Wake Island

One of the pilots with whom I work with also happens to be a flight planner in the U.S. Air Force here in HNL. Recently he was tasked with handling a group of aircraft movements. Major Madson, call sign "Maddog" headed to Wake Island to dispatch the aircraft that were on layover and get them to their final destination.
While on Wake, he happened to take some photo's and sent them to me.
(All photo's, except where noted, courtesy of Maj. Madson)

Here's some background info on Wake. Wake Island (also known as Wake Atoll, pronounced /weik/) is a coral atoll having a coastline of 12 miles (19 km) in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu 2,300 statute miles (3,700 km) west to Guam 1,510 statute miles (2,430 km) east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Access to the island is restricted, and all current activities on the island are managed by the United States Air Force.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo

The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land and naval forces of the Empire of Japan against those of the U.S., with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.

The island was held by the Japanese until September 4, 1945, when the remaining Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines.

Welcome to Wake Island!

Admiralty Command Post on the beach. The sign in the picture reads:

Historical Site

 Japanese Admiralty

Command Post Built

By American Civilian POWS - Completed

1942

Another site built by American Civilian POWs, This sign reads:

Historical Site

Japanese Aircraft

Revetments Built By

American Civilian

POWS - Completed

1943

Maj. Madson standing next to "98 Rock".

The "98 Rock" is a memorial for the 98 U.S. civilian contract POWs who were forced by their Japanese captors to rebuild the airstrip as slave labor, then were blind-folded and killed by machine gun Oct. 5, 1943.

 An unidentified prisoner escaped, and chiseled "98 US PW 5-10-43" on a large coral rock near their mass grave, on Wilkes Island at the edge of the lagoon. The prisoner was recaptured and beheaded by the Japanese admiral, who was later convicted and executed for war crimes.

The shell, of what once was the bunker for Major James Devereux, commander of the First Marine Defense Battalion on Wake Island.

Major Devereux fought for the defense of Wake for 15 days before being captured with his men and taken as a POW

The Marine Corps Memorial on Wake Island in remembrance of those who served there during the battle

The Base Operations Building on the airfield

The flight line with it's complement of A-10 and F-18 "Super Hornets" in the early morning awaiting their crews

During this mission, Maj. Madson caught a ride on an KC-10 mid air refuel over and back from Wake to dispatch the A-10 and Hornets. During which time he was able to take some shots of the mid-air refuel of a couple of the aircraft's

A refueling A-10 Thunderbolt, better known as the "Warthog"

And here, a Navy F-18 gets "topped off" by the Hawaii Air National Guard somewhere over the Pacific

Thanks again to Maddog for allowing me share these photo's of a very historic and important part of American History.

Lest We Forget...