View source for Wake Island

{{Short description|Pacific island administered by the United States}}
{{About|the U.S. territory of Wake Island}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Infobox settlement
| name = 
| official_name = Wake Island
| native_name = {{plainlist|
*{{native name|ch|Islan Wake}}
*{{native name|mh|Ānen Kio}}
*{{native name|es|Isla de San Francisco}}
 }}
| other_name = Halcyon Island
| settlement_type = [[Territories of the United States|Unincorporated and unorganized U.S. territory]] ([[Territorial dispute|Disputed]])
| image = <!-- other image (specify File: or Image: namespace) -->
| image_flag = Flag of Wake Island.svg
| flag_border = [[File:Flag of Wake Island.svg|border|96x176px]]
| image_blank_emblem = <!-- Flag of Wake Island.svg not official flag?-->
| blank_emblem_type = [[#Vietnam War refugees and Operation New Life|Unofficial flag]]
| blank_emblem_size = 
| blank_emblem_alt = 
| blank_emblem_link = 
| etymology = Named for 18th century sea captain
| nickname = Wake
| motto = "Where America's Day Really Begins"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rauzon |first=Mark J. |title=Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands |date=2016 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |isbn=978-0-8248-4679-4 |location=Honolulu |pages=158 |quote=Wake island's motto—'Where America's Day Really Begins'—is a response to Guam, which claims that it is where America's day begins. In fact, the rising sun first shines on America at Peacock Point, the easternmost tip of Wake Island, which is just west of the international date line. If the motto sounds a bit defensive, that's only natural, for defense has always been the main purpose of Wake.}}</ref>
<!-- maps and coordinates -->| image_map = Wake Island NASA photo map.jpg
| map_caption = Map of Wake Island
| pushpin_map = North Pacific
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in the North Pacific Ocean
| coordinates = {{Coord|19|17|43|N|166|37|52|E|region:UM|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
<!-- location -->| subdivision_type = Administered by
| subdivision_name = {{USA}}
| subdivision_type1 = Status
| subdivision_name1 = [[Insular area#Unorganized unincorporated territories|Unorganized unincorporated territory]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[Territories of the United States|Territory]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]]
| subdivision_type3 = Claimed by
| subdivision_name3 = {{MHL}}
| established_title = Claimed by the United States
| established_date = January 17, 1899
| established_title1 = Claimed by the Marshall Islands
| established_date1 = [[Oral tradition]]
| governing_body = [[United States Air Force]] (under the authority of the [[United States Department of the Interior|U.S. Department of the Interior]])
| leader_party = 
| leader_title = Civil Administrator
| leader_name = [[General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force|General Counsel of the Air Force]] [[Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center|PACAF Regional Support Center]]
| area_total_km2 = 13.86
| area_total_sq_mi = 5.35
| area_land_km2 = 7.38
| area_land_sq_mi = 2.85
| area_water_km2 = 6.48
| area_water_sq_mi = 2.5
| area_blank1_title = Lagoon
| area_blank1_km2 = 5.17
| area_blank2_title = [[Exclusive economic zone|EEZ]]
| area_blank2_km2 = 407,241
| elevation_max_ft = 21
| elevation_min_m = 0
| population_as_of = 2017
| population_blank1_title = Estimate
| population_blank1 = 0
| population_blank2_title = Non-permanent residents
| population_blank2 = c. 100
| population_demonym = <!-- time zone(s) -->
| timezone1 = [[Wake Island Time Zone]]
| utc_offset1 = +12:00
| postal_code_type = APO / ZIP Code
| postal_code = 96898
}}
[[File:VFA-27 Wake Island.jpg|thumb|The [[VFA-27]] Royal Maces, a [[United States Navy]] [[Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet|F/A-18E Super Hornet]] squadron based in MCAS Iwakuni, flies over the "Downtown" area of Wake Island.]]
'''Wake Island''' ({{langx|mh|Ānen Kio|translation=island of the [[Sida fallax|kio flower]]}}), also known as '''Wake Atoll''' ({{langx|ch|'''Islan Wake'''}}), is a [[coral]] [[atoll]] in the [[Micronesia]] subregion of the [[Pacific Ocean]]. The atoll is composed of three [[islets]] – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a [[lagoon]] encircled by a coral reef. The nearest inhabited island is [[Utirik Atoll]] in the [[Marshall Islands]], located {{convert|592|mi|km|abbr=off|sp=us}} to the southeast.

The island may have been found by prehistoric [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] mariners before its first recorded discovery by [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]] in 1568. Ships continued visiting the area in the following centuries, but the island remained undeveloped until the United States claimed it in 1899. Significant development of the island did not begin until 1935 when [[Pan American Airways]] constructed an airfield and hotel, establishing Wake Island as a stopover for [[Transpacific flight|trans-Pacific]] flying boat routes. In December 1941 at the opening of the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theatre]] of [[World War II]] Japan [[Battle of Wake Island|seized the island]], which remained under Japanese occupation until the end of the war in September 1945. In 1972, Pan American Airways ceased using the island for trans-Pacific layovers, instead using [[Boeing 747]] aircraft, which could cross the ocean without stopping. With the withdrawal of Pan American Airways, the island's administration was taken over by the [[United States Air Force]], which later used the atoll as a processing location for [[Indochina refugee crisis|Vietnamese refugees]] during [[Operation New Life]] in 1975.

Wake Island is claimed by the Marshall Islands but is administered by the United States as an [[Insular area#Unorganized unincorporated territories|unorganized and unincorporated territory]] and is part of the [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]]. The island is administered by the [[Department of the Interior]] and managed by the United States Air Force. While there are no permanent residents, approximately 300 people are on the island at any given time, primarily military personnel and contractors.

The natural areas of Wake are a mix of tropical trees, scrub, and grasses that have adapted to the limited rainfall. Thousands of [[hermit crab]]s and rats live on Wake, and in the past, [[cat]]s were introduced to help control the rat population, which at one time was estimated at 2 million. The [[Wake Island rail]], a small flightless bird, once lived on the atoll but went extinct during World War II. Many seabird species also visit Wake, although the thick vegetation has caused most birds to nest in a designated bird sanctuary on [[Wilkes Island]]. The submerged and emergent lands at Wake Island are a unit of the [[Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument]].

==Etymology==
[[File:Wake Island air.JPG|thumb|left|Wake Island]]
Wake Island derives its name from British [[sea captain]] Samuel Wake, who rediscovered the atoll in 1796 while in command of the ''Prince William Henry''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sloan |first=Bill |title=Given Up for Dead |date=January 29, 2008 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0553585674 |location=New York, New York, United States of America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spennemann |first=Dirk H. R. |date=2005 |title=The Wreck of the Libelle and other Early European Visitors to Wake Island |url=https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/the-wreck-of-the-libelle-and-other-early-european-visitors-to-wak |journal=Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=108–122 |doi=10.48512/XCV8459197 |access-date=September 21, 2024 |archive-date=September 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921003025/https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/the-wreck-of-the-libelle-and-other-early-european-visitors-to-wak |url-status=live }}</ref> The name is sometimes attributed to Captain William Wake, who also is reported to have discovered the atoll from the ''Prince William Henry'' in 1792.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urwin |first=Gregory J. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WsG39lnR9cC |title=Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island |date=2002 |isbn=0-8032-9562-6 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |pages=22–23 |oclc=52430118 |access-date=May 28, 2022 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604180217/https://books.google.com/books?id=_WsG39lnR9cC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pierpont |first=Joseph |date=September 18, 1797 |title=Discovery |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/467054437 |access-date=September 20, 2024 |work=The North American |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America |pages=3 |archive-date=September 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921003023/https://www.newspapers.com/image/467054437 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Peale Island is named after the naturalist [[Titian Peale]], who visited the island in 1841,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Captain Ross A. Dierdorff, U. S. Navy |date=April 1943 |title=Pioneer Party—Wake Island |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1943/april/pioneer-party-wake-island |access-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026162114/https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1943/april/pioneer-party-wake-island |url-status=live }}</ref> and Wilkes Island is named after U.S. Naval officer [[Charles Wilkes]], who led the U.S. expedition to Wake Atoll in 1841.<ref name="Olson1996" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Spiller |first=Harry |title=American POWs in World War II: twelve personal accounts of captivity by Germany and Japan |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-0-7864-4275-1 |location=Jefferson, N.C}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Wake Island Lagoon Paradise by Matthew Piatkowski.jpg|thumb|Palm trees at Wake Island's lagoon]]
[[File:Wake Jun 15 050 (18471103304).jpg|thumb|Wake's lagoon]]
[[File:Corl0268 (27906633966).jpg|thumb|[[Spotted eagle ray]] (Aetobatus narinari) swims by Wake Island corals. ]]
===Prehistory===
The presence of the [[Polynesian rat]] on the island suggests that Wake was likely visited by [[Polynesian navigation|Polynesian]] or [[Micronesian navigation|Micronesian voyagers]] at an early date.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=S. L. |last2=Rauzon |first2=M. J. |date=2011 |title=The extinct Wake Island Rail ''Gallirallus wakensis'': a comprehensive species account based on museum specimens and archival records |journal=Wilson Journal of Ornithology |volume=123 |issue=4 |pages=663–689 |doi=10.1676/11-029.1 |s2cid=83517404}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Spennemann |first=D. H. R. |date=October 1997 |title=Distribution of Rat Species (''Rattus spp.'') on the Atolls of the Marshall Islands: Past and Present Dispersal |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/5907 |journal=Atoll Research Bulletin |volume=446 |issue=446 |page=4 |doi=10.5479/si.00775630.446.1 |hdl=10088/5907 |access-date=February 9, 2022 |archive-date=February 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209142518/https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/5907 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the Marshallese oral tradition, stories tell of Ānen Kio, or "island of the [[Sida fallax|orange flower]]," where men would collect [[albatross]] bones for tattooing rituals. [[Dwight Heine]] speculated that the Marshall Islanders treated Ānen Kio similar to a game preserve for hunting and gathering food and that no one permanently lived there, similar to land usage practices on [[Bokak Atoll]] and [[Bikar Atoll]]. He also speculated that the islanders may have stopped traveling to Wake Atoll in the mid-1800s, around the time the first missionaries arrived in the Marshalls.<ref name="MicronesianReporter">{{cite journal |last1=Heine |first1=Dwight |author-link1=Dwight Heine |last2=Anderson |first2=Jon A. |date=1971 |title=Enen-kio: Island of the Kio Flower |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RzsTAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Island+of+the+orange+flower%22 |journal=Micronesian Reporter |publisher=Public Information Office, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands |volume=19 |pages=34–37 |access-date=September 9, 2023 |archive-date=October 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004134036/https://books.google.com/books?id=RzsTAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Island+of+the+orange+flower%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the atoll's remoteness and lack of fresh water may have prevented permanent pre-modern human habitation; no ancient artifacts have been discovered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Education Resources: Regional Information, Wake Island |url=https://www.pacioos.hawaii.edu/education/region-wake/ |access-date=December 2, 2023 |website=Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) |language=en-US |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101132734/https://www.pacioos.hawaii.edu/education/region-wake/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Early exploration and shipwrecks===
The first recorded discovery of Wake Island was on October 2, 1568, by Spanish explorer and navigator [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]]. In 1567, Mendaña and his crew had set off on two ships, ''Los Reyes'' and ''Todos los Santos'', from [[Callao]], [[Peru]], on an expedition to search for a [[el dorado|gold-rich land]] in the South Pacific mentioned in [[Inca Empire|Inca]] tradition. After visiting [[Tuvalu]] and the [[Solomon Islands]], the expedition headed north and came upon Wake Island, "a low barren island, judged to be eight [[League (unit)|leagues]] in circumference". Since the date, October 2, was the eve of the [[Calendar of saints|feast of Saint]] [[Francis of Assisi]], the captain named it ''St Francis Island'' ({{langx|es|Isla San Francisco}}<!--common on period maps-->). The ships were in need of water and the crew was suffering from [[scurvy]], but after circling the island, it was determined that Wake was waterless and had "not a cocoanut ([[coconut]]) nor a [[pandanus]]" and "there was nothing on it but [[Seabird|sea-birds]], and sandy places covered with bushes."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharp |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJYhAAAAMAAJ |title=The Discovery of the Pacific Islands |date=1960 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-821519-3 |location=Oxford, England |page=47 |oclc=418115 |access-date=July 29, 2022 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604180246/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJYhAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brand |first=Donald D. |title=The Pacific Basin: A History of Its Geographical Explorations |publisher=The American Geographical Society |year=1967 |editor-last=Friis |editor-first=Herman Ralph |page=133 |chapter=Geographical Explorations by the Spaniards}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo. Volume 1: The journal of Fay Martin de Munilla O.F.M. and Other Documents Relating to the Voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quiró to the South Sea (1605–1606) and the Franciscan Missionary Plan (1617–1627) |date=2010 |isbn=978-1-4094-1731-6 |location=Surrey, England |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited |pages=110 |oclc=874143292 |orig-date=1966 }}</ref> (It was while attempting to relocate Wake according to Mendaña's description of its coordinates that [[James Cook]] first reached the [[Hawaiian Islands]].)<ref>{{citation |editor-last=Forbes |editor-first=David W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WA3pXblqS20C |title=Hawaiian National Bibliography 1780–1900, ''Vol. I:'' 1780–1830 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai{{okina}}i Press |date=1999 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WA3pXblqS20C&pg=PA208 208] |isbn=9780824820428 }}.</ref>

