positions.
CP and
situation
the bat-
his isolated
around the gun
110
“this
An
effort
WE go!”
AS FAR AS
IS
was made
keep
to
in
touch by radio, but
atmospheric conditions garbled reception and
it
Knots of defenders fought without know-
unintelligible.
ing
made
what was happening elsewhere; some men thought were carrying on the battle alone.
that they
Devereux kept informed
and the few places
He committed
still
as best
he could by runners
linked to the
CP by
telephone.
his last reserves into the fighting
around
the airfield, sending Lieutenant Arthur Poindexter and eight enlisted
by jeep
to
men
with four .30-caliber machine guns
occupy the ground between
the western
end
Camp
No.
1
and
of the airstrip. His instructions to Poin-
dexter were concise: "Hold to the last
man and
the last
bullet.”
Other Marines carried on fore
dawn, the Itaya Company began pressing north-
ward up the
The only a
in that tradition. Just be-
few
coral road that led from Peacock Point.
opposition in their path was
civilians,
and a
by Corporal Winford These
men
.50-caliber J.
to a pair of
Leathernecks,
machine gun worked
Macanally.
drove the Japanese back time after time.
But the enemy gradually closed Macanally ’s
six
in.
After sunrise, one of
men excitedly called the corporal’s attention strangely clad Japanese, who were advanc-
ing at a crouch, taking cover behind some coral rocks.
"The Nips were wearing goggles and asbestos
suits,
with heavy gauntlets on their hands. Something that looked like
fire
extinguishers were strapped to their
“this
backs,” the Marine recalled.
is
as far as
we go!”
“They looked
Ill
men
like
from Mars.” Corporal Macanally swung his machine gun around
and shot them.
A burst
the Japanese and
struck the tank carried
went up
it
in flames
by one
of
with a violent
swoosh.
“That was the
time any of us had ever seen a
first
flame thrower,” a Leatherneck explained.
As
full
came, the battle- weary Marines
daylight
Wake
stared, appalled:
Americans saw heavy
Atoll
will.
They were
able to
man
Probably every
was already
lost,
but
and de-
beyond the range
pound the
The
ships.
cruisers, light cruisers,
stroyers standing out to sea 5-inchers.
was ringed by
of the
atoll to pieces at
realized then that the battle
this certain
knowledge did not
dis-
hearten them.
The
struggle raged on, although the
force ashore strong at
enough
to
enemy had
a
overwhelm the defenders
any given point and a large reserve aboard the war-
ships.
But the Marines entertained no thoughts of surrender.
The
Stars
intrepid staff
and Stripes
men had
still
flew over
held up the
had been shot
all
No.
1,
where
enemy advance. The
in half, but a daredevil
scaled one of the water towers
place for
Camp
flag-
Leatherneck
and nailed the
flag in
to see, ignoring the patter of sniper fire
that slapped around him.
He descended amid
plause and cheers of his comrades.
the ap-
112
“this
IS
AS FAR AS
WE go!”
Perhaps their stubborn courage would have been pelled
had they known how dark the
dis-
situation actually
The defenders kept alive the dwindling hope that a U. S. Navy rescue force might still heave into sight over the horizon. But Commander Cunningham knew
was.
that
no help could be expected.
break, he
had been informed
Earlier,
in a
even before day-
CINCPAC
radio mes-
sage that friendly ships were not to be expected in the vicinity of
Wake
.
.
for at least twenty-four hours.”
Cunningham did not divulge one
—not even
to
this
information to any-
Major Devereux. Obviously, the
patch meant that no help was ever coming. The
CO later explained his we
to fight
ther purpose ...
but
I
decided that
I
on
.
.
.
but, as Americans,
no
until resistance served
it
fur-
did not want to prolong bloodshed, it
must never be said we on Wake
had succumbed without doing our utmost
The one-sided
atoll
silence in these words: “I figured
could always surrender
was our duty
dis-
fight
” .
.
raged on.
That morning, December
23, the climax of the
drawn-
out drama was soon to take place. Groggy from lack of sleep, the defenders blinked in the sunlight,
that they
The
foe
astounded
had somehow survived the monstrous was ashore
in great strength,
night.
but had not yet
succeeded in silencing the main centers of resistance that
still
held out. Savage fighting continued around
Hanna’s gun and
at the airfield.
Lieutenant Kliewer and
“this
a
is
as far as
few enlisted men were posted
blow up the previously mined
enemy hands.
fall into
By daybreak,
we go!”
113
there, with orders to
strip
if it
seemed about
to
Kliewer’s group fought for hours.
the lieutenant
saw
that he could
no longer
stave off the Japanese, and gave orders to detonate the
charges.
was
He
then discovered that the firing mechanism
defective.
While two
device, Kliewer
of his
and the others
men worked resisted the
enemy so effectively that the Japanese fell With communications broken between
CP and
this
meant
his
back. the Marine
that
CO saw
Rising
Wilkes Island and assumed
flags fluttering across
What Devereux and
advancing
Wilkes Island, Major Devereux had no idea of
the situation there. At dawn, the Marine
Sun
to fix the
American resistance had been crushed. could not
know was
that Captain Platt
Marines had the situation well in hand.
The enemy flags did not signify a Nipponese victory; they merely marked the location of Takano Company’s CP. At no time did the 100 men of the Takano Company that
had landed on Wilkes Island ever gain the upper
hand.
When
a.m.
bull-voiced Sergeant
),
the barges scraped ashore at 0300 (3:00
Henry
Bedell, aided
by
Pri-
vate First Class William Buehler, raced to the beach
with a box of hand grenades. The two Marines lobbed grenades into the barges until Japanese marksmen killed Bedell and Platt’s
wounded
men
Buehler.
battled the invaders
all
night in a raging
,
114
“this
is
.
as far as
we go!”
“no quarter” battle. At dawn, Captain Platt his
skillfully led
Marines in a counterattack that wiped out the en-
emy. Every
man in Takano Company was
killed.
Having
eliminated the foe, Platt awaited the turn of events.
Over on Peale infiltrators
Island, all
was
quiet.
