Praise for Pacific Alamo
“This fair-minded and compelling account of the defenders of Wake Island vividly recounts their heroism in battle and as prisoners of war.”
—Dean Allard, former director of naval history, U.S. Navy
“Military historian Wukovits has written an illuminating history of a now-neglected episode of the Pacific war…. The author of this work has performed a real service by reminding us anew of this once-familiar episode of heroism and sacrifice.”
—Library Journal
“Pacific Alamo is one of the finest pieces of historical writing I’ve encountered in almost sixty years of reading. A superb job of research, and a wonderful interweaving of the history of the American defense of a postage-stamp of land in the middle of nowhere, with the intensely personal histories of the handful of Americans who fought on against insurmountable odds. Even after the Japanese landing, the defenders fought on. Mr. Wukovits evokes powerful images of desperate hand-to-hand fighting: an American and a Japanese dying together, their bayonets lodged in one another’s bodies; a civilian worker hurling rocks at the Japanese; a Marine captain firing his Thompson from the hip. A Marine private called LaPorte summed up the attitude of the American defenders: ‘Every damn one of them was ready to do his duty.’ This is their story, wonderfully told. It is the history of the American character in microcosm, and every American ought to read it.”
—Col. Robert Barr Smith, U.S. Army (Ret.), author of Men at War and To the Last Cartridge
“Using storytelling techniques usually found in novels, Wukovits infused his book with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the battlefield and the deprivations of life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.”
—San Antonio Express-News
“Wukovits’ account…reveals the courage displayed and the incredible story of the civilian contribution during the horror of the battle.”
—Sea Power
“The story of the heroic defense of Wake Island by a handful of U.S. military personnel and civilian construction workers during the dark early days of World War II is indeed a stirring chapter in military history. However, author John Wukovits has given this epic drama new meaning for a challenging time. Wukovits writes with verve and easy grace in describing the events. He imparts the intensely personal aspects of the struggle, its impact on American morale, and its strategic importance with the authority of an expert researcher and master historian. Pacific Alamo is an engaging, factual account of bravery under fire in a desperate situation. Cheers for Wake and for Wukovits.”
—Michael E. Haskew, WWII History Magazine
John Wukovits
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Published by NAL Caliber, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Previously published in New American Library hardcover and trade paperback editions.
First NAL Caliber Trade Paperback Printing, February 2010
Copyright © John Wukovits, 2003
Maps copyright © Jeffrey L. Ward, 2003
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NAL Caliber ISBN: 978-1-101-65818-5
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Wukovits, John F., 1944–
Pacific Alamo: the battle for Wake Island/John Wukovits
p. cm.
Includes bibliiographical references and index.
1. Wake Island, Battle of, Wake Island, 1941. I. Title.
D767.99.W3W842003
940.54’26—dc21 2003044174
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To Matthew Dickerman,
my first grandson—
may he
and the other members of
his generation
never forget the sacrifices made for them
by the men of Wake Island
and by the other individuals
who gave so much in wartime
Contents
Preface
Introduction: “Wake Island Marine on Deck!”
Chapter 1 “An Ordinary Group of Americans”
Chapter 2 “It Would Be Nice to Have Six Months More”
Chapter 3 “The Marines Will Show Them a Thing or Two”
Chapter 4 “I Used to Hear a Lot of Guys Pray”
Chapter 5 “The Island Was to Be a Cake Walk”
Chapter 6 “Our Flag Is Still There”
Chapter 7 “They Don’t Guarantee You’re Coming Back”
Chapter 8 “I Was Surprised at Some of the Younger Ones”
Chapter 9 “We’ll Make Our Stand Here”
Chapter 10 “Remember Wake Island”
Chapter 11 “I Was Torn from Everything I Knew”
Chapter 12 “You Go Home Soon”
Chapter 13 “I Was Doing What I Was Trained to Do”
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
In my role as World War II historian, I have long been familiar with the story surrounding Wake Island. The heroics exhibited by the men, civilian and military, stirred my soul, just as tales of courage under fire from Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and other Pacific Theater locales captivated me.
My interest in Wake intensified in 1989, when I had the opportunity to meet a handful of Wake veterans at a reunion. Their remarkable stories moved me, and I left the gathering grateful to have had a chance to speak with such an extraordinary collection of men who meant so much to the nation in the b
leak early days of World War II. The only fact that dampened my enthusiasm was that the nation, now busy with other matters, no longer showed much interest in these gallant warriors.