In 1796, Captain Samuel Wake of the [[merchant ship]] ''Prince William Henry'' also came upon Wake Island, naming the atoll Wake, for himself. Soon thereafter, the 80-ton [[Fur trade|fur trading]] merchant [[brig]] ''Halcyon'' arrived at Wake and [[Sea captain|Master]] [[Charles William Barkley]], unaware of Captain Wake's visit and other prior European contact, named the atoll ''Halcyon Island'' in honor of his ship.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.janeresture.com/wake/index.htm |title=Wake Island |publisher=Janeresture.com |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=January 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107005313/http://www.janeresture.com/wake/index.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1823, Captain [[Gardner (whaling family)#Edward Gardner|Edward Gardner]], while in command of the [[Whaler|whaling ship]] ''Bellona'', visited an island at {{coord|19|15|00|N|166|32|00|E}}, which he judged to be {{convert|20|-|25|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} long. The island was "covered with wood, having a very green and rural appearance". This report is considered to be another sighting of Wake Island.<ref name="Reynolds">{{cite web |url=http://mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/usexex573.htm |title=Reynold's Report to the House of Representatives |publisher=Mysite.du.edu |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=November 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102160243/http://mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/usexex573.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Commodore Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition 1838 - 1842.jpg |thumb|left|upright=0.8|Lieutenant [[Charles Wilkes]], commander of the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy's]] [[United States Exploring Expedition]], 1838–42]]

On December 20, 1841, the [[United States Exploring Expedition]], commanded by US Navy Lieutenant [[Charles Wilkes]], arrived at Wake on {{USS|Vincennes|1826|6}} and sent several boats to survey the island. Wilkes described the atoll as "a low coral one, of triangular form and {{convert|8|ft|m|spell=in|disp=sqbr}} above the surface. It has a large lagoon in the center, which was well filled with fish of a variety of species; among these were some fine [[mullet (fish)|mullet]]." He also noted that Wake had no [[fresh water]] but was covered with shrubs, "the most abundant of which was the [[tournefortia]]." The expedition's [[natural history|naturalist]], [[Titian Peale]], noted that "the only remarkable part in the formation of this island is the enormous blocks of coral that have been thrown up by the violence of the sea". Peale collected an egg from a [[short-tailed albatross]] and added other specimens, including a [[Polynesian rat]], to the natural history collections of the expedition. Wilkes also reported that "from appearances, the island must be at times submerged, or the sea makes a complete breach over it".<ref>''Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition: During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842'', Volume 5, Charles Wilkes, C. Sherman, 1849, p. 267</ref>

Wake Island first received international attention with the [[shipwreck|wreck]] of the [[barque]] {{ship||Libelle|barque|2}}. On the night of March 4, 1866, the 650-ton iron-hulled ''Libelle'', of [[Bremen]], struck the eastern reef of Wake Island during a [[gale]]. Commanded by Captain Anton Tobias, the ship was en route from [[San Francisco]] to [[Hong Kong]] with a cargo of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] (quicksilver). After three days of searching and digging on the island for water, the crew recovered a {{convert|200|gal|L}} water tank from the wrecked ship. Valuable cargo was also recovered and buried on the island, including some of the 1,000 flasks of mercury, coins, and precious stones. After three weeks with a dwindling water supply and no sign of rescue, the passengers and crew decided to leave Wake and attempt to sail to [[Guam]] (the center of the then [[Kingdom of Spain|Spanish]] colony of the [[Mariana Islands]]) on the two remaining boats from ''Libelle''. Twenty-two passengers and some of the crew sailed in the {{convert|22|ft|m|adj=on|0}} [[longboat]] under the command of First Mate Rudolf Kausch, and the remainder of the crew sailed with Captain Tobias in the {{convert|20|ft|m|adj=on|0}} [[Captain's gig|gig]]. On April 8, 1866, the longboat reached Guam after 13 days of frequent [[squall]]s, short rations, and tropical sun. The gig, commanded by the captain, was lost at sea.<ref name="The wreck of the Libelle and other early European visitors to Wake Island">"The wreck of the Libelle and other early European visitors to Wake Island", ''Spennemann, D. H. R.'', Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 4:108–123, 2005</ref><ref>"Den Tod vor Augen: Die unglückliche Reise der Bremer Bark LIBELLE in den Jahren 1864 bis 1866", ''Bernd Drechsler, Thomas Begerow, Peter Michael Pawlik'', Hauschild Verlag, Bremen, 2007</ref>

The Spanish governor of the Mariana Islands, Francisco Moscoso y Lara, welcomed and aided the ''Libelle'' shipwreck survivors in Guam. He also ordered the [[schooner]] ''Ana'', owned and commanded by his son-in-law George H. Johnston, to be dispatched with first mate Kausch to search for the missing gig and then sail on to Wake Island to confirm the [[shipwreck]] story and recover the buried [[treasure]]. ''Ana'' departed Guam on April 10 and, after two days at Wake Island, found and salvaged the buried coins, precious stones, and a small quantity of the quicksilver.<ref>"Return of the Hokulele", ''The Friend'', Honolulu, Volume 1, Number 8, August 1, 1867, Edition 1, p. 72</ref><ref>"Libelle Wreckers", ''Hawaiian Gazette'', Honolulu, Wednesday, May 27, 1868, p. 1</ref>

On July 29, 1870, the British tea [[clipper]] ''Dashing Wave'', under the command of Captain Henry Vandervord, sailed out of [[Fuzhou]] en route to [[Sydney]]. On August 31, "the weather was very thick, and it was blowing a heavy gale from the eastward, attended with violent squalls and a tremendous sea." At 10:30&nbsp;pm, breakers were seen, and the ship struck the reef at Wake Island. The vessel began to break up overnight, and at 10:00&nbsp;am, the crew launched the longboat over the [[Windward and leeward|leeward side]]. In the chaos of the evacuation, the captain secured a [[Nautical chart|chart]] and nautical instruments but no compass. The crew loaded a case of wine, some bread, and two buckets, but no drinking water. Since Wake Island appeared to have neither food nor water, the captain and his 12-man crew quickly departed, crafting a makeshift sail by attaching a blanket to an oar. With no water, each man was allotted a glass of wine daily until a heavy rain shower came on the sixth day. After 31 days of drifting westward in the longboat, they reached [[Kosrae|Kosrae (Strong's Island)]] in the [[Caroline Islands]]. Captain Vandervord attributed the loss of ''Dashing Wave'' to the erroneous way Wake Island "is laid down in the charts. It is very low, and not easily seen even on a clear night."<ref name="The wreck of the Libelle and other early European visitors to Wake Island" /><ref>"Total Loss of Barque Dashing Wave, and Rescue of the Crew", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Monday, January 23, 1871, p. 4</ref>

===American annexation===
[[File:Commander Taussig of the USS Bennington claims Wake Island for the United States of America.jpg|thumb|Commander [[Edward D. Taussig]] of {{USS|Bennington|PG-4|6}} takes formal possession of Wake Island for the United States with the raising of the flag and a [[21-gun salute]] on January 17, 1899.]]
[[File:USS Newport News (AK-3) off Wake Island on 24 September 1922.jpg|thumb|[[USS Newport News (AK-3)|USS ''Newport News'' (AK-3)]] visits Wake Island in 1922, and puts emergency water and supplies in case shipwrecked mariners are stranded there.]]
With the annexation of Hawaii in 1898 and the acquisition of [[Guam]] and the [[Philippines]] resulting from the conclusion of the [[Spanish–American War]] that same year, the United States began to consider the unclaimed and uninhabited Wake Island, located approximately halfway between [[Honolulu]] and [[Manila]], as a good location for a [[Submarine communications cable|telegraph cable]] station and [[coaling station]] for refueling warships of the rapidly expanding [[United States Navy]] and passing merchant and passenger steamships. On July 4, 1898, [[United States Army]] Brigadier General [[Francis Vinton Greene|Francis V. Greene]] of the 2nd Brigade, [[Eighth Army Corps (Spanish–American War)|Philippine Expeditionary Force]], of the Eighth Army Corps, stopped at Wake Island and raised the United States flag while en route to the Philippines on the steamship liner SS ''China''.<ref>{{cite web|title=GAO/OGC-98-5 – U.S. Insular Areas: Application of the U.S. Constitution|date=November 7, 1997|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-OGC-98-5/content-detail.html|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|access-date=March 23, 2013|archive-date=September 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927192012/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-OGC-98-5/content-detail.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

On January 17, 1899, under orders from President [[William McKinley]], Commander [[Edward D. Taussig]] of {{USS|Bennington|PG-4|6}} landed on Wake and formally took possession of the island for the United States. After a [[21-gun salute]], the flag was raised, and a brass plate was affixed to the flagstaff with the following inscription:
{{Center|''United States of America''
::''William McKinley, President;''
::''John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy.''
::''Commander Edward D. Taussig, U.S.N.,''
::''Commander U.S.S. Bennington,''
::''this 17th day of January 1899, took''
::''possession of the Atoll known as Wake''
::''Island for the United States of America.''<ref>{{cite book|author=Rongxing Guo|title=Territorial Disputes and Resource Management: A Global Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z5Le627xQLgC&pg=PA255|year=2006|publisher=Nova Publishers|page=255|isbn=9781600214455|access-date=November 7, 2015|archive-date=February 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203022525/https://books.google.com/books?id=z5Le627xQLgC&pg=PA255|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Although the proposed Wake Island route for the submarine cable would have been shorter by {{convert|137|mi|km}}, the [[Midway Atoll|Midway Islands]] and not Wake Island was chosen as the location for the [[Submarine communications cable|telegraph cable]] station between [[Honolulu]] and Guam as part of the [[Commercial Pacific Cable Company]]. Rear Admiral Royal Bird Bradford, chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Equipment, stated before the [[United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce]] on January 17, 1902, that "Wake Island seems at times to be swept by the sea. It is only a few feet above the level of the ocean, and if a cable station were established there, costly work would be required; besides, it has no harbor, while the Midway Islands are perfectly habitable and have a fair harbor for vessels of {{convert|18|ft|m|0}} draught."<ref>''Telegraph Age, Volume 20'', University of Minnesota, 1903, p. 161</ref>

On June 23, 1902, {{ship|USAT|Buford}}, commanded by Captain Alfred Croskey and bound for [[Manila]], spotted a ship's boat on the beach as it passed closely by Wake Island. Soon thereafter, the Japanese launched the boat on the island and sailed out to meet the transport. The Japanese told Captain Croskey that they had been put on the island by a [[schooner]] from [[Yokohama]] in Japan and that they were gathering [[guano]] and [[dried fish|drying fish]]. The captain suspected they were engaged in [[pearl hunting]]. The Japanese revealed that one of their parties needed medical attention, and the captain determined from their descriptions of the symptoms that the illness was most likely [[beriberi]]. They informed Captain Croskey that they did not need any provisions or water and expected the Japanese schooner to return in a month or so. The Japanese declined an offer to be taken on the transport to Manila and were given some medical supplies for the sick man, some tobacco, and a few incidentals.<ref>"Japs Have Island", ''The Honolulu Star'', August 26, 1902, p. 6</ref>

After USAT ''Buford'' reached Manila, Captain Croskey reported the Japanese presence at Wake Island. He also learned that USAT Sheridan had a similar encounter at Wake with the Japanese. The incident was brought to the attention of [[Assistant Secretary of the Navy]] [[Charles Hial Darling|Charles Darling]], who at once informed the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] and suggested that an explanation from the [[Government of Japan|Japanese Government]] was needed. In August 1902, Japanese [[Ambassador|Minister]] [[Takahira Kogorō]] provided a diplomatic note stating that the Japanese Government had "no claim whatever to make on the sovereignty of the island, but that if any subjects are found on the island the Imperial Government expects that they should be properly protected as long as they are engaged in peaceful occupations."<ref name="The Marcus Island Case">''The Marcus Island Case'', ''The New York Times'', August 20, 1902</ref>

Wake Island was now clearly a [[Territories of the United States|territory of the United States]], but the island was only occasionally visited by passing American ships during this period. One notable visit occurred in December 1906, when U.S. Army General [[John J. Pershing]], later famous as the commander of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] in western Europe during [[World War I]], stopped at Wake on {{ship|USAT|Thomas}} and hoisted a [[flag of the United States|45-star U.S. flag]] that was improvised out of [[sail]] [[canvas]].<ref>"Marines Set To Oust Japs From Wake", ''The Binghamton Press'', Saturday Evening, July 15, 1944, p. 13</ref>

====Japanese activity====
[[File:Poacher's workshop, Peale Island, July 27, 1923.jpg|thumb|left|Members of the [[Tanager Expedition]] explore an abandoned feather collecting camp on Peale Island.]]

