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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.
The first Marine airman to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II was VMF-211's Henry T. Elrod. A planned operation to reinforce Wake Island was deemed too dangerous by the fleet command, and on 23 December Wake Island was finally overrun by a numerically superior enemy. VMF-211 F4U-4s on USS Coral Sea in 1952
USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway Island. USS Enterprise was 200 miles west of Hawaii, returning from Wake Island. [18] IJN Protection for 1st Air Fleet Returning Home From Pearl Harbor Raid (Dec 8 1941) IJN Main Body/3rd Carrier Division (distant cover): IJN Hōshō (CV) IJN Zuihō (CVL) IJN Invasion of Wake Island (7–23 December ...
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.
The attack on Wake Island destroyed several aircraft and several hundred thousand liters of fuel, and knocked this base out of the war for several months. [10] The Marcus Island raid shocked the Japanese military mindset—that island was only 1,000 air miles from Tokyo and some 600 miles from the Bonin Islands with its large military base, and ...
A second flight by the 19th Bombardment Group, consisting of twenty-six B-17D aircraft moved from Hamilton Field, California, to Clark Field, Philippines, via Hickam Field, Midway Island, Wake Island, Port Moresby, New Guinea and Darwin, Northern Territory in the first permanent change of station air movement from the United States to the ...
The Philippine Clipper was at Wake Island when it was attacked by the Japanese on December 8, 1941. It was slightly damaged in the attack, and departed the island shortly afterwards. During World War II, the Philippine Clipper and sister ship China Clipper were pressed into service for the Navy, though they remained crewed by Pan American ...