A
few Japanese
had come ashore, but were hunted down and
killed.
The
when
three Imperial
came
biggest action there
B
range of Battery
Navy
destroyers
dawn,
poked within
(5-inchers) on Toki Point. Lieuten-
ant Kessler ordered the guns to open
had only a few
just after
although he
fire,
were scored on the de-
shells left. Hits
stroyer Mutsuki
which
cans.” (Observers
on Wilkes Island claimed
with the other two
fled
to
“tin
have seen
the Mutsuki sink, but no confirmation ever was made; it
must be assumed that she was merely damaged.) Because there was no fighting on Peale and Kessler
had expended
all his
ammunition on the Mutsuki Bat,
gun crews were marched
tery B’s
the connecting coral roadway.
Back days ber
in the
off,
United
States,
.
Wake
Island across
.
with Christmas only three
the usual festive spirit
mood
to
was dampened; a som-
gripped the people and the preholiday shop-
ping crowds were scant in number. Even children sensed the gloom; Christmas, 1941, was not going to be
much fun for anybody. The big
stores
on
New
York’s fashionable Fifth Ave-
“this
renowned
nue, world
is
as far as
No
wondrous
115
for their elaborate Christinas dis-
plays and spectacular lighting, remained after dark.
we go!”
dim and drab
bright lights transformed the city into a
fairyland;
wartime regulations demanded a
“brown-out,” which meant that electric displays were prohibited.
Broadway
theater signs were extinguished;
the dazzling signs that title
had earned
for
Broadway the
“The Great White Way” had been turned
Realization that the nation
was
into the national consciousness.
at
off.
war sank slowly
No day
passed without
thousands of youths being called to the colors under the
men streamed
National Conscription Act. Drafted hastily constructed camps, drill
sergeants
had
set in
and the raucous voices
drowned out the Christmas
Few Americans
could shake
off
on Sunday, December
Pearl Harbor
month dragged
into of
carols.
the depression that 7,
and daily deepened
with the raid on as
that
unhappy
on.
Only the epic bravery displayed on Wake cheered the people. Every day, churches and synagogues,
all
houses of worship, were crowded with prayerful Americans, seeking divine aid for the of that obscure dot of land
men
became
of
Wake. The
fate
the prime concern
of millions.
“We
ask only that the courageous handful on
be saved from the clutches of a rapacious rialized
one widely read
New
Wake
foe,” edito-
York tabloid.
116
“this
If Pearl
Wake
is
as far as
we go!”
Harbor symbolized the country’s humiliation,
epitomized
its
pride.
The nation was quick
to
honor the Marines there. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
lauded them in a coast-to-coast radio broadcast.
Secretary of the citation to the 1st
Navy Frank Knox awarded
a special
Marine Defense Battalion. The Navy
Department promoted Devereux and Cunningham
to
lieutenant colonel and captain respectively.
But these accolades meant nothing ing on
Wake. They had no time
were running out
to the
men
fight-
for praise; the sands
them on December 23 ( the 22d in Perhaps, as dawn came that Tues-
for
the United States).
day, the fifteenth day of the battle for
bat-weary Marines remembered that
Wake, some com-
it
was
Yuletide.
Perhaps they thought of past Christmases, recalling the delight of finding electric trains under the tree or a desired bike.
Many of the
Marines were barely past their
boyhood. Some had never spent Christmas away from
home. This year there was no turkey, carols;
to
ham,
or roast beef;
tree;
no
no succulent roast
tinsel
and ribbon; no
no loved ones. No peace on earth and goodwill
men; only death and hardship, pain and
terror.
“Do you mean
it,
Major?” Tuesday, December 23, 1941, brought wrenching anxiety to Admiral Kajioka.
He
strode the bridge of the
Yubari, pacing back and forth 'like a caged wolf,” ac-
cording to one of his wolflike as well.
He
staff officers. Kajioka’s
snarled, growled,
temper was
and snapped
at
anyone within earshot.
The
admiral’s black
mood was caused by
reports
ing in over the radio from the invasion units on
com-
Wake.
Captain Uchida, he learned, was dead; Itaya company’s advance
up the eastern shore
of
been stopped; nothing had been heard
Wake
Island
had
for several hours
from Wilkes Island where Captain Takano’s company 117
“do you
118
had gone ferociously
on the
mean it, major?”
ashore.
The Yankee Marines were
and exacting a price
fighting
for every yard gained
atoll.
Despite himself, Kajioka could not throttle a grudging
How
admiration for the foe.
Council had been in ities!
its
wrong the Imperial War
estimate of Yankee fighting qual-
and generals must
All those high admirals
foolish.
They had baldly
feel
stated that “Americans lacked
the moral fiber and courage needed to face the descendants of samurai on the battlefield
.
.
.”
Those words
must be choking them now.
knew the difference between propaganda and What his superiors told the Japanese about the
Kajioka truth.
Americans was propaganda; what they admitted to each other in their councils of
war should have been the
truth.
Unfortunately, the “brass” had actually believed their
own propaganda. tically,
dain.
Instead of judging the Yankees realis-
the Japanese leaders regarded
The triumphs
at Pearl
them with
Harbor and
Guam
dis-
lent
support to this attitude. But the “craven Yankees” were killing
good Japanese
Island and
Wake
soldiers
Island.
on the beaches of Wilkes
The dead Uchidas, Takanos,
and Itayas gave mute testimony that the Americans were not cowards but
first-class fighting
men.
As Invasion Force Commander, Kajioka sible for his soldiers.
At the very
honest appraisal of the U.
S.
least,
Marines.
felt
respon-
he owed them an
They should have
“do YOU
gone into battle
119
aware that the foe was well
fully
trained, disciplined,
MEAN IT, MAJOR?”
and
resolute, instead of expecting
an easy victory over a demoralized enemy. They had since learned the facts
.
.
.
Kajioka did not doubt that the Japanese would win; the odds against the Americans were overwhelming.