With limited freshwater resources, no harbor, and no plans for development, Wake Island remained a remote [[desert island|uninhabited Pacific island]] in the early 20th century. However, a large [[seabird]] population attracted Japanese feather collecting. The global demand for [[feather]]s and [[plumage]] was driven by the [[hatmaking|millinery]] industry and popular European fashion designs for hats, while other demand came from [[pillow]] and [[bedspread]] manufacturers. Japanese poachers set up camps to harvest feathers on many remote islands in the Central Pacific. The feather trade was primarily focused on [[Laysan albatross]], [[black-footed albatross]], [[masked booby]], [[lesser frigatebird]], [[great frigatebird]], [[sooty tern]] and other species of tern. On February 6, 1904, Rear Admiral [[Robley D. Evans (admiral)|Robley D. Evans]] arrived at Wake Island on {{USS|Adams|1874|6}} and observed Japanese collecting feathers and catching sharks for their fins. Abandoned feather poaching camps were seen by the crew of the [[submarine tender]] {{USS|Beaver|AS-5|6}} in 1922 and {{USS|Tanager|AM-5|6}} in 1923. Although feather collecting and plumage exploitation had been outlawed in the territorial United States, there is no record of any enforcement actions at Wake Island.<ref>''Japanese Economic Exploitation of Central Pacific Seabird Populations, 1898–1915'', Spennemann, Dirk H. R., Pacific Studies, Vol. 21, Nos. 1/2, March/June 1998</ref>

[[File:F3 Baldeação no Cruzador Benjamin Constant (26172003824).jpg|thumb|The ''Benjamin Constant'']]

In January 1908, the Japanese ship ''Toyoshima Maru'', en route from [[Tateyama, Chiba|Tateyama]], Japan, to the [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific]], encountered a heavy storm that disabled the ship and swept the captain and five of the crew overboard. The 36 remaining crew members landed on Wake Island and endured five months of great hardship, disease, and [[starvation]]. In May 1908, the [[Brazilian Navy]] training ship ''Benjamin Constant'', while on a voyage around the world, passed by the island and spotted a tattered red [[distress signal|distress flag]]. Unable to land a boat, the crew executed a challenging three-day rescue operation using [[rope]] and cable to bring on board the 20 survivors and transported them to [[Yokohama]].<ref>''Rescued from Wake Island, Survivors of the Toyoshima Found by the Benjamin Constant'', The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Honolulu, Friday, June 26, 1908, p. 30.</ref>

====U.S. expeditions====
In his 1921 book ''Sea-Power in the Pacific: A Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem'', [[Hector Charles Bywater|Hector C. Bywater]] recommended establishing a well-defended fueling station at Wake Island to provide coal and oil for United States Navy ships engaged in future operations against Japan.<ref>''Sea-Power in the Pacific: A Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem'', Hector C. Bywater, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1921</ref> On June 19, 1922, the [[submarine tender]] {{USS|Beaver|AS-5|6}} landed an investigating party to determine the practicality and feasibility of establishing a naval fueling station on Wake Island. Lt. Cmdr. [[Sherwood Picking]] reported that from "a strategic point of view, Wake Island could not be better located, dividing as it does with Midway, the passage from Honolulu to Guam into almost exact thirds." He observed that the boat [[channel (geography)|channel]] was choked with [[coral|coral heads]] and that the lagoon was very shallow and not over {{convert|15|ft|m|0}} in depth, and therefore Wake would not be able to serve as a base for surface vessels. Picking suggested clearing the channel to the lagoon for "loaded motor sailing launches" so that parties on shore could receive supplies from passing ships, and he strongly recommended that Wake be used as a base for aircraft. Picking stated, "If the long heralded trans-Pacific flight ever takes place, Wake Island should certainly be occupied and used as an intermediate resting and fueling port."<ref>''Wake Island'', Lieutenant Commander Sherwood Picking, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 48, 1922, p. 2075</ref>

[[File:Tanager Expedition tent camp at Wake Island, 1923.jpg|thumb|left|[[Tanager Expedition]] tent camp in 1923 at Wake Island, established on the eastern end of Wilkes Island]]

In 1923, a joint expedition by the then [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service|Bureau of the Biological Survey]] (in the [[United States Department of Agriculture|U.S. Department of Agriculture]]), the [[Bishop Museum|Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum]] and the [[United States Navy]] was organized to conduct a thorough biological survey of the [[Northwestern Hawaiian Islands]], then administered by the Biological Survey Bureau as the [[Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument|Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation]]. On February 1, 1923, [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Henry Cantwell Wallace|Henry C. Wallace]] contacted [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of Navy]] [[Edwin Denby (politician)|Edwin Denby]] to request Navy participation and recommended expanding the expedition to [[Johnston Atoll|Johnston]], [[Midway Atoll|Midway]] and Wake, all islands not administered by the Department of Agriculture. On July 27, 1923, {{USS|Tanager|AM-5|6}}, a [[World War I]] [[minesweeper]], brought the [[Tanager Expedition]] to Wake Island under the leadership of [[Ornithology|ornithologist]] [[Alexander Wetmore]], and a tent camp was established on the eastern end of Wilkes. From July 27 to August 5, the expedition charted the [[atoll]], made extensive [[zoology|zoological]] and [[botany|botanical]] observations, and gathered specimens for the Bishop Museum while the naval vessel under the command of Lt. Cmdr. [[Samuel Wilder King]] conducted a [[depth sounding|sounding survey]] offshore. Other achievements at Wake included examinations of three abandoned Japanese feather poaching camps, scientific observations of the now extinct [[Wake Island rail]], and confirmation that Wake Island is an [[atoll]], a group of three islands with a central lagoon. Wetmore named the southwest island for [[Charles Wilkes]], who had led the original pioneering [[United States Exploring Expedition]] to Wake in 1841. The northwest island was named for [[Titian Peale]], the chief naturalist of that 1841 expedition.<ref name="Olson1996">''History and Ornithological Journals of the Tanager Expedition of 1923 to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston and Wake Islands'', Storrs L. Olson, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, February 1996</ref>

===Pan American Airways===
[[File:Martin 130 NC14716 "China Clipper" (5965549649).jpg|thumb|Pan American flew three of the largest aircraft built in the US up to that time, the Martin M-130 (''pictured''), on routes across the Pacific using remote islands like Wake as stopovers on flights to China, the Philippines, and Hawaii.]]
[[File:Wake Atoll National Historic landmark remains of Pan Am pier Peale Island.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8 |Remains of Pan-Am pier for the seaplane refueling station and airport]]
[[Juan Trippe]], president of the world's then-largest airline, [[Pan Am|Pan American Airways]] (PAA), wanted to expand globally by offering passenger air service between the United States and China. To cross the Pacific Ocean, his planes would need to island-hop, stopping at various points for refueling and maintenance. He first tried to plot the route on his [[globe]], but it showed only open sea between [[Midway Atoll|Midway]] and [[Guam]]. Next, he went to the [[New York Public Library]] to study 19th-century [[clipper]] ship [[logbook|log]]s and [[Nautical chart|charts]] and he "discovered" a little-known [[coral]] [[atoll]], Wake Island. To proceed with his plans at Wake and Midway, Trippe would need to be granted access to each island and approval to construct and operate facilities; however, the islands were not under the jurisdiction of any specific U.S. government entity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/775-chronicling-wake-island|title=Chronicling Wake Island|website=Panam.org|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=July 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731234300/https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/775-chronicling-wake-island|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Trippe the Light Fantastic |author=Harold Evans |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=February 24, 2005}}</ref>

Meanwhile, U.S. Navy military planners and the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] were increasingly alarmed by the [[Empire of Japan]]'s expansionist attitude and growing belligerence in the Western [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]]. Following [[World War I]], the [[League of Nations|Council of the League of Nations]] had granted the [[South Seas Mandate]] ("Nanyo") to Japan (which had joined the [[Allies (World War I)|Allied Powers]] in the [[First World War]]) which included the already Japanese-held [[Micronesia]] islands north of the [[equator]] that were part of the former colony of [[German New Guinea]] of the [[German Empire]]; these include the modern nation/states of [[Palau]], [[Federated States of Micronesia|The Federated States of Micronesia]], [[Northern Mariana Islands|The Northern Mariana Islands]] and [[Marshall Islands|The Marshall Islands]]. In the 1920s and 1930s, Japan restricted access to its [[League of Nations mandate|mandated territory]] and began to develop harbors and airfields throughout [[Micronesia]] in defiance of the [[Washington Naval Treaty]] of 1922, which prohibited both the United States and Japan from expanding military fortifications in the Pacific islands. With Trippe's planned Pan American Airways aviation route passing through Wake and Midway, the U.S. Navy and the State Department saw an opportunity to project American air power across the Pacific under the guise of a [[commercial aviation]] enterprise. On October 3, 1934, Trippe wrote to the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]], requesting a five-year lease on Wake Island with an option for four renewals. Given the potential military value of PAA's base development, on November 13, [[Chief of Naval Operations]] Admiral [[William H. Standley]] ordered a survey of Wake by {{USS|Nitro|AE-2|6}} and on December 29 President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] issued [[Executive order (United States)|Executive Order]] 6935, which placed Wake Island and also [[Johnston Atoll|Johnston]], Sand Island at [[Midway Atoll|Midway]] and [[Kingman Reef]] under the control of the Department of the Navy. Rear Admiral [[Harry E. Yarnell]] designated Wake Island as a bird sanctuary to disguise the Navy's military intentions.<ref>''China Clipper: The Age of the Great Flying Boats'', Robert Gandt, Naval Institute Press, September 23, 2013</ref>

USS ''Nitro'' arrived at Wake Island on March 8, 1935, and conducted a two-day ground, marine, and aerial survey, providing the Navy with strategic observations and complete photographic coverage of the [[atoll]]. Four days later, on March 12, Secretary of the Navy [[Claude A. Swanson]] formally granted Pan American Airways permission to construct facilities at Wake Island.<ref name="A Magnificent Fight">{{Cite web |last=Cressma |first=Robert J. |title=A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island |url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Wake.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031091703/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Wake.html |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |work=Marines in World War II Commemorative Series}}</ref>

[[File:SS North Haven unloading at Wilkes Island, Wake Atoll.jpg|thumb|left|Pan American Airways (PAA) construction workers "lighter" building materials from SS ''North Haven'' to the dock at Wilkes Island, Wake Atoll]]

