Wake Island (December 9, 1941)
❝On December 8, 1941, the day after the air attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese struck at Wake Island, the westernmost American base in the Pacific. Its small contingent of Marines manned shore batteries while pilots of Marine squadron VMF 211 rose to meet the attackers. They flew in Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters just delivered to Wake by one of the American aircraft carriers the Japanese had hoped to destroy at Pearl Harbor.
The Americans held the invading Japanese at bay for four days, but the main event couldn't be postponed for long. By December 22 the Japanese had destroyed all of VMF 211's remaining aircraft, and the few aviators and flight crew left on Wake became infantrymen. On December 23 a strengthened Japanese task force, supplemented by carriers fresh from the attack on Pearl Harbor, overwhelmed the garrison and occupied Wake.
From the pilot's help.
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