Download or read book Given Up for Dead written by Bill Sloan and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2008-01-29 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the “Alamo of the Pacific” will reverberate for generations to come. On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds. When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong––but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found—stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn’t awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead—and had the Marines simply given up? In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it. From the civilians who served as gunmen, medics, and even preachers, to the daily grind of life on an isolated island—literally at the ends of the earth—to the agony of POW camps, here we meet our heroes and confront the enemy face-to-face, bayonet to bayonet.
Download or read book Victory in Defeat written by Gregory J. W. Urwin and published by Naval Inst Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a book that draws on interviews with American POWs, as well as their Japanese captors, and diaries secretly kept by prison-camp inmates, the author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island offers a moving history of the incarceration of the American defenders of Wake Island after their surrender to the Japanese during World War II.
Download or read book The Story of Wake Island written by James Patrick Sinnott Devereux and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This account of the defense of Wake Island was written after five years without benefit of notes and records, which were destroyed by the Japanese or by us to prevent capture. This account is as accurate as the author could make it from his own recollection, available records and the recollection of other Wake Island veterans, both officers and men. The Navy Department is in no way responsible for any points of view expressed nor for the factual accuracy of statements made." --Page [6] Author's Note.
Download or read book Building for War written by Bonita Gilbert and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Americans who came under attack five hours after Pearl Harbor was hit: “Intriguing, informative, gripping, and at times very moving” (Naval Historical Foundation). This intimately researched work tells the story of the thousand-plus Depression-era civilian contractors who came to Wake Island, a remote Pacific atoll, in 1941 to build an air station for the US Navy—charting the contractors’ hard-won progress as they scramble to build the naval base, as well as runways for US Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortresses, while war clouds gather over the Pacific. Five hours after their attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese struck Wake Island, which was now isolated from assistance. The undermanned Marine Corps garrison, augmented by civilian-contractor volunteers, fought back against repeated enemy attacks, at one point thwarting a massive landing assault. The atoll was under siege for two weeks as its defenders continued to hope for the US Navy to come to their rescue. Finally succumbing to an overwhelming amphibious attack, the surviving Americans, military and civilian, were taken prisoner. While most were shipped off to Japanese POW camps for slave labor, a number of the civilians were retained as workers on occupied Wake. Later in the war, the last ninety-eight Americans were brutally massacred by their captors. The civilian contractors who had risked distance and danger for well-paying jobs ended up paying a steep price: their freedom and, for many, their lives. Written by the daughter and granddaughter of civilians who served on Wake Island, Building for War sheds new light on why the United States was taken by surprise in December 1941, and shines a spotlight on the little-known, virtually forgotten story of a group of civilian workers and their families whose lives were forever changed by the events on this tiny atoll.
Download or read book Facing Fearful Odds written by Gregory J. W. Urwin and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2002-06-01 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing Fearful Odds is based on interviews and correspondence gathered from more than seventy of Wake's American defenders and on research in archival and printed sources. The book covers the planning and political struggles that began Wake Island's transformation into a naval air station and submarine base, the U.S. Navy's eleventh-hour efforts to garrison and fortify Wake, and the various air, sea, and land attacks that resulted in the atoll's capture by the Imperial Japanese Navy. This study attempts to correct the myths that shroud what happened on the atoll. - from preface.
Download or read book The Defense of Wake written by United States. Marine Corps and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wake Island Pilot written by John F. Kinney and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese struck the small U.S. garrison on Wake Island. As his squadron's engineering office, Marine pilot John F. Kinney oversaw the repair of damaged planes when he himself was not in the air fighting off the Japanese assault. After the Americans held out for an incredible two weeks, Kinney was captured by the Japanese but eventually escaped in China. Wake Island Pilot is the memoir of a remarkable hero of one of World War II's epic struggles."--Page [4] cover.
Download or read book Beyond Pearl Harbor written by Beth Bailey and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2019-07-24 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, December 7, 1941, may live in infamy, in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s phrase, but for most Americans the date’s significance begins and ends with the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 8 (December 7 on the other side of the International Date Line) Japanese military forces hit eight major targets, all but one on western colonial possessions and military outposts in the Pacific: Kota Bharu on the northeast coast of Malaya (now Malaysia); Thailand, the one site not claimed by a western power; Pearl Harbor, O’ahu; Singapore, key to the defense of Britain’s Asian empire; Guam, the only island in the Mariana chain not controlled by Japan; Wake Island; Hong Kong; and the Philippines. Told from multiple perspectives, the stories of these attacks reveal the arc of imperialism, colonialism, and burgeoning nationalism in the Pacific world. In Beyond Pearl Harbor renowned scholars hailing from four continents and representing six nations reinterpret the meaning of the coordinated, and devastating, attacks of December 7/8, 1941. Working from a variety of angles, they revise and expand, to an unprecedented extent, what we understand about these events—in particular, how Japan’s overwhelming, if short-lived, victories contributed to emerging solidarities and nationalist identities within and across Pacific societies. In their essays we see how various elite actors incorporated the attacks into new regimes of knowledge and expertise that challenged and displaced existing hierarchies. Extending far beyond Pearl Harbor, the events of December 1941, as we see in this volume, are part of a story of clashing empires and anti-colonial visions—a story whose outcome, even now, remains to be seen.