To construct bases in the Pacific, PAA chartered the 6,700-ton [[cargo ship|freighter]] SS ''North Haven'', which arrived at Wake Island on May 9, 1935, with construction workers and the necessary materials and equipment to start to build Pan American facilities and to clear the lagoon for a [[flying boat]] landing area. The atoll's encircling [[coral reef]] prevented the ship from entering and anchoring in the shallow lagoon. The only suitable location for ferrying supplies and workers ashore was at nearby Wilkes Island; however, the chief engineer of the expedition, Charles R. Russell, determined that Wilkes was too low and, at times, flooded and that Peale Island was the best site for the Pan American facilities. To offload the ship, cargo was [[lightering|lightered]] (barged) from ship to shore, carried across Wilkes, and then transferred to another [[lighter (barge)|barge]] and towed across the lagoon to Peale Island. Someone had earlier loaded railroad track rails onto ''North Haven'' by inspiration, so the men built a [[narrow-gauge railway]] to make it easier to haul the supplies across Wilkes to the lagoon. The line used a flatbed car pulled by a tractor. On June 12, ''North Haven'' departed for Guam, leaving behind various PAA technicians and a construction crew.<ref>{{cite news|title=What's New in World of Airplanes and Air Transportation, Toil on Desolate Isles to Make Pacific Airway Path|work=Chicago Tribune|date=July 7, 1935|page=70|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1935/07/07/page/70/article/whats-new-in-world-of-airplanes-and-air-transportation/index.html|access-date=September 18, 2015|archive-date=September 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925072920/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1935/07/07/page/70/article/whats-new-in-world-of-airplanes-and-air-transportation/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Out in the middle of the lagoon, [[Bill Mullahey]], a swimmer and [[Freediving|free diver]] from [[Columbia University]], was tasked with placing dynamite charges to blast hundreds of coral heads from a {{convert|1|mi|m|-2}} long, {{convert|300|yds|m|-1}} wide, {{convert|6|ft|m|0}} deep landing area for the flying boats.<ref name="Daley1980">{{cite book|author=Robert Daley|title=An American saga: Juan Trippe and his Pan Am empire|url=https://archive.org/details/americansagajuan0001dale|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=Random House, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-394-50223-6}}</ref> In total some {{convert|5|ST|metric ton}} of dynamite were used over three months on the coral heads in the Wake Atoll lagoon.<ref name="Davidson">{{cite report|title=Historic American Landscapes Survey: Wake Island|first1=Joy|last1=Davidson|first2=Wendie|last2=McAllaster|publisher=National Park Service|location=Washington, D.C.|date=2011|page=6|number=HALS No. UM-1|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/um/um0000/um0061/data/um0061data.pdf|access-date=October 6, 2021|archive-date=September 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904165008/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/um/um0000/um0061/data/um0061data.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

On August 17, the first aircraft landing at Wake Island occurred when a PAA flying boat landed in the lagoon on a survey flight of the route between Midway and Wake.<ref name="Gilbert2012">{{cite book|author=Bonita L. Gilbert|title=Building for War: The Epic Saga of the Civilian Contractors and Marines of Wake Island in World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpDUAgAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Casemate|isbn=978-1-61200-129-6|access-date=January 11, 2017|archive-date=February 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203022527/https://books.google.com/books?id=FpDUAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

The second expedition of ''North Haven'' arrived at Wake Island on February 5, 1936, to complete the construction of the PAA facilities. A five-ton diesel [[locomotive]] for the Wilkes Island Railroad was offloaded, and the [[Track (rail transport)|railway track]] was extended to run from dock to dock. Across the lagoon on Peale, workers assembled the Pan American Hotel, a [[Prefabricated building|prefabricated structure]] with 48 rooms and wide [[porch]]es and [[veranda]]s. The hotel consisted of two wings built out from a central [[Lobby (room)|lobby]], with each room having a bathroom with a hot-water shower. The PAA facilities staff included a group of [[Chamorro people|Chamorro]] men from [[Guam]] who were employed as kitchen helpers, hotel service attendants, and laborers.<ref name="Riding the Reef">''Riding the Reef – A Pan American Adventure with Love'', Bert Voortmeyer, Carol Nickisher, Paladwr Press, 2005</ref><ref name="Wake Island Line 1936, Page 40">''Diesel to Run on Wake Island Line'', Popular Science, April 1936, Vol. 128, No. 4, p. 40</ref> The village on Peale was nicknamed "PAAville" and was the first "permanent" human settlement on Wake.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://flyingcloudschinaclippers.blogspot.com/2016/06/pacific-steppingstones-wake.html|title=Of Flying Clouds and China. Clippers: Pacific Steppingstones: Wake|date=June 29, 2016|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426184938/https://flyingcloudschinaclippers.blogspot.com/2016/06/pacific-steppingstones-wake.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:PAA Hotel and facilities at Wake Island.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Pan American Airways Hotel and facilities on Peale Island at Wake Atoll. The hotel is on the left; the anchor from the ''Libelle'' shipwreck and the pergola leading to the "Clipper" seaplane dock is on the right.]]
By October 1936, Pan American Airways was ready to transport [[passenger]]s across the Pacific on its small fleet of three [[Martin M-130]] "Flying Clippers". On October 11, the ''China Clipper'' landed at Wake on a press flight with ten journalists on board. A week later, on October 18, PAA President [[Juan Trippe]] and a group of [[Very Important Person|VIP]] passengers arrived at Wake on the ''[[Philippine Clipper]]'' (NC14715). On October 25, the ''[[Hawaii Clipper]]'' (NC14714) landed at Wake with the first paying airline passengers ever to cross the Pacific. In 1937, Wake Island became a regular stop for PAA's international trans-Pacific passenger and [[airmail]] service, with two scheduled flights per week, one westbound from Midway and one eastbound from Guam.<ref name="Riding the Reef" /><ref name="Wake Island Line 1936, Page 40" /> Pan Am also flew the [[Boeing 314 Clipper]] flying boats, in addition to the Martin M130.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chronicling Wake Island |url=https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/775-chronicling-wake-island |access-date=October 24, 2023 |website=panam.org |archive-date=July 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731234300/https://www.panam.org/pan-am-stories/775-chronicling-wake-island |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Gallirallus wakensis.jpg|thumb|left|Observations by those visiting the Pan-Am hotel in the late 1930s provided some of the only observations of living [[Wake Island rail]]s, a flightless bird that was native to the atoll but went extinct during World War II.]]
Wake Island is credited with being one of the early successes of [[hydroponics]], which enabled Pan American Airways to grow vegetables for its passengers, as it was costly to airlift in fresh vegetables and the island lacked natural soil.<ref>''Nice Clean Gardening'', Frank J. Taylor, "The Rotarian", July 1939, p. 14 [https://books.google.com/books?id=GkEEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Nice+Clean+Gardening,+Frank+J.+Taylor,+'The+Rotarian',+July,+1939&pg=PA14 Nice Clean Gardening] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004134033/https://books.google.com/books?id=GkEEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Nice+Clean+Gardening%2C+Frank+J.+Taylor%2C+%27The+Rotarian%27%2C+July%2C+1939&pg=PA14 |date=October 4, 2023 }}</ref> Pan Am remained in operation up to the day of the first Japanese air raid in December 1941, forcing the U.S. into [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.panam.org/war-years/654-war-boat|title=War Boat: A Heroic Tale|website=Panam.org|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426185625/https://www.panam.org/war-years/654-war-boat|url-status=live}}</ref>

The last flight out was a Martin M-130, which had just taken off on the flight to Guam when it was called on the radio about Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of World War II, so it returned to Wake. It was fueled up and was going to do a maritime patrol to search for the Japanese, when the Japanese bombing raid attacked, and the aircraft took some light damage during the raid. Two of the air crew were wounded. It was stripped of seats and spare weight and filled with 40 people to evacuate. After three take-off attempts, it got in the air. It flew to Midway, then Pearl Harbor, then back to the US.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/m-130/NC14715.html|title=Pacific Wrecks – Martin M-130 'Philippine Clipper' Registration Number NC14715|website=pacificwrecks.com|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/m-130/NC14715.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The flight with passengers and 26 Pan-Am employees left in such a hurry that 1 passenger, 1 employee, and 35 Guam staff were left behind. It departed about two hours after the air raid.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Urwin |first1=Gregory J. W. |title=ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |date=February 1, 2002 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1p3xk38.5 |work=History of the 33d Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863–6 |pages=xiii–xv |access-date=November 21, 2023 |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |last2=Urwin |first2=Cathy Kunzinger |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1p3xk38.5 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604180759/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1p3xk38?turn_away=true |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} Pages 12-13</ref> Except for one other Marine that a [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] flew out on December 21, these were the last to leave Wake island before the Japanese capture on the 23rd. The US plan was to resupply Wake with a naval force and evacuate civilians, but the island fell to the Japanese while it was still en route.{{Cit|date=March 2025}}

===Military buildup===
[[File:Aerial view of Peale Island, Wake, on 25 May 1941.jpg|thumb|right|Peale islet in May 1941: The bridge across the channel goes to the rest of Wake. The Pan-American buildings, pier into the lagoon, and seaplanes are seen.]]

In January 1941, the [[United States Navy]] began constructing a military base on the atoll. On August 19, 1941, the first permanent military garrison, elements of the [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine Corps']] First [[Marine defense battalions|Marine Defense Battalion]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Melson|first=Major Charles D|title=The Approach of War|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003133-00/sec12.htm|work=Condition Red: Marine Defense Battalions in World War II|publisher=United States Marine Corps History Division|access-date=September 13, 2010|archive-date=February 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217003242/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003133-00/sec12.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> totaling 449 officers and men, were stationed on the island, commanded by Navy [[Cmdr.]] [[Winfield Scott Cunningham]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Klemen |last=L |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/december2.html |title=Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, December 1941 |date=1999–2000 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015214226/http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/december2.html |archive-date=October 15, 2015 }}</ref> Also on the island were 68 [[United States Navy|U.S. Naval]] personnel and about 1,221 civilian workers from the American firm [[Morrison-Knudsen]] Corp.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mk-foundation.org/wake-island-remembered-december-8th/|title=Wake Island Remembered December 8th {{pipe}} Morrison Knudsen Foundation, Inc|website=Mk-foundation.org|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426185850/https://mk-foundation.org/wake-island-remembered-december-8th/|url-status=live}}</ref> The base plan was not complete at the time the war started, and work continued even during the Battle of Wake. One shortcoming was that the hangars and bunkers were incomplete, so repairing damaged aircraft during the battle was hard.<ref name="www.nps.gov">{{Cite web |title=A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island (Still No Help) |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec3.htm |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=nps.gov |archive-date=November 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103135754/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

On February 14, 1941, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] issued [[Executive order (United States)|Executive Order]] 8682 to create naval defense areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established the "Wake Island Naval Defensive Sea Area", encompassing the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three-mile marine boundaries surrounding Wake. "Wake Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Wake Island unless authorized by the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2002-title32-vol5/html/CFR-2002-title32-vol5-part761.htm|title=Naval Defensive Sea Areas; Naval Airspace Reservations, Areas Under Navy Administration, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|website=Govinfo.gov|access-date=March 3, 2022|archive-date=August 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818004423/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2002-title32-vol5/html/CFR-2002-title32-vol5-part761.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 1941, VMF-211 embarked with 12 of its 24 [[F4F Wildcat|F4F-3 Wildcat]]s and 13 of its 29 pilots aboard {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} for movement to Wake Island launching from the carrier and arriving at Wake on December 3.{{sfn|Shettle|2001|pp=88}}

===World War II===
<!--[[File:Wake Atoll National Historic Landmark Wake Island Japanese defensive structures.jpg|thumb|left|An abandoned World War II bunker (2014)]]-->
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese began an assault on Wake Island. At the time, there were about 500 Marines, 1100 civilian contractors, and dozens of Pan-Am airline employees and passengers. Shortly after a bombing raid that killed dozens, the Pan Am Flying Boat took off with the passengers and many employees. Three days later, the Japanese began a multi-ship amphibious invasion led by a cruiser, which was turned away at the loss of two destroyers by Wake's artillery. This action was widely reported as the first American battlefield success of the war. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy began a plan to resupply the island and evacuate the contractors; however, before this could happen, a much larger amphibious invasion took place on the island on December 23, 1941, losing two more ships and additional casualties. The Japanese stationed about 4,000 troops on the island. All but 100 of the POWs were sent away; the ones that remained were executed in 1943 after a U.S. bombing raid. In June 1945, the Allies allowed a Japanese hospital ship to evacuate about 1000 soldiers from Wake. The island was bombed many times by the Allies throughout the war but never invaded; it was surrendered to the U.S. in September 1945.