Little more occurred until 2001 when my agent, Jim Hornfischer, mentioned the possibility of my writing a book about the 1941 battle. I jumped at the chance, for I knew that I would have a subject matter that not only deserved public notice, but could once again move people as it had sixty years ago.
Since then I have embarked upon a remarkable odyssey. Research has taken me to all points of the nation, introduced me to heroes who scoff at the notion that they are heroes, and immersed me in a saga that has rarely been equaled in the annals of military lore. I came away feeling fortunate to have met men who, while achieving nobility so long ago, yet retain simple humility and decency.
Many individuals aided me along the way: My multitalented agent, Jim Hornfischer, not only arranged the book contract, but also offered valued suggestions throughout the writing process. At New American Library, my editor Doug Grad and production editor Adrian Wood provided assistance at every step of the process and proved that professionalism certainly exists in the publishing industry. Jeffrey Ward added the splendid maps that accompany the text.
Barry Zirby guided me through the labyrinthine paths at the National Archives, Alex Rankin lent his expertise at the Special Collections of the Boston University Library, and Dr. James Ginther directed me to the superb material stored at the Marine Corps Research Center in Quantico, Virginia. In Washington, D.C., Fred Allison, Charles Melson, and Robert Aquilina made my visit to the Marine Historical Center a useful one.
I could never have produced the volume that emerged without the assistance of the Wake Island veterans, who readily gave me their time for interviews, their help in locating other individuals, and the use of their photograph collections. Franklin Gross, who publishes the newsletter Wake Island Wig-Wag, freely offered his assistance in numerous ways. Ewing Laporte, Kenneth Marvin, Martin Gatewood, John S. Johnson, and James King, among others, shared lengthy oral reminiscences. Cathy Sanders, the daughter of deceased Marine veteran Jacob Sanders, kindly e-mailed her father’s written account of his time on Wake and in prison camp.
A few others deserve special mention, for they gave me the information that provided the backbone to this narrative. I spent hours, sometimes spread out over a period of days, interviewing these men, occasionally over the telephone, but most often in their homes. I came to know them like newfound relatives; I granted them the same respect I reserve for only those few who have earned it. Col. Robert M. Hanna, USMC (Ret.) and Ralph Holewinski yielded the material for the gripping battle around Hanna’s gun and demonstrated that noble warriors can be humble, unassuming next-door neighbors. Colonel Hanna also illustrated the enduring love that binds a man, first to his beautiful wife and then to his beloved Marine Corps. Joe Goicoechea, Murray Kidd, and George Rosandick, as much fun when I spoke with them as they were in their youth, fascinated me with their gaiety, spirit of adventure, and their fondness for one another. Their information helped me grasp what life for the civilians was like. J. O. Young not only talked about his experiences, but also shared his written account and that of his uncle, Forrest Read. Along with Colonel Hanna, Young and his wife, Pearl Ann, show that romance and love last long beyond youth.
Two influences on my historical career merit credit. My college adviser in my student days and now professor emeritus of history at the University of Notre Dame, Bernard Norling, has long offered assistance whenever asked. An established World War II historian in his own right, with a list of books to his credit, Dr. Norling has provided suggestions and advice since the earliest days of my writing career. He is the image of what a teacher-adviser should be.
The other individual is an esteemed author of World War II material, whose biographies of Adms. Ernest J. King and Raymond A. Spruance stand as examples of solid research and powerful writing. For more than a decade Tom Buell, who sadly passed away in 2002, provided guidance and friendship, and I could never have attained any success without his help. He and his wife, Marilyn, are two of the finest people I have come to know, and I shall dearly miss Tom.
As always in my life, members of my family also helped me along the way. My older brother, Tom, a former naval aviator, lent inspiration and support. My three lovely daughters, Amy, Julie, and Karen, made the process easier with their cheerful encouragement and with their own pride-inducing accomplishments. My fiancée, Terri Faitel, a powerful force in her own field of mathematics, never failed to take time from her own busy schedule as a teacher and conference presenter to boost my morale and to read my different versions of the manuscript. Matt Gajda’s valued suggestions and comments about the manuscript helped make the book better.
Finally, three other people who are no longer with us helped inspire me along the way. My parents, Tom and Grace, never gave up on me, and the memory of my younger brother, Fred, who left us all too soon, prodded me to do the best I could.
“Wake Island Marine on Deck!”
The aged man appeared to be in his early eighties, but graying and frail were not the first words you would use to describe him. The bounce in his step was still there, and energy shone in his eyes, carrying more than a hint of what a force he once was. He stood amidst the large gathering of naval and Marine officers, relaxing after a long day’s schedule of reunion meetings. They sipped coffee and told tales of their service histories.