But every hour they held out he regarded
mark
knew Admiral Inouye was every move. The Fourth Fleet CO would
against him. Kajioka
watching
be more
his
than usual. Inouye had given him a
critical
reprieve after the fiasco of
Wake
of
as a black
career
December
11;
if
the seizure
did not go swiftly and smoothly, Kajioka’s
would end
The longer
it
in disgrace.
took to complete the operation, the more
endangered were the Imperial Navy destroyers,
carriers, cruisers,
and transports supporting the mission.
possibility always existed that
A
an American submarine
might sneak up on them. Kajioka shuddered over the consequences
if
the Soryu or the Hiriju
fell
victim to a
Yankee torpedo. Then,
too, there
was the likelihood
that a U. S.
Navy
surface force might suddenly appear and attack the
Japanese vessels around Wake. Kajioka was aware that,
even after Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet three carriers It
for
was an
and many heavy
logical to all-out
cruisers
still
had
left
and destroyers.
assume that the enemy was eager
naval
engagement.
Admiral
Kajioka
“do you
120
mean it, major?”
wanted no part
of a sea battle. His orders
capture Wake, not to fight
enemy
had been
to
He had enough
ships.
trouble directing the action on the atoll without having the additional worry of a surface clash.
Kajioka had hoped that once his troops had been ferried ashore they
would overrun the defenses before day-
break. In anticipation of this, he
uniform.
He was an
had donned
his dress
impressive figure in the starched
whites, with a ceremonial sword strapped to his waist
and two rows of medals clinking on symbolic
was
it
rising
atoll.
would have been
Wake
on
to step
with the Rising Sun
his chest.
How
as the
flag fluttering
sun
over the
That was a touch that would have pleased Admiral
Inouye and raised Kajioka’s stock with the Imperial
High Command.
He had even composed to Truk: “It
is
my
the Emperor, Otori
a
message
and pleasure
privilege
Shima
added was the number
.
All that
.
to present to
remained
details
to
be
guns and
of prisoners taken, the
equipment captured, and other included in his
be radioed back
to
which would be
full report.
But by 0530 (5:30 a.m.), a half-hour
after daybreak,
Kajioka realized that his rosy dream of glory was not
coming
to pass so easily.
He
could have
made
a run in
with the Yubari and supporting cruisers for a bombard-
ment still
of
Wake, but feared the 5-inch
carried a sting
was evident
—
as
batteries.
That they
was proved by the
“do you
mean it, major?”
placing his ships in jeopardy; the 11
was
still
CO did not relish
The Invasion Force
crippled Mutsuki.
Of
too fresh.
121
memory
course, he could
of
December
pound Wake
while beyond the range of the American shore batteries,
but that would impair the accuracy of his barrage.
upon the
Reluctantly, Kajioka decided to call
Soryu and Hiryu
,
carriers
then maneuvering about 200 miles
northwest of Wake, to launch an aerial strike with their
V al
bombers, escorted by Zero
As did Admiral
fighters.
How
Inouye, Kajioka also disliked aviators.
Hiroaki Abe, lord
it
who commanded
over him!
not the old-line
How
false)
the carrier groups,
would brag
fliers
Navy men, had humbled
But Kajioka had no help from Abe.
the
An
Admiral
alternative.
He was
would
that they ,
the Yankees.
forced to seek
Intelligence report (which proved
reported several U.
Wake. And, back home,
S.
submarines closing on
in Japan,
the
Tokyo radio
broadcast an announcement describing Wake’s
fall.
The
morning newspapers announced the triumph and happy Japanese were already celebrating the
feat.
Admiral Abe received Kajioka’s request
at
0545 (5:45
a.m.); a half-hour later, both carriers launched planes.
Thirty-four bombers, escorted
same “Gallant Eagles Pearl Harbor
where
—zoomed
brisk fighting
The planes
of the
by
sixteen Zeroes
Navy” who had blasted
through the
still
—the
air
toward Wake,
continued.
arrived over the target at 0700
(7:00
mean
122
“do you
a.m.).
With no American
major?”
it,
aircraft to
oppose them, the
bombers pummeled Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Almost every position was ing Zeroes, Marine
by
AA
hit.
Despite bombs and
batteries fought
back
one, the 3-inch guns were silenced, a
enemy, the
Once
rest
islands. straf-
until,
one
few by the
because their ammunition ran out.
the batteries stopped firing, the Vais raked the
American
lines at will.
But the Gallant Eagles did not
whanged away at the buzzing planes and a cheer went up when a Zero crashed get off without losses. Riflemen
in a storm of
One
ground
fire.
machine gunner, Sergeant John Cemeris, alternately aimed his weapon at three Japanese irate .30-caliber
trying to sneak
up on him and
at a
Val racing back and
forth overhead.
He
fired a burst at the soldiers,
then at the plane.
A
stream of tracers killed the Val’s pilot and a few seconds later the chattering
machine gun riddled the three
in-
filtrators.
Cemeris, also to
who was
a professional boxer,
be a devout man, known by the nickname Dea‘
con,” because he once
had been a
“May God have mercy on your as
happened
he turned
lay preacher. souls!”
Cemeris cried
to another target.
Everywhere on Wake, small groups of Marines and civilians resisted stubbornly.
The Leathernecks
at
Camp
stopped a half-dozen banzai charges and the Stars
No.
1
and
Stripes
still
flew from the water tower. But the de-
“do you
mean it, major?”
123
fenders were weakening. After an epic stand, the survivors of
Squadron 211
until every
Major
stopped fighting, but not
finally
man except one had been
Potter’s scratch platoon fell
killed or
wounded.
back and the Japa-
nese captured the hospital, where they bound
wounded
Marines with telephone wire, beat up the corpsmen, shot a civilian, destroyed
mistreated both doctors. ing to cross the
airfield.
all
the medical supplies, and
They then pressed ahead,
try-
However, Potter had established
an improvised line and once again he held
off
the enemy.
Lieutenant Kliewer, unable to put his demolition
equipment
into
and managed
working order, retreated from the
to join Potter without losing a
by 0700 (7:00 a.m.
)
that the defenses of
was apparent
it
Wake
still
flung batteries
man. But
Major Devereux
Island were crumbling, espe-
cially after the carrier dive
Devereux
to
strip
bombers appeared.
had no communication with
and scattered
units.
