Didn't know how to categorize this so I'm stowing it here. Has anybody ever landed, docked, been stationed, or washed up on Wake Island? On my first flight over the Pacific in 1969, (on Braniff Airways), we landed on Wake to refuel. From where I sat it looked like a spec on the water as we approached. It also seemed we had just enough runway to come to a stop. We were allowed off the Boeing 707 to stretch and look around. I changed into whites during the stopover there. It was hot and bright, and would seem like an unpleasant place to be stationed. Anybody who had to live and work there should be awarded a medal.
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Thank you David, Ron, and Gery. I was thinking nobody from here, had never even been there. I, in my later life learned how horrific the battle for Wake Island was in the early days of WWII and how hard the Marines fought with limited aircraft, and what weapons they had to delay the Japanese flotilla, and also the bombardments they endured.
I walked on sacred ground when we landed there back then. Even tho I was only 19 years old at that time, I remembered from world history class in high school, that something tremendous had happened there. But, as you know, 1969 was a time of fear and war that our military and country were in the middle of and there was little time to walk and learn of our past battles. I'm just glad I was able to briefly visit that small historic atoll in the vast Pacific Ocean. Even tho it was just for a short stopover, I think I'll always remember it.
Hi Adrian,
in the battle for wake a lot of civilian construction workers were executed by the Japanese also some of the marines were executed and buried by the beach. Did you ever see the old movie "Wake Island "with Brian Donlevey and William Bendix? Ron
I saw it. many times. but i was told it didn't tell the true story of what happened there
Was reading about the battle for Wake, the Japanese executed 98 prisoners and hurriedly buried them, one prisoner escaped and scratched a message on a rock,(it is still there) he was captured and beheaded. I think they were all civilians construction workers. I think wake was once a Pan American airlines stop over.
I was with a small Seabee det on our way to Nam and landed to refuel in 1972 we were in a Navy C118 island hopped all the way from Hawaii to Nam and back again. Then landed there again in a civilian DC10 to refuel on our way to Guam for our deployment out of Gulfport. Been to Guam three times almost made a fourth deployment in 93 but got lucky and transferred out of NMCB 1 to Pax River Naval Air Station
I landed on wake island on the way to the states from Japan in 1954 in a 4 engine prop driven commercial plane and like you said it didn't seem like enough runway. The only hero's there would be those that defended it and those who took it back from the Japanese, Ron Brabbin
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