Last Man Off Wake Island

Last Man Off Wake Island PDF Author: Walter Lewis John Bayler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charles H. Baker Collection
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
The author's experiences in the defense of the islands of Wake, Midway and Guadalcanal.

Last Man Off Wake Island

Last Man Off Wake Island PDF Author: Walter Lewis John Bayler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charles H. Baker Collection
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
The author's experiences in the defense of the islands of Wake, Midway and Guadalcanal.

Wake Island Wildcat

Wake Island Wildcat PDF Author: William L. Ramsey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811776689
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
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.

Given Up for Dead

Given Up for Dead PDF Author: Bill Sloan
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0553585673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
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.

Facing Fearful Odds

Facing Fearful Odds PDF Author: Gregory J. W. Urwin
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803295629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
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.

The Battle of Wake Island

The Battle of Wake Island PDF Author: United States. Navy Department. Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Wake Island, Battle of, 1941
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


Victory and Occupation

Victory and Occupation PDF Author: Benis M. Frank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 968

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Book Description


The Battle of Wake Island

The Battle of Wake Island PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Wake Island, Battle of, Wake Island, 1941
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


Victory in Defeat

Victory in Defeat PDF Author: Gregory J. W. Urwin
Publisher: Naval Inst Press
ISBN: 9781591148999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
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.

Wake Island 1941

Wake Island 1941 PDF Author: Jim Moran
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849089434
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
An illustrated examination of the daring last stand by a collection of marines, sailors, and other service personnel on Wake Island in World War II - one of the legendary stories of American military history. 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, featuring full-color maps and archive photography.

Prologue

Prologue PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Archives
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description