As
far as
his far-
he knew,
Wilkes Island was in enemy hands, and there had been
no direct word from Peale Island. The Marine CP, guarded by
Potter’s thin line,
mortar
The
fire.
last
was coming under knee
boxes of small-arms ammunition
were distributed and then the supply of hand grenades ran out.
Major Devereux met with Commander Cunningham.
He
explained to the atoll
could not be continued
CO
much
“The only sensible reason
that organized resistance longer.
for us to risk
any more
lives
“do you
124 is if
mean it, major?” be getting help
there’s definite assurance that we’ll
very soon
— and
I
mean
soon,”
Devereux
Cunningham looked uneasy. “I’m
known
we
for hours that
said.
Dev.
sorry,
I’ve
can’t expect friendly ships for
at least another day.”
Devereux flapped slams the
his
hands
in resignation. “Well, that
lid.”
Commander Cunningham nodded. “We’d the white flag,” he said. “There’s no
shame
in
better raise it.
We gave
our best.”
When
Devereux returned
to the
CP, he told the bad
Gunnery Sergeant John Hamos, a Marine since Hamos had fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood
news
to
1916.
during World Haiti,
and
War
seen combat in Nicaragua and
I,
China. His reputation for
also served in
toughness was legendary in the Corps. Now, ite-hard Leatherneck
had
it,
“I’m afraid
John. Pass the
The
string’s
Major?” he rasped.
run out,” Devereux
Hamos wiped away “I’ve I
tears in his eyes.
“Do you mean so,
his tears
done everything since
I
never yelled ‘Uncle’ before.
word
to
Major
with grimy knuckles.
joined the Corps, It
Potter.
said.
sir.
But
down hard.” CP. He stood in
sure goes
The burly veteran stalked out of the the open for a moment, frowning at the machine guns were
this gran-
sand. Rifles
rattling only 100 yards
Japanese mortar shell exploded nearby.
and
away.
A
mean it, major?”
125
the sounds of battle.
Draw-
“do you
The sergeant disregarded
ing a deep breath, he strode toward the firing line and in a voice that carried above the noise bellowed, “Cease fire!
Cease
fire!
We’re surrendering! Major’s orders!
We’re surrendering!’’
“What’s wrong with those
Potter’s lost.
men were
men?”
the
first
to learn that the battle
The word passed from one Leatherneck
and the
firing
dwindled away. But
it
to the next
was not
in the tra-
Even
dition of United States Marines to surrender.
the order had been given, a machine gun kept ing
away
at the Japanese. Potter
“You heard the order! Cease “Sure, Major.
munition.
No
I
fire,
dashed
damn
was
to
it!”
after
hammerit.
he roared.
only wanted to use up this belt of am-
sense letting
it
go to waste,
is
there?” the
gunner asked.
The Leathernecks gave up with grudgingly, they drifted back to the 126
ill
grace.
CP and
Slowly,
waited in
“what’s wrong with those men?”
127
glowering silence for whatever was to come. The Japanese, not yet
aware of the American decision, took no
advantage of the cious of a trap,
lull.
Captain Itaya’s company, suspi-
made no attempt
Meanwhile, Devereux spoke
to advance.
to all units
with which he
had telephonic connection. He ordered
resistance to
Runners went out
stop.
unhappy
the
tidings.
managed
Point
to various positions
Battery
to repair
its
phone
(3-inchers) line to the
CO who
Godbold, the battery
tain
D
and spread
also
at
Toki
CP. Cap-
commanded
Peale Island, asked Devereux for orders.
“Cease •
mg.
Destroy
firing.
all
weapons. We’re surrender-
»
There was a long pause; then Godbold said deliberately,
“Dev, are you
all
right? Is this straight?’’
“You always were a hard guy on the
replied. “It’s
level.
We
to convince,”
can’t hold out
Devereux
any longer.
Destroy the guns and come on in to the CP.”
“Okay, Dev.
way
I’d
have
throw rocks
to
—we’re out of ammo,” Godbold
want anyone
to
con
me
at the Japs any-
said. “I just didn’t
into surrendering.”
Captain Godbold informed Peale Island Marines. His
men
griped and cursed but carried out their orders.
Rifle
bolts
were thrown
smashed. They zles.
Range
shattered
into the sea
and the butts
rammed hand grenades down gun muz-
finders, sights,
beyond
repair.
and other equipment were
One
big Marine found a sledge
“what’s wrong with those men?”
128
hammer and with
it
smashed gun breech
locks.
He
sur-
veyed the damage he had wrought and grinned wryly. “I
must be an anarchist
at heart. I sure get a kick
out of
busting up government property!” Similar actions took place in the batteries. All the 5-inchers
and 3-inchers were rendered
Machine
useless.
gunners took their weapons apart and either hurled the pieces into the sea or buried them.
men plodded and
Then
the bone-tired
slowly toward the CP, drifting in by twos
threes.
However, there were riflemen and machine gunners dispersed over reach.
Wake
From time
Island
whom
to time, shots
Some
a Japanese appeared.
Devereux could not
still
last-ditch fighters
the capitulation but refused to give
‘The only time
I'll
rang out whenever
toss in the
heard of
up anyway.
towel
is
when
I’m put
out of action by a bullet or else ordered to surrender by
Major Devereux himself,” a sweat-stained
officer told
CP runner who brought him the message. Many Leathernecks expressed the same sentiment. As
the
the runners reported back to the CP, Devereux realized that he personally
had
stepped out of the
CP
men grouped
to bring
an end to
and looked about
hostilities.
at the
He
unhappy
there.
“Don’t feel bad, boys,” Devereux said. “You put up a
whale of a scrap.”
He noticed with
whom
an oldtime Marine, Sergeant
he had served at several
Don
stations.
Malleck,
“Don, go
“what’s wrong with those men?” find a stick
and
tie
something white to
undershirt, a bedsheet. “Yes,
thought
A
Major,”
sir,
I’d
have
to
few minutes
We re
Malleck
going to said.
obey an order
later
he mumbled, hanging
“Come them
on,
Don. Stand
the Nips.”
visit
“Damn!
never
I
like this one.”
at the end.
