Download or read book Wake Island Wildcat written by William L. Ramsey and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Japanese attacked Wake Island in December 1941—the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor—Marine pilot Henry T. Elrod took to the skies in his F4F Wildcat fighter to defend the American military base on the tiny Pacific atoll, battling swarms of enemy planes and ships with rare courage and skill for the next two weeks. Captain Elrod, who had attended Yale and spent his freshman year playing football at the University of Georgia, had arrived mere days before as part of a fighter squadron of twelve pilots. On December 10 and 11, Elrod had two of the most remarkable days of the war for any pilot in any theater: he took on a group of twenty-two Japanese planes—shooting down two—and then bombed and strafed the destroyer Kisaragi, sinking the vessel with all hands and becoming the first American pilot to sink a warship with small caliber bombs delivered by a fighter plane in World War II. Then, once American aircraft were too damaged to fly, the pilots joined the ground defense against Japanese invasion forces. Elrod assumed command of one sector of the beach and led the repulse of repeated enemy assaults until he was killed on the last day of the battle, just before the American surrender. Though unsuccessful, the against-the-odds battle for Wake Island buoyed American morale during a dark period of World War II. Elrod, who became known as “Hammerin’ Hank,” was a key figure in the defense. For his gallantry, he was posthumously promoted to major and awarded the Medal of Honor. A US Navy frigate and a street at Marine Base Quantico were named for him, and a piece of his plane is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Drawing on research in military archives and materials from Elrod’s family, William L. Ramsey tells Hammerin’ Hank’s full story—which is not only the history of the battle for Wake Island but also the experiences that led him to become a Marine fighter pilot—with drama and verve.
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 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 A Magnificent Fight written by Robert J. Cressman and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1996-11 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hell Wouldn t Stop written by Chet Cunningham and published by Basic Books (AZ). This book was released on 2003-10-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This gritty oral chronicle records with poignant and often disturbing immediacy both the bloody sixteen-day Battle of Wake Island and the forty-four months of hell that followed it. One of the first military engagements in World War II, the battle for this tiny, strategically located atoll in the Pacific began on December 8, 1941, just five hours after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It ended on December 23, when the marines—despite diminished forces, incapacitated fighter planes, and no communications—strove to stem an overwhelming Japanese invasion until their commanding officers ordered them to surrender. No sooner had the surviving marines—the author’s eighteen-year-old brother among them—laid down their arms than they were stripped and bound. For two days they sat naked in the hot sun; at night they shivered in the cold. For the next three weeks they slogged in the ruins of their bombed-out camp. They were then jammed into the hold of the ship that would take them to prison camps in China and Japan, where they would endure the cruelest indignities and grimmest tortures until their liberation in August 1945. Hell Wouldn’t Stop tells their often horrific, frequently heroic, and unforgettable if long-forgotten World War II story.
Download or read book Opening Moves written by Henry I. Shaw (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 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 The Wildcat in WWII written by Barrett Tillman and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Story of Wake Island written by James Patrick Sinnott Devereux and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book is written by an American fighting man... It reveals no secrets as to what really went on “at the highest levels” — indeed, Colonel Devereux makes it entirely clear that he never had the faintest idea of what was happening at the highest levels. All he knew was that he was in command of the garrison on Wake Island when war broke out in the Pacific, and that he was to hold this island for as long as was humanly possible. He did so. His story of this memorable fight is enormously exciting and stimulating and important. In the first two weeks of American participation in the Second World War, many people were extremely uncertain of our ability to fight against the known and (up to then) all-conquering power of the Nazis and the surprising power suddenly revealed by the Japanese."--Page 4 of cover.
Download or read book Navy Department Communiques written by United States. Navy Department and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Magnificent Fight Marines in the Battle for Wake Island written by Robert Cressman and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-12-11 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Magnificent Fight" by Robert J. Cressman offers a detailed account of the strategic and tactical considerations that put Wake Island at the forefront of attention during the Pacific War. Cressman provides a day-by-day account of the defenders' activities and dispels many myths about the battle by cross-referencing survivor recollections with operational records. Get your copy now and experience the historical, strategic, and tactical considerations that put tiny Wake Island at the forefront of attention in the opening days of the Pacific War.
Download or read book Air Combat written by Robert F. Dorr and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dozens of interviews with combat veterans, along with photographs, offer a firsthand look inside the world of the fighter pilot, from the early days of World War II to the present day, describing the realities of battle, the history and characteristics of each pilot's plane, and the thoughts and feelings of aviation warriors. Reprint.
Download or read book Wildcat Aces of World War 2 written by Barrett Tillman and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 1995-04-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguably the most important piston-engined single-seat fighter design ever to see service with the US Navy and Marine Corps, the aesthetically inelegant F4F Wildcat achieved much acclaim during its bloody frontline career. Thrown into combat at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal, the handful of Wildcat units of the Navy and Marine Corps took on large numbers of fighters and bombers and came out victorious. On the European front, the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm also put the fighter to effective use from escort carriers, protecting Atlantic convoys from Luftwaffe attacks.
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 Staff Ride Handbook for the Attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941 written by Jeffrey J. Gudmens and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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.