====Battle of Wake Island====
{{Main|Battle of Wake Island}}

[[File:Wake Island surface action 11 December 1941.PNG|thumb|Diagram of the December 11 battle at Wake]]
[[File:BGen Bayler - 19420103 - Chevron.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A [[Clipping (publications)|clipping]] of an American newspaper article on Bayler]]On December 8, 1941 (December 7 in Hawaii, the day of the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]), at least 27 Japanese [[Mitsubishi G3M]] "Nell" medium bombers flown from bases on [[Kwajalein]] in the [[Marshall Islands]] attacked Wake Island, destroying eight of the 12 [[Grumman F4F Wildcat]] fighter aircraft belonging to [[VMFA-211|USMC Fighter Squadron 211]] on the ground. The Marine garrison's defensive emplacements were left intact by the raid, which primarily targeted the aircraft.<ref name="UrwinEncyclBrit">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wake-Island|author=Urwin, Gregory|title=Battle of Wake Island|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=October 23, 2016|archive-date=December 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206145854/https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wake-Island|url-status=live}}</ref> On December 9 and 10, there were more air attacks, and two Japanese bombers were shot down. However, the bombing of Wilkes Island detonated an ammunition dump; the Wake hospital was destroyed, and many other buildings were damaged. Meanwhile, the Japanese naval landing force was on its way from [[Roi-Namur|Roi]] in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands and would arrive at Wake on December 11, 1941.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Gallant Defense: The Battle of Wake Island |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/battle-of-wake-island-2361443 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102171224/https://www.thoughtco.com/battle-of-wake-island-2361443 |url-status=live }}</ref> On the night of December 10, the US submarine [[USS Triton (SS-201)|USS ''Triton'']] engaged an enemy destroyer near Wake while on patrol; it fired torpedoes, but in the battle neither vessel was sunk. This was the first time a U.S. submarine launched its torpedoes in the Pacific war.<ref name="Triton III SS-201">{{Cite web |title=Triton III (SS-201) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/triton-iii.html |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=NHHC |language=en-US |archive-date=February 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223191425/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/triton-iii.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Japanese are known to have lost one of the submarines they sent as part of the operation. Still, it was because two of their submarines accidentally collided with one another on December 17, sinking one. Japanese submarine ''[[Japanese submarine Ro-66|Ro-66]]'' was on the surface {{convert|25|nmi}} southwest of Wake Island – bearing 252 degrees from the atoll – to recharge her [[Electric battery|batteries]] in a heavy [[squall]] in the predawn darkness of December 17, 1941, when her lookouts suddenly sighted ''Ro-62'', also on the surface and recharging batteries.<ref name="ijnsubsiteRo66">{{cite web |url=http://www.ijnsubsite.info/RO-Sub%20Details/RO-66.htm |title=RO-66 |work=iijnsubsite.info |year=2016 |access-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604180649/http://www.ijnsubsite.info/RO-Sub%20Details/RO-66.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref name="combinedfleetRo66">{{cite web |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/RO-66.htm |title=Sensuikan: IJN Submarine RO-66: Tabular Record of Movement |first1=Bob |last1=Hackett |first2=Sander |last2=Kingsepp |work=combinedfleet.com |year=2017 |access-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218184712/http://www.combinedfleet.com/RO-66.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="combinedfleetRo62" /> Both submarines attempted to back off, but it was too late to avoid a collision, and ''Ro-62'' rammed ''Ro-66'' at 20:20 [[Japan Standard Time]].<ref name="combinedfleetRo66" /><ref name="combinedfleetRo62" /> ''Ro-66'' sank at {{coord|19|10|N|166|28|E|name=''Ro-66''}}<ref name="ijnsubsiteRo66" /> with the loss of 63 lives, including that of the commander of Submarine Division 27.<ref name="ijnsubsiteRo66" /><ref name="combinedfleetRo66" /><ref name="combinedfleetRo62" /> ''Ro-62'' rescued her three survivors, who had been thrown overboard from her [[Bridge (nautical)|bridge]] by the collision.<ref name="ijnsubsiteRo66" /><ref name="combinedfleetRo66" /><ref name="combinedfleetRo62">{{cite web |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/RO-62.htm |title=Sensuikan: IJN Submarine RO-62: Tabular Record of Movement |first1=Bob |last1=Hackett |first2=Sander |last2=Kingsepp |work=combinedfleet.com |year=2017 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=May 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506041615/http://www.combinedfleet.com/RO-62.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The American garrison, supplemented by civilian construction workers employed by [[Morrison-Knudsen]] Corp., repelled several Japanese landing attempts.<ref>Arthur Herman. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II,'' pp. 170–174, Random House, New York, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref> An American journalist reported that after the initial Japanese amphibious assault was beaten back with heavy losses on December 11, the American commander was asked by his superiors if he needed anything. Popular legend has it that Major James Devereux sent back the message, "Send us more Japs!" – a reply that became famous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/a/legends.htm |title=Legends |publisher=Usmilitary.about.com |date=December 7, 1941 |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112122355/http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/a/legends.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Joyous Finale |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854451,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105131004/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854451,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 5, 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=September 17, 1945 |access-date=April 8, 2007}}{{subscription required}}</ref> After the war, when Major Devereux learned that he had been credited with sending such a message, he pointed out that he had not been the commander on Wake Island and denied sending it. "As far as I know, it wasn't sent at all. None of us was that much of a damn fool. We already had more Japs than we could handle."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boller |first1=Paul F. Jr. |last2=George |first2=John |title=They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-505541-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/theyneversaiditb00boll/page/20 20] |url=https://archive.org/details/theyneversaiditb00boll/page/20 }}</ref>
In reality, Commander [[Winfield S. Cunningham]], USN, was in charge of Wake Island, not Devereux.<ref name="NYTIMES3">{{cite news|title=Adm. Winfield CunninGuam; Commanded at Wake island|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/06/obituaries/adm-winfield-cunningham-commanded-at-wake-island.html|website=The New York Times|date=March 6, 1986|access-date=January 11, 2017|archive-date=January 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113162149/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/06/obituaries/adm-winfield-cunningham-commanded-at-wake-island.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Cunningham ordered that coded messages be sent during operations. A junior officer had added "send us" and "more Japs" to the beginning and end of a message to confuse Japanese [[Cryptanalysis|code breaker]]s. This was put together at Pearl Harbor and passed on as part of the message.<ref name="Sbrega2015">{{cite book|author=John J. Sbrega|title=The War Against Japan, 1941–1945: An Annotated Bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUTeCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT424|year=2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-43178-7|pages=424–|access-date=January 11, 2017|archive-date=February 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203022527/https://books.google.com/books?id=vUTeCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT424|url-status=live}}</ref>

On December 12, in the early morning, a four-engined flying boat bombed Wake, but a Wildcat fighter aircraft was able to intercept and shoot it down. Later in the day, they were bombed again by 26 [[Mitsubishi G3M|Nell aircraft]] (G3M twin-engine bombers), one of which was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. An F4F Wildcat on patrol late in the day sank a Japanese submarine that was near Wake. The next air raid was on December 14, which included a bombing raid by several 4-engined flying boats, and later in the day, 30 Nells (G3M) struck the atoll, destroying a Wildcat that was under repair. The island was bombed again on December 15, killing one civilian worker. Wake was bombed again on December 16 by 33 Nells (G3M), and again on the 19th, though in that attack one was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and several more damaged.<ref name="www.nps.gov" /> Before and at the start of hostilities, the waters around Wake were patrolled by two USN submarines, the [[USS Triton (SS-201)|USS Triton]] and the [[USS Tambor]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island (Humbled by Sizeable Casualties) |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec2.htm |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=nps.gov |archive-date=November 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103005023/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Before the start of the war one of the USS Triton crew members became sick and was dropped off at Wake Island on December 1, 1941. He became a prisoner of war and survived WWII.<ref>{{Cite web |title=On Eternal Patrol – USS Triton (SS-201) |url=https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-triton-201.htm |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=oneternalpatrol.com |archive-date=June 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608024922/https://oneternalpatrol.com/uss-triton-201.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Triton was radioed about the start of the war when it surfaced to recharge its batteries and was warned to stay away from the atoll, lest Wake's gunners target it. On December 10, the USS Triton had one engagement with a Japanese destroyer and fired the first US torpedoes of the Pacific War, though it did not sink. It escaped unscathed and went on to serve in the Pacific theater (it was later sunk in 1943).<ref name="Triton III SS-201" /> The submarine USS Tambor had to return to its home port in Hawaii in mid-December due to mechanical difficulties and had no engagements.<ref name="www.nps.gov" />

A [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] flying boat arrived with mail delivery on December 20, 1941. When it left, [[Walter L. J. Bayler|Lt. Colonel Bayler]] was on board because he was required on Midway, becoming the last person to leave Wake Island before its loss.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|165422622}} |last1=Conville |first1=Martin |title=Full Story of Desperate Wake Island Battle Told |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 23, 1943 |page=C5 }}</ref> On December 21, 49 aircraft attacked Wake, striking from a Japanese carrier group.<ref name="Lundstrom-2005">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYE4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59|title=The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway|first=John B.|last=Lundstrom|date=July 1, 2005|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781612511665|via=Google Books|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181226/https://books.google.com/books?id=oYE4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> During this time, there was a US Naval force on the way that was going to resupply Wake on December 24, but it did not work as planned as the Japanese 2nd wave took the island on December 23 before this could take place.<ref name="Lundstrom-2005" /> American and Japanese dead from the fighting between December 8 and 23 were buried on the island.<ref name="Stars and Stripes">{{Cite web |title=Search for closure, accurate account of Wake Island massacre continues |url=https://www.stripes.com/news/search-for-closure-accurate-account-of-wake-island-massacre-continues-1.166538 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=Stars and Stripes |language=en |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013123414/https://www.stripes.com/news/search-for-closure-accurate-account-of-wake-island-massacre-continues-1.166538 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The U.S. Navy attempted to provide support from Hawaii but suffered great losses at Pearl Harbor. The relief fleet they managed to organize was delayed by bad weather. The isolated U.S. garrison was overwhelmed by a reinforced and greatly superior Japanese invasion force on December 23.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Mike |last1=Yaklitch   |first2=Allan |last2=Alsleben |first3=Akira |last3=Takizawa |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/SNLF.html |title=Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces |date=1999–2000 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942 |access-date=March 30, 2021 |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416140629/http://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/SNLF.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> American casualties numbered 52 military personnel (Navy and Marine) and approximately 70 civilians killed. Japanese losses exceeded 700 dead, with some estimates ranging as high as 1,000. Wake's defenders sank two Japanese fast transports (''P32'' and ''P33'') and one submarine and shot down 24 Japanese aircraft. The US relief fleet, en route, on hearing of the island's loss, turned back.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec6.htm|title=A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island|access-date=August 7, 2022|archive-date=August 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808002310/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec6.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Heinl_The%20Defense%20of%20Wake.pdf?ver=2019-02-12-085233-467|format=PDF|title=The Defense of Wake|author=Lt. Col. R. D. Heinly Jr.|website=Usmcu.edu|access-date=March 3, 2022|archive-date=July 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724173636/https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Heinl_The%20Defense%20of%20Wake.pdf?ver=2019-02-12-085233-467|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Wreckage Wildcat Wake Island.jpg|thumb|Wreckage of Wildcats on Wake after the battle]]
In the aftermath of the battle, most of the captured civilians and military personnel were sent to [[List of Japanese-run internment camps during World War II|POW camps]] in Asia. However, the Japanese [[slave labor|enslaved]] some of the civilian laborers and tasked them with improving the island's defenses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japanese-execute-nearly-100-american-prisoners-on-wake-island#:~:text=On%20October%207%2C%201943%2C%20Rear,radio%20contact%20with%20U.S.%20forces.|title=Japanese execute nearly 100 American POWs on Wake Island|website=History.com|date=November 5, 2009 |access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426190739/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japanese-execute-nearly-100-american-prisoners-on-wake-island#:~:text=On%20October%207%2C%201943%2C%20Rear,radio%20contact%20with%20U.S.%20forces.|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the end of the battle on December 23, 1,603 people, of whom 1,150 were civilians, were taken prisoner. Three weeks later, all but roughly 350–360 were taken to Japanese prisoner-of-war camps in Asia aboard the ''[[Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō|Nita Maru]]'' (later renamed ''Chūyō)''. Many of those who stayed were those who were too badly wounded, and some were civilian contractors who knew how to operate the machinery on the island. A significant source of the prisoner war experience on Wake were the accounts in the commanding officer logs for Wilcox and Russel.<ref name="usni.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2001/february/massacre-wake-island|title=Massacre on Wake Island &#124; Naval History Magazine – February 2001 Vol. 15 Number 1|date=February 2001 |access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2001/february/massacre-wake-island|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 1942, another 265 were taken off Wake including Wilcox and Russel; not including those that had died or been executed, that left 98 on the island.<ref name="usni.org" /> With the departure of the officers, their logs of daily prisoners of life on Wake ended. Still, additional facts are known, including a new commanding officer of the island in December 1942. In July 1943, a prisoner of war was executed for stealing food, as ordered by Sakaibara; however, the identity of this POW is unknown. On October 7, 1943, the prisoners of war were executed on order of Sakaibara; they were marched into an anti-tank ditch and executed by machine gun fire.<ref name="usni.org" /> At the end of the war, the Japanese garrison surrendered and said the POWs had been killed in a bombing attack; however, that story broke down when some of the officers wrote notes explaining the true story, and Sakaibara confessed to the mass execution.<ref name="usni.org" />

{{clear}}

====Japanese occupation, air raids, POWs====
[[File:Douglas TBD-1 Devastator of VT-6 over Wake Island, 24 February 1942 (80-CF-1071-1).jpg|thumb|left|A US TBD-1 flies by Wake Island in February 1942.]]