Download or read book Wake Island 1941 written by Jim Moran and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also launched air attacks on Wake Island, an American marine and naval base in the Pacific. Three days later a Japanese invasion force stormed the island, but were bloodily repulsed by the scratch force of marines, sailors and even service personnel who defended it. Despite US attempts to relieve the island, the Japanese launched a much greater invasion a few weeks later and, despite gallant resistance, eventually caused the US Forces to surrender. This book tells the complete story of the vicious fighting on Wake Island, one of the near-legendary 'last stands' made by US military forces.
Download or read book Pacific Alamo written by John Wukovits and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-07-06 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It happened in the shadow of Pearl Harbor—mere hours after the first attack on the day that would “live in infamy.” But few know the full story of Wake Island. Now a prominent military historian, breaking new ground on the assault, relates the compelling events of that day and the heroic struggle that followed. Thanks to the brave Marines stationed there-and the civilian construction workers who selflessly put their lives on the line to defend the island-what was supposed to be an easy victory became a protracted and costly battle for Imperial Japan. This is the story of that battle, from survivors on both sides, and with a gallery of historic photos.
Download or read book A Magnificent Fight written by Robert J. Cressman and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recounts how the Wake Island garrison survived nearly daily bombings and repulsed the first Japanese attempt to take the atoll. The author uses extensive Japanese materials--many never before used or available-- to identify the enemy order of battle and the roles each unit played in the drama.
Download or read book Victory in Defeat written by Gregory Urwin and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Told here for the first time in vivid detail is the story of the defenders of Wake Island following their surrender to the Japanese on December 23, 1941. The highly regarded military historian Gregory Urwin spent decades researching what happened and now offers a revealing look at the U.S. Marines, sailors, soldiers, and civilian volunteers in captivity. In addition to exhaustive archival research, he interviewed dozens of POWs and even some of their Japanese captors. He also had access to diaries secretly kept by the prisoners. This information has allowed Urwin to provide a nuanced look at the Japanese guards and how the Americans survived three-and-a-half years in captivity and emerged with a much lower death rate than most other Allies captured in the Pacific. In part, Urwin says, the answer lies in the Wake Islanders’ establishment of life-saving communities that kept their dignity intact. Their mutual-help networks encouraged those who faltered under the physical and psychological torture, including what is today called water boarding. The book notes that the Japanese camp official responsible for that war crime was sentenced to life imprisonment by an American military tribunal. Most spent the war at a camp just outside Shanghai, one of the few places where Japanese authorities permitted the Red Cross to aid prisoners of war. The author also calls attention to the generosity of civilians in Shanghai, including Swiss diplomats and the American and British residents of the fabled International Settlement, who provided food and clothing to the prisoners. In addition, some of the guards proved to be less vicious than those stationed at other POW camps and occasionally went out of their way to aid the men. As the first historical work to fully explore the captivity of Wake Island’s defenders, the book offers information not found in other World War II historie
Download or read book Tactical Defeat Or Strategic Victory The Battle Of Wake Island 8 23 December 1941 written by Major Marlyn. R. Pierce and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given the constrained environment the US Armed Forces operate in would it be possible or even strategically feasible to relieve a cut-off force. This study investigates this scenario by using the historical example of Wake Island. Wake Island is an insignificant strip of coral located in the central Pacific. However, it gained strategic significance during pre-war planning. From its location, Wake Island could dominate the sea-lanes through the central Pacific. After the beginning of hostilities in 1941, the Japanese attacked Wake Island by air for three days before attempting an amphibious assault on 11 December. Miraculously, the defenders repulsed the Japanese. The only time during the Pacific War that an invasion attempt was defeated. Humiliated by the defeat, the Japanese returned on 23 December with a larger force. The defenders, again, put up a stubborn defense but eventually were overwhelmed. After the defenders defeated the Japanese on 11 December, the Navy’s senior leaders were forced to decide on the fate of the men on Wake Island. In the final analysis it was determined that the strategic loss of any of three aircraft carriers operating in the Pacific outweighed the tactical gain of relieving the beleaguered island.
