_One of the many cartoons that mirrored Wake’s gallant battle,
“Sun Spots,” shows holes marked “Wake Island Saga” and “Philippine
Fortitude” in a Japanese flag._]
At about 1300, Devereux reached Wilkes. Soon thereafter, a Japanese
destroyer closed with the island and opened fire, apparently intent on
bombarding them, but an exchange of signals quickly caused the ship
to cease firing. Almost a half hour later, at a point about between
the old and new channels, Devereux spotted “a few grubby, dirty men
[Piatt’s] who came out of the brush with their rifles ready.” They laid
down their arms and surrendered, too. The men of Wake had fought well,
impressing the victors with their tenacious bravery, which later proved
to be inspiring, not only to the Marine Corps, but also to the nation
as a whole.
Of the 449 Marines (1st Defense Battalion and VMF-211 detachments)
who manned Wake’s defenses, 49 were killed, 32 were wounded, and the
remainder became prisoners of war. Of the 68 Navy officers and men,
three were killed, five wounded, and the rest taken prisoner. The
small, five-man Army communications detachment suffered no fatalities;
they were all taken prisoner. Of the 1,146 civilians involved in
construction programs on Wake Island, 70 were killed and 12 were
wounded. Five of Wake’s defenders were executed by the Japanese on
board _Nitta Maru_. With the exception of nearly 100 contractors who
remained on Wake Island, all of the rest of the civilians joined
Wake’s Marines, sailors, and soldiers in prisoner of war (POW) camps.
The Japanese transported the wounded military men and civilians from
the island as their wounds healed and they were deemed well enough to
travel. They, too, were placed in POW camps until their liberation in
1945.
The Japanese lost two ships and seven planes; a score more were
damaged. The casualty statistics, though irrevocably incomplete, show
that at least 381 Japanese died and many more were wounded.
Wake was not recaptured by American forces during the war. Air raids
on Wake occurred throughout the war, the first occurring in February
1942. Raids in October 1943, however, had grave repercussions for
the contractors who had been left behind. Rear Admiral Shigematsu
Sakaibara, the atoll commander, who feared that the raids portended
a major landing, had them all executed. He was unwilling to have his
garrison threatened by such a large “fifth column.” For that offense,
he was hanged as a war criminal. The U.S. recovered Wake Island after
the Japanese surrender in 1945.
Wake’s defense in 1941 had been one of the few bright spots during the
first months of war in the Pacific. It provided Americans a stirring
example of heroism.
[Illustration: _In a 1942 Ralph Lee cartoon a battered but still
defiant Marine shakes his fist angrily at Japanese planes overhead._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 307267
]
_Sources_
The author consulted primary materials in the Marine Corps Historical
Center Archives Section (including the source material gathered for Col
Robert D. Heinl, Jr.’s 1947 monograph _The Defense of Wake_); Reference
Section (November/December 1941 muster rolls); biographical material on
many of the individuals involved in the defense of Wake, and Subject
Files on Wake; Personal Papers Collection (Claude A. Larkin, Henry T.
Elrod, and John F. Kinney Collections), and Oral History Collection
(James P. S. Devereux and Omar T. Pfeiffer Interviews) as well as in
the Naval Historical Center Operational Archives Branch.
Charles L. Updegraph, Jr.’s _U.S. Marine Corps Special Units of World
War II_ (Washington: HQMC, 1972) proved useful for background on
defense battalions, while Woodrow M. Kessler, _To Wake and Beyond:
Reminiscences_ (Washington: MCHC, 1988) and James B. Darden III,
_Guests of the Emperor: The Story of Dick Darden_ (Clinton, North
Carolina: The Greenhouse Press, 1990) provided illuminating insights.
Older, but still useful, general works concerning Wake Island include
Winfield S. Cunningham (with Lydel Sims), _Wake Island Command_
(Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1961), James P. S. Devereux, _The Story
of Wake Island_ (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1947) (by the author’s own
admission, a ghost-written “romance”); and Robert D. Heinl, Jr., _The
Defense of Wake_. On general Pacific strategy (including the attempt at
relief of Wake), see John B. Lundstrom, _The First Team: Pacific Naval
Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway_ (Annapolis: Naval Institute,
1984).
Articles and periodicals consulted: from the _U.S. Naval Institute
Proceedings_: Ross A. Dierdorff, “Pioneer Party--Wake Island” (April
1943) and Homer C. Votaw, “Wake Island” (January 1941). See also John
R. Burroughs, “The Siege of Wake Island: An Eyewitness Account,”
_American Heritage_ (June 1959) and Robert D. Heinl, Jr., “We’re Headed
for Wake,” _Marine Corps Gazette_ (June 1946).
_About the Author_
[Illustration]
Robert J. Cressman, currently a member of the Naval Historical Center’s
Contemporary History Branch, earned both a bachelor of arts in history,
in 1972, and a masters of arts in history, in 1978, at the University
of Maryland. Formerly also a historian in the Marine Corps Historical
Center’s Reference Section, from 1979-1981, he has published articles
in such publications as the _Naval Institute Proceedings_, _Marine
Corps Gazette_, and _The Hook_. He is the author of _That Gallant Ship:
USS_ Yorktown _(CV-5)_ (1985), and editor and principal contributor of
_A Glorious Page in Our History: The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942_
(1990). With J. Michael Wenger, he has co-authored _Steady Nerves and
Stout Hearts: The USS_ Enterprise _(CV-6) Air Group and Pearl Harbor,
7 December 1941_ (1990) and _Infamous Day: Marines at Pearl Harbor, 7
December 1941_ (1992), another title in this World War II commemorative
series of publications.
[Illustration]
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in
the World War II era, is published for the education and training of
Marines by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine
Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense
observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.
Printing costs for this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by the
Defense Department World War II Commemoration Committee. Editorial
costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by a
bequest from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in memory of her late
husband, Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and was the recipient
of a Purple Heart.