“Ready,
his head.
straight,
man.
We
don’t
want
were whipped, do we?” Devereux
think
to
—a towel, an
he returned carrying a broom
handle with a wrinkled bedsheet sir,”
it
129
snapped.
The two men marched down
A
beach.
vagrant breeze stirred the sheet, which
moment,
tered, for a
on past
like a
Potter’s last position, littered
discarded helmets
—the
with cartridge
As they neared the enemy’s
would be
waving the truce
P.
flag, to
A
little
in the road.
Devereux told Mal-
make
certain that
it
out, “I’m
come
to surrender. Don’t shoot!”
one, but could feel eyes watching
from the bushes.
jumped out
lines,
broken
Devereux, commanding the United
States Marines. I’ve
They saw no
were lying
Every few steps he called
seen.
Major James
shirt,
debris of battle.
further on, several dead Japanese
leck to keep
flut-
proud banner. They walked
empty canteens, a blood-stained
cases, rifles,
the road toward the
Suddenly,
of the foliage.
a
Japanese
He brandished
them
lieutenant
a long samurai
sword. Behind him were a half-dozen grim soldiers with leveled
The
rifles.
officer
shouted something in his native tongue,
“what’s wrong with those men?”
130
motioning with the sword for Devereux and Malleck to stop.
“Do you speak English?” Devereux The officer lowered his sword. “Of speak Japanese?
What
is it
The
officer
nodded.
“It’s
The English-speaking Itaya,
UCLA
officer
who proved
with a benign smile
While the
see, I
I
went
said.
know how
stub-
to college in the
UCLA.”
States, at
CO, Captain
Devereux
about time.
born Americans can be. You
United
you
course. Don’t
you want, Major?”
my men,”
“I’m here to surrender
asked.
sent a runner for his to
be a roly-poly
man
and silver-rimmed eyeglasses.
graduate acted as interpreter, Itaya
explained that he would accept the surrender unconditionally.
Devereux glanced
(9:30 a.m.
A
at his
watch.
was 0930
).
jeep flying a white flag
bounced along the rocky
Commander Cunningham was driver. He had shaved and put on
road.
“I didn’t
It
want
to look like a
seated beside the his best uniform.
tramp when
I
met the
Japs,” he recalled later.
Since he was atoll
CO, Cunningham outranked Dev-
ereux and, in accordance with military custom, completed the formal surrender. Itaya’s
Devereux,
accompanied by
the
first
demand was
for
American-educated
lieutenant and a platoon of soldiers, to visit every position
and persuade
his
Marines to capitulate.
“what’s wrong with those men?”
With Malleck
131
in the van, carrying the flag of truce,
Maconcealment when
the group trudged from point to point. Individual
from places of
rines obediently rose
Devereux called them Poindexter and his
ready for a
nets,
out.
At one position, Lieutenant
men came
finish fight.
running with fixed bayo-
Only a quick word from
Devereux prevented a bloody
CO
vinced that his
was a
clash. Poindexter, con-
had intended
prisoner,
to
rescue him.
By noon,
the Marines on
all
rounded up. Japanese
and flushed the
soldiers spread
Some
coming from the Kuku Point
Guarded by
thirty Japanese,
had been
through the bush
Only Wilkes
Is-
sporadic firing was
area.
Devereux and Malleck
crossed the channel in an Imperial tain
Island
civilians hiding there.
land remained to be visited. still
Wake
Navy
launch. Cap-
the ferocious defender of Wilkes Island,
Platt,
spotted the boat making the passage and thought the
enemy was attempting another Rallying his men,
landing.
who had been busy mopping up
few
infiltrators, Platt started
nel.
His Leathernecks were ready to open
“invaders’’
when
He went lief
on the double
for the chanfire
out to meet the bearer, in the mistaken be-
was surrendering
to him.
When
recognized Devereux, Platt cried out in dismay. it all
on the
Platt noticed the white flag.
that the foe
“Is
a
over, Dev?’’
he exclaimed.
he
“what’s wrong with those men?”
132
“That’s right, Wes,” Devereux said. Platt signaled his
men
drop their weapons.
to
we
only the beginning, Major,” he said. “Sure,
But
battle.
out of least
it,
we
there’s
in
still
a big
war ahead
“It’s
lost this
—maybe we’ll be
one of Tojo’s prisoner-of-war camps, but at
got our licks.”
Later, at 1330 (1:30 p.m.), the
about 400 Marine
officers
and
American
enlisted
1,000 civilians, were herded to
Camp
captives,
men, and some
No.
1
where Ad-
miral Kajioka, resplendent in white uniform, clinking
medals, and dress sword, came ashore to take possession of
Wake
ripped
in the
off
Emperor’s name. The American
atoll
was
the water tower and tossed contemptuously
to the ground. Japan’s Rising
provised
flag
staff
Sun was hoisted on an im-
amid a rousing chorus
of banzais.
Wake
had become Otori Shima and Admiral Kajioka
was content. About an hour
after the flag raising,
ningham, and the other Marine
from rice
their
and
were separated
men. Admiral Kajioka ordered them served
sake.
Although the American
gry, they refused to accept
their
officers
Devereux, Cun-
men would
also
be
any food fed.
officers
were hun-
until assured that
Kajioka granted this
request and sent his compliments to Major Devereux.
“You are a true leader ... an
officer
who
looks after
the welfare of his soldiers ... a foe both tenacious and noble,” declared the admiral in a lengthy statement,
“what’s wrong with those men?”
which was read
to
member
English by a
The Americans
“Why
sion.
Devereux and the
133
officers in halting
of Kajioka’s staff.
shifted uncomfortably during the ses-
doesn’t he just
hand out the chow instead
of that junk?” Captain Platt whispered.
“They’ll either starve us to death or bore us to death.
And
don’t
I
But
know which
at last the
is
worse,” an officer said.
reading ended. The
much bowing and
parted after
came with bowls
staff officer
saluting.
of steaming rice
and
Then
de-
orderlies
bottles of sake.