The island's Japanese garrison was composed of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy|IJN]] 65th Guard Unit (2,000 men), Japan Navy Captain [[Shigematsu Sakaibara]] and the [[Imperial Japanese Army|IJA]] units, which became the 13th Independent Mixed Regiment (1,939 men) under the command of Col. Shigeji Chikamori.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Takizawa |first1=Akira |last2=Alsleben |first2=Allan |date=1999–2000 |title=Japanese garrisons on the by-passed Pacific Islands 1944–1945 |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/japan_garrison.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106231303/http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/japan_garrison.html |archive-date=January 6, 2016 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942}}</ref> Fearing an imminent invasion, the Japanese reinforced Wake Island with more formidable defenses. The American captives were ordered to build a series of bunkers and fortifications on Wake. The Japanese brought in an {{convert|8|in|mm|adj=on}} naval gun which is often incorrectly<ref name="csu2">{{cite web |date=October 9, 2005 |title=Dirk H.R. Spennemann, 8-inch Coastal Defense Guns |url=http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/Sapuk/Sapuk.html |access-date=September 13, 2014 |publisher=marshall.csu.edu.au |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303043005/http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/Sapuk/Sapuk.html |url-status=live }}</ref> reported as having been captured in Singapore. The U.S. Navy established a submarine blockade instead of an amphibious invasion of Wake Island. The Japanese-occupied island (called Ōtorishima (大鳥島) or ''Big Bird Island'' by them for its birdlike shape)<ref>{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |title=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-252-06973-0}}</ref> was bombed several times by American aircraft; one of these raids was the first mission for future United States President [[George H. W. Bush]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parmet |first1=Herbert S |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7CqPV_wHKgC&q=george+bush+wake+island&pg=PA51 |title=George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7658-0730-4 |access-date=November 4, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181152/https://books.google.com/books?id=M7CqPV_wHKgC&q=george+bush+wake+island&pg=PA51#v=snippet&q=george%20bush%20wake%20island&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The island was also bombed with leaflets and even small rubber rafts, with the idea that someone could escape from the island by sea.<ref name="Psywarrior.com2">{{cite web |title=Return to Wake Island |url=http://www.psywarrior.com/WakeIsland.html#:~:text=The%20Japanese%20garrison%20withered%20on,killed%20in%20American%20air%20attacks. |website=Psywarrior.com |access-date=April 26, 2021 |archive-date=April 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426191134/http://www.psywarrior.com/WakeIsland.html#:~:text=The%20Japanese%20garrison%20withered%20on,killed%20in%20American%20air%20attacks. |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Japanese patrol boat under attack off Wake on 24 February 1942.jpg|thumb|A Japanese patrol boat under fire from a US destroyer near Wake Island during the raid in February 1942]]
[[File:Wake Island being bombed on 23 March 1944.jpg|thumb|Wake bombed on March 23, 1944, by B-24]]

In February 1942, there was a raid attack on Wake, which included naval bombardment and bombing by aircraft. On the first day of the attack on February 23, several targets on the island were struck, and in the waters nearby, two Japanese patrol boats were sunk, and four Japanese seamen were recovered.<ref name="nnhc1">{{Cite web |title=Early Raids in the Pacific Ocean |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/e/early-raids-pacific-ocean.html |access-date=October 21, 2023 |website=NHHC |language=en-US |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604162027/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/e/early-raids-pacific-ocean.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The next day (February 24) a Japanese 4-engine patrol aircraft was shot down 5 miles east of Wake, and another patrol boat was sunk by air attack in addition to also striking targets on Wake Island.<ref name="nnhc1" /> The raids would continue to reduce the danger of Wake being used as a launching point for a strike on Midway.

From June 1942 to July 1943, many US B-24 raids and photographic recon missions were launched from Midway to Wake, often resulting in air battles between Zeros and bombers. For example, on May 15, 1943, a raid of 7 B-24s made it to Wake to be intercepted by 22 Zeros, with allies losing one B-24 and claiming four kills. In July 1943, a B-24 strike targeting the fuel depots lost another B-24 when intercepted by 20 to 30 Zeros. The last raid from Midway in 1943 was in July. The next significant attack combined naval bombardment and carrier strike aircraft in the fateful October 1943 raids. In 1944, Wake Island was bombed by [[Consolidated PB2Y Coronado|PB2Y Coronado flying boats]] operating from Midway to stop the Japanese garrison from supporting the battle for the Marshall Islands. Once the Kwajalein was taken, Wake was attacked from the newly won base with B-24 raids. This continued until October 1944, thereafter Wake was only bombed a few more times by carrier strike groups usually heading west.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PacificWrecks.com |title=Pacific Wrecks |url=http://pacificwrecks.com/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |website=pacificwrecks.com |language=en |archive-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629123105/https://pacificwrecks.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On May 10, 1942, one prisoner was executed for breaking into a store and getting drunk. In September 1942, another 265 POWs were taken off the island, leaving 98.<ref name="usni.org" />

In March 1943, the Japanese transport ship [[Suwa Maru]] was traveling to Wake with over 1000 troops on board. The U.S. submarine [[USS Tunny (SS-282)|USS Tunny]] torpedoed it, and the ship was taking on water as it approached Wake, so it was beached on the coral reef to avoid sinking.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Japanese Transports |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Suwa_t.htm |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=combinedfleet.com |archive-date=May 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506041706/http://www.combinedfleet.com/Suwa_t.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

After a successful American air raid on October 5, 1943, Sakaibara ordered the execution of the remaining 97 (one had been executed in July) POWs. They were taken to the northern end of the island, blindfolded and machine-gunned.<ref name="Tucker20122">{{cite book |author=Spencer Tucker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TO2mx314ST0C&pg=PA1491 |title=Almanac of American Military History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-59884-530-3 |pages=1491– |access-date=January 11, 2017 |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203022527/https://books.google.com/books?id=TO2mx314ST0C&pg=PA1491 |url-status=live }}</ref> One prisoner escaped, carving the message "''[[Battle of Wake Island#War crimes|98 US PW 5-10-43]]''" on a large coral rock near where the victims had been hastily buried in a mass grave. This unknown American was soon recaptured and beheaded.<ref>{{cite web |title=Massacre on Wake Island |url=http://www.goldtel.net/ddxa/massacre.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010090923/http://www.goldtel.net/ddxa/massacre.html |archive-date=October 10, 2018 |access-date=June 6, 2013 |publisher=Goldtel.net}}</ref> The one that escaped created an issue for the Japanese, who had already buried the bodies at the end of the runway under coral sand. They then had to dig up and count all the bodies, confirming that one was missing.<ref name="www.uswarmemorials.org">{{Cite web |title=Monument Details |url=https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=284&MemID=510 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=uswarmemorials.org |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102144951/https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=284&MemID=510 |url-status=live }}</ref> This would not be the final resting place, as near the end of the war in August 1945, the bodies were again dug up and reburied at Peacock Point in a mass grave but with multiple wooden crosses.<ref name="usni.org" /> After the war, they were exhumed again and buried at the U.S. National Cemetery of the Pacific.<ref name="www.uswarmemorials.org" />

Later in the war, the Japanese garrison had been almost cut off from supplies and was reduced to the point of starvation. While the islands' [[sooty tern]] colony had received some protection as a source of eggs, the [[Wake Island rail]] was hunted to extinction by the starving soldiers. Ultimately, about three-quarters of the Japanese garrison perished, and the rest survived only by eating tern eggs, the [[Polynesian rat]]s, and what scant number of vegetables they could grow in makeshift gardens among the coral rubble.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wake Rail (Hypotaenidia wakensis) – BirdLife species factsheet |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22692447 |access-date=March 3, 2022 |website=Datazone.birdlife.org |archive-date=February 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228035855/http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22692447 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Psywarrior.com2" /> In early 1944, Wake was largely cut off from resupply because the Allies Pacific campaign had moved past Wake, in particular, the Japanese base to the south that had been resupplying Wake was captured in January 1944. In May 1944, the Japanese forces on Wake began rationing food, and the rationing became progressively stricter. To survive the garrison engaged in fishing, growing vegetables, bird eggs, and rats, which were essential food supplies at this time, and sometimes tens of thousands of rats were killed in a single day to stave off starvation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Storrs L. |last2=Rauzon |first2=Mark J. |date=December 2011 |title=The Extinct Wake Island Rail Gallirallus wakensis: A Comprehensive Species Account Based on Museum Specimens and Archival Records |url=https://bioone.org/journals/the-wilson-journal-of-ornithology/volume-123/issue-4/11-029.1/The-Extinct-Wake-Island-Rail-Gallirallus-wakensis--A-Comprehensive/10.1676/11-029.1.full |journal=The Wilson Journal of Ornithology |volume=123 |issue=4 |pages=663–689 |doi=10.1676/11-029.1 |issn=1559-4491 |s2cid=83517404 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181300/https://bioone.org/journals/the-wilson-journal-of-ornithology/volume-123/issue-4/11-029.1/The-Extinct-Wake-Island-Rail-Gallirallus-wakensis--A-Comprehensive/10.1676/11-029.1.short |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In June 1945, the Japanese hospital ship ''[[Takasago Maru]]'' was allowed to visit Wake Island, and it departed with 974 patients. It was boarded and checked both before and after the visit to confirm it was not carrying contraband, and the number of patients was confirmed: 974 Japanese were taken off Wake. On the way to Wake, it was stopped by the [[USS Murray (DD-576)|USS ''Murray'' (DD-576)]] and on the way back from Wake it was stopped by the USS ''McDermut II'' (DD-677) to confirm it was carrying the patients.<ref name="www.combinedfleet.com">{{Cite web |title=Japanese Hospital Ships |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Takasago_t.htm |access-date=October 11, 2023 |website=combinedfleet.com |archive-date=October 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014163807/http://www.combinedfleet.com/Takasago_t.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The condition was recorded first hand by the USS ''McDermut II'', which reported that about 15% of the troops that the Japanese evacuated were extremely sick.<ref name="Psywarrior.com2" />

The Pacific War finally came to a close in August 1945, with negotiations opening. The Emperor of Japan announced the surrender to the Japanese people, and the agreement was formally signed on September 2, 1945.

Most of the Wake POWs were liberated from Hirahata Camp 12-B, which switched over from Japanese to American control in late August 1945. About 300 prisoners were included from Wake Island, and a makeshift flag was raised at the camp as they gathered to mark the end of their internment.

==== Surrender and trial ====
[[File:Wake island 1945 surrender.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The formal surrender of the Japanese garrison on Wake Island, September 7, 1945. Island commander Admiral [[Shigematsu Sakaibara]] is the Japanese officer in the right-foreground.]]