Suddenly, someone spotted him, and a deep voice barked out above the din, “Attention! Wake Island Marine on deck!”
“Everyone stopped talking,” said a naval officer who witnessed the incident. “We stood at attention, faced the Marine, and saluted. Those guys are legendary in the Navy and Marines for what they did, and whenever one is around, you pay him the highest respect.”1
No wonder. Sixty years ago, the old man was one of a tiny band of Marines who staged one of history’s most dramatic battles. In the bleak early days of the Pacific War, while America could only watch as Japan rolled to victory from Oahu to the South China Sea, a handful of America’s soldiers and civilians on Wake redeemed the nation’s honor and handed the United States a blueprint for its eventual victory.
Two and a half years before the “citizen soldiers” at Normandy began the drive to reclaim Europe, the island outpost of Wake stood alone, like a cavalry fort in some oceanic version of the Western frontier. Most of America’s Pacific battle fleet, the backbone of the nation’s power in the hemisphere, rested on Pearl Harbor’s muddy bottom along with almost two thousand young American sailors. Marines on Guam and British infantry in Malaya were fighting futile holding actions against swarms of enemy troops. In the Philippines, Japanese bombers demolished Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s air force before it lifted from the ground, and Japanese infantry shoved his troops into a disastrous retreat toward the Bataan Peninsula. Hong Kong and Singapore were poised to fall, and the destruction of two British warships, the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse, at the hands of Japanese planes off Malaya, caused British prime minister Winston Churchill to lament the numerous deficiencies of Allied power in the Pacific.
Barely six hundred miles—less than two days’ steaming time or four hours’ flying time—from the closest Japanese base, Wake stood next on the Japanese timetable. There was little reason to believe the island would offer anything but the feeblest resistance to invasion. Pearl Harbor, the nearest American base that could offer assistance, lay a distant two thousand miles to the east, and it was a smoking ruin.
Wake, a coral atoll comprising three islands whose highest point was barely twenty feet above sea level and whose vegetation consisted of scrubby trees and brush, covered three square miles of total land area. Yet even this tiny real estate, with ten miles of beach, offered too much territory for the tiny garrison to cover. Should the Japanese crash ashore in one of the numerous gaps between gun emplacements, the Americans would be swiftly overrun.
How the “Devil D
og Defenders of Wake Island” battled long odds is one of the great stories in the annals of military lore. The exploits of the Marines and civilian construction workers rank with those of the Spartans at Thermopylae, with the British who fought thousands of Zulu at Rorke’s Drift in 1879, and with the Texans at the Alamo.
“An Ordinary Group of Americans”
“Last Night the Japanese Attacked Wake Island”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat in the White House study on December 7, 1941, an aging leader suddenly appearing older and wearier. The man who infused life and vitality into a depressed country for much of the 1930s, who brought hope to those who had little, now struggled with his own form of shock and despair. Only moments ago he had been enjoying a leisurely lunch in the Oval Office with aide and close friend, Harry Hopkins, during which they amiably chatted about lighthearted topics.
That suddenly changed at 1:40 P.M. when Roosevelt’s military commanders at the sprawling American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sent a message that electrified the world—AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR—THIS IS NO DRILL. The nation of Japan, which had been casting covetous eyes across the Pacific for almost a decade, had bombed the Hawaiian bastion and inflicted major damage to the U. S. Pacific Fleet. The Navy Roosevelt had loved since youth, when he had sailed the bays of New York, and since World War I, when he served as assistant secretary of the Navy, lay in smoldering ruins at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
Hopkins glanced at Roosevelt and muttered that the news had to be mistaken. He could not believe that the Japanese could strike so quickly and with such devastating results at the most important military arsenal in the Pacific. But the news reports did not lie.
Aides rushed in and out of the office with the latest updates. With each bulletin, Roosevelt’s secretary, Grace Tully, thought that Roosevelt looked more nervous and tense. One by one, additional Pacific targets had either fallen or were about to be overwhelmed. Roosevelt, feeling much like a cornered boxer staggering under a flurry of blows, listened to a litany of disasters—Japanese aircraft bombed Guam and Midway Islands; the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Shanghai, and Hong Kong; Japanese soldiers poured into North Borneo and the Dutch East Indies; the Japanese overwhelmed Malaya and Thailand. The attacks unfolded on such a grand scale that they unbelievably encompassed seven time zones and covered almost seven thousand miles.
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