Across the camp, the enlisted Marines were lining up for rations
when
a group of bedraggled Leathernecks strag-
gled in from Heel Point. Guards surrounded the famished, tired,
and
dirty Americans.
They
shuffled slowly,
shoulders slumped, eyes downcast.
In the front rank was a barrel-chested, six-foot-tall
Marine sergeant who sported a tache.
When
fiercely bristling
he saw Devereux and the
officers,
mus-
the ser-
geant turned to his fellow prisoners and cried, “Snap to it!
You’re U.
S.
Marines! Not chain-gang convicts!”
The Leathernecks came
to attention
and marched
though on parade, heads high, arms swinging. they drew abreast of their
“Eyes right!”
swung by
He
officers,
as
When
the sergeant roared,
saluted smartly and the detachment
in perfect
cadence
at a
pace that forced the
short-legged guards to trot in order to keep up with
them.
“what’s wrong with those men?”
134
An
astonished Admiral Kajioka witnessed this per-
formance. “What’s wrong with those men?” he quer-
“They don’t
ulously asked.
aflame, Wake’s Marines
went
the oblivion of a four-year-long captivity.
The
Thus, with defiance off to
act like prisoners!”
civilians
were taken
still
to detention
camps
in
China, while
the Marines, officers and men, were shipped to a pris-
oner-of-war
camp on Luzon
war progressed, they were the
enemy
in the Philippines.
As the
shifted several times. At
treated the veterans of
Wake
decently, but
with the passing years and the ebbing of Japanese tunes, conditions for the enlisted
first,
grew progressively worse,
for-
especially
men. Some died of starvation, mistreat-
ment, and disease, but most survived the long ordeal.
“We
forced ourselves to
live;
we
wouldn’t give the
Nips the satisfaction of seeing us die,” said one Leather-
neck survivor.
While the men who had defended Wake were languishing
in captivity, the
the fight for the tiny
atoll.
so bravely
United States took up
Although no attempt was
made to recapture Wake, it was so heavily bombed that the enemy could make little use of the base he had so dearly bought. The war’s largest raid against Wake took place on October 5-6, 1943, when planes from the biggest
carrier
pounded the
task force atoll.
The
organized up to that point fast flattops Essex,
Yorktown,
—
)
“what’s wrong with those men?”
135
Lexington Cowpens, Independence and Belleau ,
,
Wood
with escorting cruisers and destroyers hit Japanese stallations ships.
on Wake. (The
Two
of
them
carriers
were
all
newly
in-
built
— the Lexington and the Yorktown
—bore the names of older vessels that had gone down in previous battles.
Montgom-
This force, under Rear Admiral Alfred E. ery,
damaged Wake
patrol-plane
so severely that the airfield
and
base built there by the Japanese was
immobilized for a long time. Subsequent bombings
— and
at least ten
major raids were mounted
by
and destroyers kept Wake
cruisers
in
shellings
a state of
shambles.
Despite
all this,
the Rising Sun flag flew over Otori
Shima from December a
few days
23, 1941, until
after Japan’s
September
September
atoll to
USS
Mis-
Tokyo harbor.
The Americans repossessed Wake without
On
1945,
Premier, Hideki Tojo, had
signed an unconditional surrender aboard the souri in
7,
7,
a battle.
1945, a Japanese admiral gave
an American general. At the
last
up the
moment, the
general stepped aside so that a slim, sunken-cheeked
Marine lieutenant colonel, only recently released from a Japanese prisoner-of-war compound, could take the admiral’s sword as the symbol of the foe’s defeat.
Jim Devereux had returned in triumph to Wake, ing for the
men who had
act-
fought and suffered there.
136
“what’s wrong with those men?”
The Japanese
Camp
No.
The name
In
1.
flag its
no longer flew from the
place fluttered the Stars and Stripes.
Otori Shima was dropped; the lonely atoll
again had become American
Devereux noted that his four year absence. in the brush. fluttered.
staff at
The
soil.
had changed on Wake
little
The odd-looking
Clouds of birds surf
rats
still
scurried
circled, screeched,
boomed and columns
in
and
of froth rose
high above the lagoon. Only his Marines were gone. Perhaps, as he gripped the surrender sword, Devereux recalled the terrible ordeal of the battle, the longer
more
terrible
and
one of the prison camps. Perhaps he
thought of the bold and reckless boys so hard to hold this place of sand
who had
and
fought
coral, suffering
and dying
in a cause they did not fully understand, yet,
somehow,
realizing that theirs
was the good
fight.
So ended the saga of Wake.
The deeds
of courage
and
sacrifice
done there
in
De-
cember, 1941, were soon overshadowed by greater feats in bigger battles; the
men
of
Wake were
forgotten in
the immensity of global conflict. But not even the pass-
ing years could tarnish the spirit and courage of the
brave
men who had
of despair
rekindled American pride in a time
and humiliation.
BRIEF GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ABBREVIATIONS
AA CINCPAC
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
CNO
Chief of Naval Operations
CO
Commanding Officer
CP
Command
CRUDIV
Cruiser Division
NAS PT TF
Naval Air Station
Antiaircraft
cannon
Post
USMC
Motor torpedo boat Task Force United States Marine Corps
USN
United States Navy
137
8
UNITED STATES AND JAPANESE CASUALTIES ON WAKE United States DECEMBER 8—23, 1941 (\VAKE TIME) Enlisted
Officers
Men
Marines Killed
5
Wounded
6
42 26
Missing
0
2
11
70
Killed
0
3
Wounded
0
o
0
8
total: 81
Navy Personnel r*
TOTAL:
Civilians
Killed
70
Wounded
12
82
Total Killed
Wounded Missing
120 49 2 171 U.
Wake
S.