On September 4, 1945, the Japanese garrison surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines under the command of Brigadier General [[Lawson H. M. Sanderson]].<ref name="Moran2011">{{cite book|author=Jim Moran|title=Wake Island 1941: A battle to make the gods weep|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaO6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-84908-604-2|pages=84, 92|access-date=January 11, 2017|archive-date=February 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203022527/https://books.google.com/books?id=AaO6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|url-status=live}}</ref> The garrison, having previously received news that Imperial Japan's defeat was imminent, exhumed the mass grave. The bones were moved to the U.S. cemetery established on Peacock Point after the invasion. Wooden crosses were erected in preparation for the expected arrival of U.S. forces. During the initial interrogations, the Japanese claimed that an American bombing raid mostly killed the remaining 98 Americans on the island. However, some escaped and fought to the death after being cornered on the beach at the north end of Wake Island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/massacre.html |title=Massacre on Wake Island |author=Maj. Mark E. Hubbs, U.S. Army Reserve (Retired) |access-date=February 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214141205/http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/massacre.html |archive-date=February 14, 2008 }}</ref> Several Japanese officers in American custody committed suicide over the incident, leaving written statements that incriminated Sakaibara.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakaibara-Shigematsu|title=Sakaibara Shigematsu {{!}} Japanese military officer|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=January 16, 2019|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308052225/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakaibara-Shigematsu|url-status=live}}</ref> Sakaibara and his subordinate, lieutenant commander Tachibana, were later sentenced to death after conviction for this and other war crimes. Sakaibara was executed by hanging in Guam on June 18, 1947, while Tachibana's sentence was commuted to life in prison.<ref>{{cite web |author=Headsman |url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/06/18/1947-shigematsu-sakaibara-wake-island-massacre/ |title=1947: Shigematsu Sakaibara, "I obey with pleasure" |publisher=ExecutedToday.com |date=June 18, 2009 |access-date=June 6, 2013 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225214508/http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/06/18/1947-shigematsu-sakaibara-wake-island-massacre/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The remains of the murdered civilians were exhumed and reburied at Honolulu's [[National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific]] at section G, commonly known as [[Punchbowl Crater]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/nmcp.asp|title=National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific – National Cemetery Administration|last=Administration|first=National Cemetery|website=cem.va.gov|access-date=January 16, 2019|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126093940/https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/nmcp.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> A year after the Wake executions, in 1944, there was the [[Palawan massacre]] in which Captain Nagayoshi Kojima ordered the execution of 150 POW when he was told the Allies were near. They were burned alive in trenches, and those who tried to flee were gunned down, but 11 escaped, leading to a death toll of 139. In response, the Allies then realized the Japanese might execute POWs if they thought the Allies were near and began a special mission to liberate POW camps.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 20, 2022 |title='Dispose of Them': Massacre of American POWs in the Philippines |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/dispose-them-massacre-american-pows-philippines |access-date=October 11, 2023 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en |archive-date=October 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002123332/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/dispose-them-massacre-american-pows-philippines |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, the events on Wake in 1943 were unknown, and the U.S. allowed the hospital ship ''[[Takasago Maru]]'' to visit Wake in June 1945.<ref name="www.combinedfleet.com" />  After the surrender, the POW gravesite was found where they had been buried with crosses at Peacock Point, and the story was that either they had died in a U.S. bombing raid or that they had died in a revolt.<ref name="Wimbrow III-2023">{{Cite web |last=III |first=Peter Ayers Wimbrow |date=September 28, 2023 |title=POW's killed in response to U.S. bombing of Wake Island |url=https://www.oceancitytoday.com/column_posts/world_war_ii/pow-s-killed-in-response-to-u-s-bombing-of-wake-island/article_97844b86-5e37-11ee-829a-576d154e66a7.html |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=Ocean City Today |language=en |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102153348/https://www.oceancitytoday.com/column_posts/world_war_ii/pow-s-killed-in-response-to-u-s-bombing-of-wake-island/article_97844b86-5e37-11ee-829a-576d154e66a7.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the handover of Wake, 2200 Japanese were on the island, significantly less than at the start, but 974 had just been shipped back to Japan in June 1945. Wake was not cut off until later in the war, but it is estimated that hundreds died during the bombing strikes and from starvation, and many were sick with tuberculosis.<ref name="Psywarrior.com2" />

In any case, the Japanese soldiers who had survived were nearly all sent away by November 1, 1945, transported aboard the ''[[Hikawa Maru]]'' for repatriation. The remaining Japanese troops and the officers were shipped to the U.S. base atoll, but on the route, two of the officers committed suicide, leaving notes describing a POW massacre. Another officer wrote a note describing the same. Finally, the Admiral admitted what he had ordered and accepted blame, leading to two officers' trial in late December.<ref name="Wimbrow III-2023" /> Back on Wake, the bodies were eventually exhumed, including those that had died in the Battle of Wake, to try to make identifications. The task proved too difficult, and they were buried as a group with a memorial listing the names. There was a ceremony in 1953.<ref name="www.uswarmemorials.org" />
[[File:Wake Island Japanese Tank, April 1952.jpg|thumb|A derelict Japanese tank after World War II]]

===Post-World War II military and commercial airfield===
[[File:Original Drifter's Reef bar, Wake Island.jpg|thumb|left|The original Drifter's Reef bar, built near the harbor area at Wake Island, opened its doors to [[aircrew]]s, visitors and other "[[Vagrancy (people)|drifters]]" on November 8, 1949.]]

With the end of hostilities with Japan and the increase in international air travel driven partly by wartime advances in [[aeronautics]], Wake Island became a critical mid-Pacific base for the servicing and refueling of military and commercial aircraft. The United States Navy resumed control of the island, and in October 1945, 400 [[Seabee]]s from the 85th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at Wake to clear the island of the effects of the war and to build basic facilities for a [[Naval air station|Naval Air Base]]. The base was completed in March 1946, and on September 24, Pan Am resumed regular commercial passenger service. The era of the flying boats was nearly over, so Pan Am switched to longer-range, faster, and more profitable airplanes that could land on Wake's new coral runway. Other airlines that established transpacific routes through Wake included [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] (BOAC), [[Japan Airlines]], [[Philippine Airlines]] and [[Transocean Airlines]]. Due to the substantial increase in the number of commercial flights, on July 1, 1947, the Navy transferred administration, operations, and maintenance of the facilities at Wake to the [[American Civil Aeronautics Administration|Civil Aeronautics Administration]] (CAA). In 1949, the CAA upgraded the runway by paving over the coral surface and extending its length to 7,000 feet.<ref name="Davidson" /><ref name="Lcweb2.loc.gov">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/um/um0000/um0060/data/um0060data.pdf|title=Photographs: Written Historical and Descriptive Data : Wake Island Airfield, Terminal Building|website=Lcweb2.loc.gov|access-date=March 3, 2022|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927191456/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/um/um0000/um0060/data/um0060data.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Previously Pan Am was still operating the airport at Wake.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtA9AQAAIAAJ&dq=wake+pan+am+airport+established+staff&pg=PA435 |title=American Aviation Daily |date=October 8, 2023 |publisher=American Aviation Associates |access-date=October 8, 2023 |archive-date=October 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010011839/https://books.google.com/books?id=gtA9AQAAIAAJ&dq=wake+pan+am+airport+established+staff&pg=PA435 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:President Truman pinning medal on General MacArthur on Wake Island.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|President [[Harry S. Truman]] awards the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]], Fourth Oak Leaf Cluster, to General [[Douglas MacArthur]] during the [[Wake Island Conference]] in 1950.]]

In July 1950, the [[Korean Airlift]] started, and the [[Military Air Transport Service]] (MATS) used the airfield and facilities at Wake as an essential mid-Pacific refueling stop for its mission of transporting men and supplies to the [[Korean War]]. By September, 120 military aircraft were landing at Wake per day.<ref>''Pacific Air Lift'', "Flying" magazine, Vol. 50, No. 2, February 1952, p. 29</ref> On October 15, U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]] and General MacArthur met at the [[Wake Island Conference]] to discuss progress and war strategy for the [[Korean Peninsula]]. They chose to meet at Wake Island because of its proximity to [[Korea]] so that MacArthur would not have to be away from the troops in the field for long.<ref>{{cite web |author=Harry S. Truman Museum & Library |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/wake/ |title=Special Counsel to the President Charles Murphy |publisher=Trumanlibrary.org |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=August 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828213513/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/wake/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In September 1952, [[Typhoon Olive (1952)|Typhoon Olive]] struck, causing 750&nbsp;people to shelter in World War II [[bunker]]s as the island was battered with 150&nbsp;mph winds.<ref name="LodiCANews">{{cite news |date=September 17, 1952 |title=750 On Wake Escape Death in Big Storm |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KqczAAAAIBAJ&sjid=z-4HAAAAIBAJ&dq=typhoon%20olive&pg=4360%2C6987898 |access-date=July 10, 2013 |archive-date=August 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830004409/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KqczAAAAIBAJ&sjid=z-4HAAAAIBAJ&dq=typhoon%20olive&pg=4360,6987898 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Clipper1">''The Clipper'' publication. ''Atoll Island Ravaged by Wind and Rain but No One is Seriously Injured; Eyewitnesses Tell Story'' (September 25, 1952). Pan American World Airways Pacific-Alaska Division.</ref> Olive, the second typhoon to affect the island since 1935, produced sustained wind speeds of {{convert|120|mph|abbr=on}} and peak gusts of {{convert|142|mph|abbr=on}} on the island. Significant flooding was also recorded.<ref name="CPC">{{cite report|author=Central Pacific Hurricane Center|url=http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/summaries/1900-52.php#Olive|title=Tropical Cyclones During the Years 1900–1952|access-date=June 8, 2012|publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service|archive-date=July 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713221459/http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/summaries/1900-52.php#Olive|url-status=live}}</ref> Damage was severe; it is estimated that 85% of the island's structures were demolished due to the storm.<ref name="Wake">{{cite web |author=Dateline DX Association |title=Wake Island History |url=http://www.goldtel.net/ddxa/history.html |access-date=January 18, 2009 |archive-date=March 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320035959/http://www.goldtel.net/ddxa/history.html |url-status=live }}</ref> All of the homes and the island's hotel were destroyed. Additionally, the island's chapel and Quonset huts were destroyed.<ref name="Clipper1" /><ref name="Wake" /> The island's LORAN station, operated by the [[United States Coast Guard]], was also damaged.<ref name="Loran">{{cite web |title=Loran Station Wake Island |url=http://www.loran-history.info/wake_island/wake_island.htm |access-date=January 18, 2009 |publisher=Loran history |archive-date=September 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920211835/https://www.loran-history.info/wake_island/wake_island.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> On September&nbsp;18, 1952 water and power services were restored.<ref name="Clipper2">''The Clipper'' publication. ''Plans to Rebuild Wake are Already Under Way'' (September 25, 1952). Pan American World Airways Pacific-Alaska Division.</ref> The facilities on the island were fully restored in 1953.<ref name="Wake" /> The total cost to repair damages caused by Olive amounted to $1.6&nbsp;million (1952 USD; $13&nbsp;million 2009 USD).<ref>{{cite web |author=E. H. Bryan, Jr. |date=May 15, 1959 |title=Atoll Research Bulletin No. 66 |url=http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/ARB/061-70/066.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060913110254/http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/ARB/061-70/066.pdf |archive-date=September 13, 2006 |access-date=May 13, 2009 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council}}</ref> No fatalities occurred on the island, and four injuries were reported. None of the 230&nbsp;Pan Am employees received injuries.<ref name="Clipper1" /> In 1953, the bridge between Peale and Wake Island was rebuilt.<ref name="Coast Guard-1959">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sgkAQAAIAAJ |title=The Coast Guard Engineer's Digest |date=1959 |publisher=Coast Guard |language=en |access-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105190827/https://books.google.com/books?id=_sgkAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Wake Island Lagoon.jpg|thumb|left|Off-duty sailors take a break in the Wake Island lagoon, 1954]]
The U.S. Coast Guard Loran station had a staff of about ten people. It operated from 1950 to 1978, with facilities rebuilt on Peale Island by 1958.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Loran Station Wake Island |url=https://www.loran-history.info/wake_island/wake_island.htm |access-date=November 5, 2023 |website=loran-history.info |archive-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105123044/https://www.loran-history.info/wake_island/wake_island.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Loran Station Wake |url=https://www.loran-history.info/stations/wake_island/wake_island.htm |access-date=November 5, 2023 |website=loran-history.info |archive-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110203253/https://www.loran-history.info/stations/wake_island/wake_island.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Originally, the staff lived on Wake and commuted to the Loran station on Peale across the bridge; the Loran equipment was in a Quonset hut. However, after 1958, new modern facilities were all built on Peale. The cargo ship [[USCGC Kukui (WAK-186)|USCGC Kukui]] supported the construction of the new LORAN facilities, arriving at the island in 1957.<ref name="Coast Guard-1959" />

