WAKE ISLAND

I got to go on land to Wake Island just before we left. One of the Air Force guys on the island gave us a great tour in a school bus. The island has a pretty amazing history. Wake was attacked at the same time as Pearl Harbor, ending in the surrender of the American forces to the Japanese on Dec.23, 1941, and the capture of all remaining men on the island. The captured men were kept to perform forced labor, building much of the existing infrastructure. On Oct.3, 1943 the Naval aircraft Yorktown raided Wake and the Japanese Rear Admiral Sakaibara ordered the 98 remaining men, mainly American civilian contractors, executed. Today, the island serves as a fueling station and is managed by the US Air Force. The US Army also has a missile facility. There are many Thai nationals that help maintain the island. We received about 35 of the islanders on the ship for Hi'ialakai tours. They seemed as excited to get off the island for a short while as we were to later get off the ship! Overall, they all seemed pretty happy living on Wake.