Casualties
more than 400 Marines and other military personnel, while over 1,000 civilians were also taken. 138
Americans captured on
totaled
1
CASUALTIES ON
WAKE
139
UNITED STATES AND JAPANESE CASUALTIES ON WAKE Japanese AIR LOSSES
*
DECEMBER 8—23 Killed
4 6 80 90***
4 carrier planes
“Emily” 4-engined bomber 16 “Betty” 2-engined bombers 21* 0 1
LOSSES SUSTAINED DURING INVASION
13
flak
2 destroyers sunk with all hands 8 ships damaged 1 submarine (unknown casualties)
LOSSES SUSTAINED DURING INVASION
—
500 80
160
593
173
125
by 2nd Lt. R. Nl. Hanna’s gun Casualties aboard Mutsuki
Wounded
Wounded 125
Casualties aboard landing craft
Total Killed
Wounded
ON DECEMBER 23
combat
hit
1
13
Killed
Casualties in ground
0
ATTEMPT OF DECEMBER Killed
51 aircraft damaged by
Wounded
•
7 5
25
137
160
10
820 333 1,153 Japanese Casualties
*
No
**
are conservative estimates. This figure represents only those planes shot
official
Japanese records of casualties were available. All figures
down
over the
atoll.
Actual losses are unknown. *** This figure includes only those bodies recovered by the Marines.
TYPES OF AIRCRAFT USED AT WAKE
United States B-17 (Flying Fortress)
Army, 4 engines, heavy bomber Navy, 1 engine, fighter
F4F-3 (Wildcat) PBY-5 (Catalina)
2 engines, patrol bomber, seaplane
F2A
Navy,
(Buffalo)
1
engine, fighter
Japanese Mitsubishi Zero 1
(Betty)
Kawanishi Zero 2 (Emily) Nakajima 97-2 (Kate)
2 engines, medium bomber 4 engines, bomber, seaplane
Aichi 99-1 (Val)
1
bomber engine, dive bomber
Zero-3 (Zeke)
1
engine, fighter
140
1 engine, high-level
SUGGESTED READING
In gathering material for
Wake: The Story
memoirs, ship’s
sulted private
logs,
unit
of a Battle,
con-
I
and other
journals,
material not easily available to the general reader. However, any-
one desirous of studying further about the events on profit from the following works: Bayler, Lt. Col. Walter,
Last
Man
Wake
off
Wake
will
York:
The
and Carnes, Cecil
Island. Indianapolis
and
New
Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1943.
Devereux, Col. James P.
The Story
Wake
of
S.
Island. Philadelphia
and
New
York:
J.
B.
Lippincott Co., 1947. Heinl, Lt. Col. R. D.,
The Defense
of
Jr.
Wake. Washington: Government Printing
Office,
1947.
Hough, Lt. Col. Frank O. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal ( History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1958.
Morison, Samuel Eliot
The Rising Sun
in the
Pacific,
1931-April 1942
United States Naval Operations in World Boston: Little,
War
(
History of Vol.
III).
Wm. Sloane Associates, Inc.,
1948.
II,
Brown and Company, 1948.
Pratt, Fletcher
The Marines War.
New
York:
141
Index
Abe, Hiroaki, 86, 121
China, Japanese
Adams, Tom, 32-33 Agar, Paul, 31-32, 42
Churchill, Winston, 5
aircraft types, 25,
138
Akagi, 30
89-90 Bases,
Inc.,
Cotvpens, 135
Asnagi, 85
Cruiser
93
6,
Naval
Pacific
Arizona, 54 Astoria, 55,
4
20-22, 26, 32-33,
civilians, 17,
Contractors
Aoba, 86
in,
Division
17
(CRUDIV)
55, 58, 93,
100
Cunningham, Winfield Baminger, Clarence A., 24, 69 Bedell, Henry, 71, 113-114 Belleau Wood, 136 Bennington, 14 Bloch, Claude C., 21 Bousher, W. A., 33 Brown, Wilson, 55, 56, 93 Buehler, William, 113-114
25-27, 35, 40, 53, 66, 77, 89-92, 95, 99, 112, 116, 123-124, 130, 132
Davidson, Carl R., 96 Devereux, James P., 19-21,
25-26, 37,
93 casualties, 139-140 Cemeris, John, 122 Chicago, 55 Chikuma, 86 California,
142
Scott,
40,
28, 42,
31-33, 43,
59,
3560,
78-81, 89-92, 97, 109-110, 113, 116, 123-124, 127-133, 66-69,
73,
75,
135-136 Douglas, A. H., 101
INDEX Elrod, Henry, 60, 68, 72, 73,
109
Holm, Lewis
Enterprise
(
Big
E ),
25,
55,
99 Essex, 135
5-6
Adolf,
Hitler,
143
A.,
20
19,
35
Hull, Cordell,
56,
Independence, 136 Indianapolis, 55
Fighter Squadron, see United States Marines
Aubrey W., 55, Fletcher, Frank Jack, Fitch,
58, 102
55, 58,
93-95, 100,' 102 Freuler, Herbert C., 68, 72,
96 Fritz,
Nariyoshi,
1-2,
Company,
Itaya
117,
127,
130
6-11
42-43
F unit aka, 86 Godbold, Bryghte D., 24, 127 Goto, A., 86 Grew, Joseph C., 7 Guam, 8, 10, 16, 30, 35, 86 I chin,
3,
6
William F. (“Bull”), 55, 56 Hamilton, Bill, 29, 41, 49, 72, 82 Hamilton, John H., 29, 33 Halsey,
Hamos, John, 124-125 Hanna, Robert M., 24, 107140 Hayate, 47, 69, 85 Heel Point, 24, 83 Hepburn, A. J., 16 Hesson, James, 82 Hirohito, Emperor, 7 Hiryu, 86, 87, 95, 121 108,
110,
108,
Japanese war plans,
Orrin,
Hakko
1011, 30, 34, 45-46, 5051, 84-87, 119
Inouye,
113,
Kahn, Gustav, 40, 52, 89 Kaiser, “Sonny,” 83 Kajioka, Samakoshi, 46-48, 62,
68,
84-87,
73,
69,
101-103, 117-121, 132134 Kako, 86 Kessler,
Woodrow,
24,
71,
103-104, 114
Kimmel, Husband E., 8, 18, 19, 53-55, 92 Kinney, John F., 29, 41, 7273, 82, 96 Kinugasa, 86 Kisaragi, 47, 71, 72-73, 85 .
