It will be the new site for ex Islanders and visitors, as well as a virtual Museum of Wake and it’s History.  Hopefully it will be the Hub for friends to reconnect and share fond memories as well as other things like reunions.

Ron

PS: A heartfelt Thank you to Eugene for starting the Wake Island Spirit Group many years ago and allowing a number of us to reconnect.  Hopefully at this site we will be able to continue the work he started and do his work justice.

Ron Skates (ron@hawaii50.net)

Wake Island ’62 -’72 (FMC. ConAM)

A few tidbits for you History Buffs.

• Did you know The Battle of Wake Island was the first battle after the attack on Pearl Harbor,  literally hours after Pearl Harbor?
• The first Japanese Destroyer was sunk off of Wake Island?
• The first US battle victory was at Wake Island?
• Paramount Studios started creating the first Movie on WWII about the Wake Island battle before the battle was even finished?
• Wake Island was called the Alamo of the Pacific and was the subject of one of the first War Bond Drives?
• Former President George H Bush conducted one of his first missons in WWII over Wake Island
• 98 Civilian contractors were executed by the Japanese army
• Admiral Sakaibara was hanged on June 18, 1947 for those War Crimes pertaining to those executions

From Wikipedia,

On December 8, 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor (Wake being on the opposite side of the International Date Line), 36^[8] Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers flown from bases on the Marshall Islands attacked Wake Island, destroying eight of the twelve F4F-3 Wildcat fighter aircraft belonging to Marine Corps fighter squadron VMF-211 on the ground. All of the Marine garrison’s defensive emplacements were left intact by the raid, which primarily targeted the naval aircraft. Of 55 Marine aviation personnel, 23 were killed and 11 were wounded. Ten Chamorro civilian employees of Pan American Airways were also killed.

On December 11, 1941 The Japanese destroyer the Hayate was the first Japanese Ship sunk in WWII, (until the recent discovery of the mini Sub off of Pearl Harbor)

Wake Island was the first victory for the US in WWII in the December 11th Battle. Wake Island was called the Alamo of the Pacific.

Paramount began work on a movie before the real life Battle for Wake Island was over. The resulting 1942 film, directed by John Farrow, tacks unrelated romantic subplots onto a straightforward re-telling of the battle. The film contains numerous factual errors, leaving viewers with the impression that the island’s defenders fought to the last man; that the island’s naval commander was killed in a bombing raid (he survived); and that the Island defense was in the hands of USMC officers. However, the film succeeded in its primary propaganda purpose of creating a stirring patriotic film. Wake Island was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture. Farrow won the 1942 New York Film Critics Circle Award for best director. The film was re-released on DVD by MCA Home Video in 2004

Click Her to see the movie trailier of the Wake Island Movie

A tour of Wake Island after the War Probably around the 1960′s before the Japanese salvaged everything.