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The Battle of Wake Island was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on Wake Island.The assault began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval and air bases in Hawaii on the morning of 8 December 1941 (7 December in Hawaii), and ended on 23 December, with the surrender of American forces to the Empire of Japan.
Winfield Scott Cunningham (February 16, 1900 – March 3, 1986) was the Officer in Charge, Naval Activities, Wake Island when the tiny island was attacked by the Japanese on December 8, 1941. Cunningham commanded the defense of the island against the massive Japanese attack.
He was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the 1st Defense Battalion Detachment during the defense of Wake Island in December 1941. He was captured on Wake Island as a prisoner of war, along with his men, after a 15-day battle with the Japanese. After his release in September 1945, he concluded his military career as a colonel in 1948, where upon ...
Wake Island Airfield (IATA: AWK, ICAO: PWAK, FAA LID: AWK) is a military air base located on Wake Island, which is known for the Battle of Wake Island during World War II. It is owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by the 611th Air Support Group. The runway can be used for emergency landings by commercial jetliners flying transpacific ...
On December 4, 1941, Captain Elrod flew to Wake Island with twelve aircraft, twelve pilots, and the ground crew of Major Paul A. Putnam's fighter squadron, VMF-211. Hostilities in the air over Wake Island commenced on December 8, 1941. On December 12, he single-handedly attacked a flight of 22 enemy planes and shot down two.
It was the location of some of the fighting during the Battle of Wake Island in December 1941. Wilkes was the site of a shore battery and defenses, as part of the overall defenses of Wake island, when WW2 broke out. Japanese troops landed on the Wilkes island as part of the invasion of island, which fell 23 December 1941. [9]
The formal surrender of the Japanese garrison on Wake Island - 4 September 1945. Sakaibara is the Japanese officer in the right foreground. Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松, Sakaibara Shigematsu, December 28, 1898 – June 19, 1947) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Japanese garrison commander on Wake Island during World War II, and a convicted war criminal.
Upon graduating from Sand Springs High School in 1939, Harrison enlisted in the Marine Corps. In August 1941, he was sent to Wake Island as one of 449 Marines to defend the island. [1] [2] On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Across the International Date Line just a few hours later on December 8, Japanese aircraft bombed ...