Download or read book The Battle of Wake Island written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting by soldiers on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading All Americans are familiar with the "day that will live in infamy." At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, the advanced base of the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, was ablaze. It had been smashed by aircraft launched by the carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All eight battleships had been sunk or badly damaged, 350 aircraft had been knocked out, and over 2,000 Americans lay dead. Indelible images of the USS Arizona exploding and the USS Oklahoma capsizing and floating upside down have been ingrained in the American conscience ever since. In less than an hour and a half the Japanese had almost wiped out America's entire naval presence in the Pacific, but one of the aspects of the war most forgotten is that the Japanese simultaneously launched concerted attacks against American targets elsewhere in the Pacific that the same day, including one against the strategically located Wake Island. Claimed for the United States in 1841 by the cheerful, narrow-faced Lieutenant Charles Wilkes aboard the USS Vincennes, Wake Island (actually three separate portions known as Wake, Peale, and Wilkes Islands) remained essentially useless until the technology and politics of the 20th century suddenly rendered it more important. Given the possibility of war with Japan in the near future, the United States Navy began researching and developing the island for use as a forward airbase in 1940. Located between Hawaii and Japan, with the nearest inhabited land over 600 miles away, Wake appeared as a key strategic asset for America. Its status as U.S. territory made it possible for the Navy to construct a base there without antagonizing the Japanese, and desalination technology enabled maintaining a permanent human presence on the island. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, CINCPAC in 1941, prepared a long commentary on Wake which included the assessment: "The strategic importance of Wake is increasingly evident, as one inquires into means by which the Pacific Fleet may carry on offensive operations to the westward. [...] As an operating patrol plane base, it could prove highly valuable to us in observing the Marshalls, or in covering advance of our forces toward the Saipan-Honshu line. In the hands of the Japanese, it would be a serious obstacle to surprise raids." (Heinl, 1947, 1). The Japanese, of course, also recognized the strategic value of Wake and planned to deny it to the United States. Since their war plan involved a surprise attack, with the declaration of war following the start of hostilities, they anticipated seizing Wake Island with minimal resistance from the contractors and U.S. Marines there. The Japanese might perhaps have viewed the Americans on Wake in the same way Shakespeare's Duke of Orleans dismissed the English in Henry V, Act III, Scene 7: "You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion." As it turned out, the Japanese would require multiple invasion attempts and a few weeks to take the island against dogged American resistance, and it would cost them over 1,000 casualties by the time the fighting was finished. The Battle of Wake Island: The History of the Japanese Invasion Launched in Conjunction with the Attack on Pearl Harbor chronicles one of the initial Japanese campaigns in the Pacific. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the battle like never before.
Download or read book The Story of Wake Island written by James P. S. Devereux and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The courageous conduct of the officers and men who defended Wake Island will not be forgotten so long as gallantry and heroism are respected and honored." Citation of the President "Excellent" The New York Times On 8th December 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, thirty-six Japanese bombers attacked Wake Island and destroyed eight of its twelve aircraft. Two more raid shortly followed, further reducing the defensive possibilities for the men who were left to defend this small area of American soil in the center of the Pacific Ocean. Major James P. S. Devereux was the Commanding Officer of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion who faced Japanese onslaught. The first Japanese landing attempt on the morning of 11th December was repelled by a ferocious defense put forward by Devereux and his men. Yet although the Japanese had withdrawn without landing, they continued to bombard the island by air and sea, and there was little hope of resupply for the Americans. For fifteen days the American troops suffered endless bombardments until the second major Japanese offensive was launched on 23rd December. Against overwhelming forces the Marines and other troops that were stationed on the island fought valiantly, but after forty-nine men had lost their lives in the fight, the remaining American men and civilians were captured by the Japanese. James P. S. Deveraux's remarkable book The Story of Wake Island takes the reader to the heart of the action from the point of view of the commanding officer. It is a brilliant account of this tragic event that demonstrated the fighting spirit of the American soldier even in the face of unbeatable odds. "His special vantage point enriches his commentary not only on the ill-fated military operation but also on the state (and spirit) of the prewar preparations to defend the island." John J. Sbrega, The War Against Japan, 1941-1945 James P. S. Devereaux was a United States Marine Corps general, Navy Cross recipient, and Republican congressman. After the ferocious fifteen-day battle of Wake Island Devereux was interned for nearly four years in Japanese prison camps. His book The Story of Wake Island was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1988.
Download or read book The Battle of Wake Island written by United States. Navy Department. Library and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wake War And Waiting written by Rodney Kephart and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the thunderous bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the outpost of Wake Island was a backwater dotted in the Pacific Ocean with only a handful of military personnel and construction workers on the roster. Among the construction workers was Rodney Kephart of Iowa, signed up with Morrison-Knudsen company of Iowa, and about to be attacked by the might of Imperial Japanese Navy. The heroic but unsuccessful defence of Wake led Kephart and his fellow workers into Japanese captivity for how long they could not guess. Captivity for the prisoners was a war in and of itself; and Kephart’s short narrative gives a vivid account of the daily struggles against starvation, against the petty viciousness or outright brutality of the captives, against dirt, time and terror. Yet, despite his photographic realism, Mr. Kephart’s saga is not essentially one of pessimism or despair. Out of the darkness of slavery flash those small victories or omens that men could cherish and hold against the ultimate hope of freedom—the Christmas celebration, the miracle of a Red Cross package, the sight of the first American bomber. And then, with the surrender of the Japanese, came that unforgettable moment. They were free men again! For the reader who has lived through the disappointments and triumphs of the book, that long- awaited moment will be no less thrilling. Rodney Kephart was born in Spencer, Iowa, in 1917. After attending school in South Dakota, he went to Bethel Junior College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Until his capture on Wake, he was at various times a farmer, a carpenter, and an unofficial Protestant minister. Since his return from the Pacific he has been studying business administration, first at the Boise Junior College and later at the University of Minnesota.