Kita, Ikki, 3
Kliewer,
David
D.,
49,
113-114, 123 Knox, Frank, 92, 116 Kodo-Ha, 3, 6, 35
Kongo Marti, 47 Konryu Maru, 47, 71
74,
INDEX
144
Kuku
Point, 22,
24
Marushiye, 85
Kuninori,
Wallace W., 24, 49, 59, 60 Lexington ( Lady Lex), 55, 56, 93, 99, 136 Lewis,
J.
Macanally, Winford
J.,
110—
128—131 Manchuria, 3—4 Marshall Islands, 56 Mendana, Alvaro de, 12 Minneapolis, 55, 93 Missouri, 135 Mochizuki, 47 Montgomery, Alfred E., 135 Mutsuki,
47,
71,
5,
114,
92,
Panay, 4
13,
2,
15,
Toki 17,
53-54, 79 Clipper,
29,
31,
42 Platt, Wesley M., 106, 113114, 131-132, 133 Poindexter,
Arthur,
55 George
110,
131
53,
66,
Portland, Potter,
69,
109,
H.,
123,
126
Putnam, Paul, 25, 29, 33, 41, 67-68,
72,
74,
82,
89,
108
96,
S.,
92-93, 98-
101
Franklin
61 D.,
116
99
15— 29, 31, 33, 39, 42
Pan American Airways,
also
22-24, 95-96, 109, 114, 127
Roosevelt,
47, 71
16,
Point),
see
Regulus, 19 Richardson, Bernard,
30 93, 94
Ohoro, 85 Oite,
(
Island
Pye, William 121,
10,
Neches, 55, 58, Neosho, 55 Nimitz, Chester W.,
Peale
95,
6
140
Nagumo, Chuichi,
13
33, 39,
Malleck, Don,
Benito,
Peale, Titian,
Philippine
111 McKinstry, Clarence, 106
Mussolini,
49—
Pearl Harbor, 7-8, 30-31, 35,
69
A., 24,
J.,
50 Peacock Point, 20, 22-24, 49, 59, 65-69, 87
Kurusu, Saburo, 35-36 Kwajalein Atoll, 30
McAlister,
Andrew
Paszkiewicz,
San Francisco, 55, 93, 95 Saratoga (Sara), 55, 57-58, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 100102 Shank, L. S., 40, 52 Soryu,
86,
87,
Soviet Russia, 5
95,
121
INDEX 5
Stalin,
Josef,
Stark,
Harold
Fighter Squadron 221, 55, R.,
8,
54
18,
Takano Company, 108, 113— 114,
145
117
94 United States 35, 93,
Pacific
54-58,
36,
Fleet,
76-77,
98-102
Tambor, 76-77 56-58, 93, 100 Task Force, eight, 55-56, 99 Task Force, eleven, 55—56, 58, 93, 99, 101 Task Force, fourteen, 55-56, 99, 101
Wake Wake
Tatsuta, 47, 67, 72, 86
Wake
Tangier,
55,
Taussig, E. D., 14
Tenryu Teters,
71,
72,
86
Nathan Dan,
17,
20,
47,
,
67,
32, 41, 60
108,
22,
24,
33,
71,
114, 127
islands of, 2,
102-111 Island
(see
Pea-
cock Point), 2, 13, 17, 22-24, 87, 107-109
Wake
Relief Expedition,
55—
98-102
Wallace, Verne, 61
Waronka, Alvin, 32, 43 Wildcats, 25, 29, 138 Wilkes Island,
76-77
Uchida Company, 117
also
Wilkes, Charles, 13
Tone, 86 Triton,
13 Invasion Force, 46-47, 62-64, 73-74, 85-87, Atoll,
58, 92-94,
Thorin, Frank, 68, 72 Tojo, Hideki, 6-7, 35, 135
Toki Point,
Wake, William, 13
24,
2,
13,
61,
87,
113-114,
131
17,
22-
106-109,
108-109,
United States Marines: 1st Defense Battalion, 1826, 116 4th Defense Battalion, 56— 57 Fighter Squadron 211, 25, 29, 74, 82, 88, 96, 108, 123
Yamamoto,
Isoroku,
1-2,
8,
10-11, 30, 35 Yayoi, 47, 71
Yorktown, 136 Yubari, 47, 62, 66-69, 85, 86, 103,
120
Yunagi, 85
About the Author
Irving Werstein has his
life.
made
Even when he was
writing both his goal and
officially
a factory worker, a
salesman, or an actor and comedian, Mr. Werstein spent his free
He
moments
writing.
served in the U.
S.
Army from
1941 to 1945 and
Yank magazine. After the war he devoted all his time to writing; he has written magazine stories, radio and television scripts, and a number was a correspondent
for
of books.
Mr. Werstein was born in Brooklyn, has lived in Mexico, Italy, and England.
New He
York, and
has traveled
Denmark, and France. He lives in Stuyvesant Town in New York City with his wife and young son. extensively in Holland,
wakestoryofbattlOOwers wakestoryofbattlOOwers
(Continued from front
flap)
Irving Werstein has told the story of
Wake from the earliest steps
in
the
fortifi-
cation of the atoll, through the tense
ments of the at the
nel
siege, to the
mo-
dramatic scene
end of the war when Marine Colo-
Devereux accepted the surrender
of
the island he had been forced to give up four years before. Here fighting
man
at
his
is
the American
best,
untried but
and grimly humorous
in the
face of danger. As the author says:
“The
eager, brave,
deeds of courage and
sacrifice
done there
December, 1941, were soon overshadowed by greater feats in bigger battles; the men of Wake were forgotten in the in
immensity of global
conflict.
But not even
the passing years could tarnish the spirit
and courage of the brave men who had rekindled American pride in a time of despair
and humiliation.”
Thomas
Y.
Crowell
Company
201 Park Avenue South
New
York 3
•
Established
1834
Mandelbaum
Photograph by
Ira
Irving
Werstein
Also by Irving
Werstein:
The
Battle of
Midway
The
Battle of
Aachen
Guadalcanal