====Missile Impact Location System====
From 1958 through 1960, the United States installed the [[Missile Impact Location System]] (MILS) in the Navy-managed Pacific Missile Range. Later, the Air Force managed [[Western Range (USSF)|Western Range]] to localize the splashdowns of test missile nose cones. MILS was developed and installed by the same entities that had completed the first phase of the Atlantic and U.S. West Coast SOSUS systems. A MILS installation, consisting of both a target array for precision location and a broad ocean area system for good positions outside the target area, was installed at Wake as part of the system supporting [[Intercontinental Ballistic Missile]] (ICBM) tests. Other Pacific MILS shore terminals were at the [[Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay]] supporting [[Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile]] (IRBM) tests with impact areas northeast of Hawaii and the other ICBM test support systems at [[Midway Island]] and [[Eniwetok]].<ref name="ICAA">{{cite web |title=Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) History 1950–2010 |publisher=IUSS/CAESAR Alumni Association |url=http://www.iusscaa.org/history.htm |access-date=February 11, 2020 |archive-date=February 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225083609/http://www.iusscaa.org/history.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Subcommittee on Military Construction (March–April) |date=April 29, 1959 |title=Military Construction Appropriations for 1960: Hearings |pages=169–170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-JLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA169 |access-date=September 16, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181226/https://books.google.com/books?id=e-JLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA169#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Subcommittee on Military Construction (May) |date=May 20, 1959 |title=Military Construction Appropriations for 1960: Hearings |pages=818, 824 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBVEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA818 |access-date=September 16, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181300/https://books.google.com/books?id=HBVEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA818#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Tanker shipwreck and oil spill====
[[File:SS R.C. Stoner.tif|thumb|Wreck of the SS R.C. Stoner, 1967]]
On September 6, 1967, [[Chevron Corporation|Standard Oil of California]]'s 18,000-ton [[oil tanker|tanker]] SS ''R.C. Stoner'' was driven onto the reef at Wake Island by a strong southwesterly wind after the ship failed to [[mooring (watercraft)|moor]] to the two [[buoy]]s near the harbor entrance. An estimated six million gallons of refined [[fuel oil]] – including 5.7&nbsp;million gallons of [[aviation fuel]], 168,000 gallons of [[diesel oil]], and 138,600 gallons of bunker C fuel – spilled into the small boat harbor and along the southwestern coast of Wake Island to Peacock Point. The oil spill killed large numbers of fish; personnel from the FAA and crew members from the ship cleared the area closest to the spill of dead fish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-74000/NH-74180.html|title=NH 74180 SS R.C. STONER, a Standard Oil Tanker|website=NHHC|access-date=March 3, 2022|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181230/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-74000/NH-74180.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="google1972">{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cJpNszkPRqMC&dq=1967+SS+R.C.+Stoner&pg=PA215|title = Mobility, Support, Endurance, a Story of Naval Operational Logistics in the Vietnam War, 1965–68|year = 1972|access-date = March 20, 2023|archive-date = July 20, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230720150308/https://books.google.com/books?id=cJpNszkPRqMC&dq=1967+SS+R.C.+Stoner&pg=PA215|url-status = live}}</ref>

The U.S. Navy [[marine salvage|salvage]] team Harbor Clearance Unit Two and Pacific Fleet Salvage Officer Cmdr. John B. Orem flew to Wake to assess the situation. By September 13, the Navy tugs {{USS|Mataco|AT-86|6}} and {{USS|Wandank|ATA-204|6}}, salvage ships {{USS|Conserver|ARS-39|6}} and {{USS|Grapple|ARS-7|6}}, tanker {{USS|Noxubee|AOG-56|6}}, and {{USCGC|Mallow|WLB-396|6}}, arrived from Honolulu, Guam and [[Subic Bay]] in the Philippines, to assist in the cleanup and removal of the vessel. The salvage team pumped and skimmed oil at the boat harbor, which they burned each evening in nearby pits. Recovery by the Navy salvage team of the ''R.C. Stoner'' and its remaining cargo, however, was hampered by strong winds and heavy seas.<ref name="google1972" />

On September 16, [[Super Typhoon Sarah (1967)|Super Typhoon Sarah]] made landfall on Wake Island at peak intensity with winds up to 145-[[Knot (unit)|knots]], causing widespread damage. The storm's intensity significantly accelerated the cleanup effort by clearing the harbor and scouring the coast. However, oil remained embedded in the reef's flat crevices, impregnating the coral. The storm also had broken the wrecked vessel into three sections and, although delayed by rough seas and harassment by [[blacktip reef shark]]s, the salvage team used explosives to flatten and sink the remaining portions of the ship that were still above water.<ref>''Mud, Muscle, and Miracles: Marine Salvage in the United States Navy'', C.A. Bartholomew, William I. Milwee, Naval History & Heritage Command, U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009,  p. 282</ref><ref>''Oil Pollution on Wake Island from the Tanker R.C. Stoner'', Reginald M. Gooding, National Marine Fisheries Service, Hawaii Area Fishery Research Center, 1971</ref>

===U.S. military administration===
[[File:Aerial view of Wake Island, in July 1979 (428-GX-750-K-124424).jpg|thumb|Wake Island, 1979]]
<!-- [[File:Wake Island from ISS.jpg|thumb|Wake Island, 2012]]-->
In the early 1970s, higher-efficiency jet aircraft with longer-range capabilities lessened the use of [[Wake Island Airfield]] as a refueling stop, and the number of commercial flights landing at Wake declined sharply. Pan Am had replaced many of its [[Boeing 707]]s with more efficient [[Boeing 747|747]]s, thus eliminating the need to continue weekly stops at Wake. Other airlines began to eliminate their scheduled flights into Wake. In June 1972, the last scheduled Pan Am passenger flight landed at Wake, and in July, Pan Am's last cargo flight departed the island, marking the end of the heyday of Wake Island's commercial aviation history. During this same period, the U.S. military had transitioned to longer-range [[Lockheed C-5 Galaxy|C-5A]] and [[Lockheed C-141 Starlifter|C-141]] aircraft, leaving the [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules|C-130]] as the only aircraft that would continue to use the island's airfield regularly. The steady decrease in air traffic control activities at Wake Island was apparent and was expected to continue.

On June 24, 1972, responsibility for the civil administration of Wake Island was transferred from the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] to the [[United States Air Force]] under an agreement between the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Air Force. In July, the FAA turned over the administration of the island to the [[Military Airlift Command]] (MAC). However, legal ownership stayed with the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]]. The FAA continued maintaining air navigation facilities and providing [[air traffic control]] services. On December 27, the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force|Chief of Staff of the Air Force]] (CSAF) General [[John Dale Ryan|John D. Ryan]] directed MAC to phase out en-route support activity at Wake Island effective June 30, 1973. On July 1, 1973, all FAA activities ended, and the U.S. Air Force under [[Pacific Air Forces]] (PACAF), Detachment 4, [[15th Wing|15th Air Base Wing]] assumed control of Wake Island.<ref>"Historic American Buildings Survey: Wake Island Airfield, Terminal Building (Building 1502)", National Park Service, HABS No. UM-2-A, December 2007, Washington, DC, p. 11</ref>

In 1973, Wake Island was selected as a launch site for testing defensive systems against ICBMs under the U.S. Army's ''Project Have Mill''. Air Force personnel on Wake and the [[Air Force Systems Command]] (AFSC) [[Space and Missile Systems Center|Space and Missile Systems Organization]] (SAMSO) provided support to the Army's Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense Agency (ABMDA). A missile launch complex was activated on Wake, and, from February 13 to June 22, 1974, seven Athena H missiles were launched from the island to the Roi-Namur Test Range at [[Kwajalein Atoll]].<ref name="Lcweb2.loc.gov" />

In 1973, Wake Island was claimed by what would become the Republic of the Marshall Islands, based on [[oral tradition|oral legends]].<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/wake-island/ Wake Island] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120170347/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/wake-island/ |date=January 20, 2021 }}. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref>

====Vietnam War refugees: ''Operation New Life''====
[[File:Vietnamese refugees on Wake Island.jpg|thumb|left|Vietnamese refugees on Wake Island await resettlement processing by [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service]] personnel in May 1975.]]

In the spring of 1975, the population of Wake Island consisted of 251 military, government, and civilian contract personnel, whose primary mission was to maintain the airfield as a Mid-Pacific emergency runway. With the imminent [[fall of Saigon]] to [[Viet Cong|North Vietnamese forces]], President [[Gerald Ford]] ordered American forces to support ''[[Operation New Life]]'', the evacuation of [[refugee]]s from [[South Vietnam]]. The original plans included the Philippines' Subic Bay and Guam as refugee processing centers. Still, due to the high number of Vietnamese seeking evacuation, Wake Island was selected as an additional location.<ref name="wakeisland2">{{cite web |url=http://www.wakeisland1975.com/ |title=Wake Island 1975 |publisher= |access-date=December 10, 2011 |archive-date=November 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116073316/http://www.wakeisland1975.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Flag of Wake Island.svg|thumb|The ''de facto'' flag of Wake Island was designed in 1976 by individuals stationed on the island to commemorate the [[United States Bicentennial]]. The three stars represent the three islands of the atoll, and the flag resembles the [[flag of the Philippines]], as many workers on the island at the time were from the country.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Klimeš|first=Roman|date=January 2000|title=The Flag of Wake Island|url=https://nava.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NAVANews_2000_vol33no1.pdf|journal=NAVA News|volume=33|access-date=March 15, 2021|archive-date=June 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606083851/https://nava.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NAVANews_2000_vol33no1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
In March 1975, Island Commander Major Bruce R. Hoon was contacted by PACAF and ordered to prepare Wake for its new mission as a refugee processing center where Vietnamese evacuees could be medically screened, interviewed, and transported to the United States or other resettlement countries. A 60-man [[Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency|civil engineering team]] was brought in to reopen boarded-up buildings and housing. Two complete [[Mobile army surgical hospital (US)|MASH]] units arrived to set up [[field hospital]]s, and three Army [[field kitchen]]s were deployed. A 60-man [[United States Air Force Security Police]] team, processing agents from the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service]], and various other administrative and support personnel were also on Wake. [[Drinking water|Potable water]], food, medical supplies, clothing, and other supplies were shipped in.<ref name="wakeisland2" />

On April 26, 1975, the first C-141 carrying refugees arrived. The airlift to Wake continued at a rate of one C-141 every hour and 45 minutes, each aircraft with 283 refugees on board. At the peak of the mission, 8,700 Vietnamese refugees were on Wake. When the airlift ended on August 2, a total of about 15,000 refugees had been processed through Wake Island as part of ''Operation New Life''.<ref name="wakeisland2" /><ref name="A Wake Island Story">{{cite web |url=http://c141heaven.info/dotcom/tall_tales/a_wake_island_story.php |title=A Wake Island Story |publisher=c141heaven.info/ |access-date=July 23, 2015 |archive-date=July 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724021750/http://c141heaven.info/dotcom/tall_tales/a_wake_island_story.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Commemorative and memorial visits====
[[File:China Clipper II at Wake Island 1985.jpg|thumb|left|Passengers and crew of Pan Am's ''China Clipper II'' Boeing 747 at Wake Island during a 1985 trip across the Pacific to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first ''[[China Clipper]]'' flight]]

In April 1981, a party of 19 Japanese, including 16 former Japanese soldiers who were at Wake during World War II, visited the island to pay respects for their war dead at the Japanese [[Shinto Shrine]].<ref name="Davidson" />

On November 3 and 4, 1985, a group of 167 former American [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POWs) visited Wake with their wives and children. This was the first such visit by a group of former Wake Island POWs and their families.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3426966/former-pow-living-in-oklahoma-takes-a-bittersweet-trip|title=Former POW living in Oklahoma takes a bittersweet trip|website=Oklahoman.com|date=December 23, 2009|access-date=April 9, 2021|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927065155/https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3426966/former-pow-living-in-oklahoma-takes-a-bittersweet-trip|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On November 24, 1985, a Pan Am Boeing 747, renamed ''China Clipper II'', came through Wake Island on a flight across the Pacific to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Pan American [[China Clipper]] Service to the [[Orient]]. Author [[James A. Michener]] and Lars Lindbergh, grandson of aviator [[Charles Lindbergh]], were among the dignitaries on board the aircraft.<ref>''Clipper Flies Sentimental Journey : 747 Follows S. Pacific Route of Pan Am's Flying Boats'', ''Los Angeles Times'', November 24, 1985</ref>

====Army missile tests====
Subsequently, the island has been used for strategic defense and operations during and after the [[Cold War]], with Wake Island serving as a launch platform for military rockets involved in testing [[missile defense]] systems and [[atmospheric re-entry]] trials as part of the [[Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site]].  Wake's location allows for a safe launch and trajectory over the unpopulated ocean with open space for intercepts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 10, 2014 |title=Reagan Test Site |url=http://www.smdc.army.mil/rts.html |access-date=September 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510081644/http://www.smdc.army.mil/rts.html |archive-date=May 10, 2014}}</ref>

In 1987, Wake Island was selected as a missile launch site for a [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI) program named ''Project Starlab/Starbird''. In 1989, the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command (USASDC) constructed two launch pads on Peacock Point, as well as nearby support facilities, for the eight-ton, {{convert|60|ft|m|-1}}, multi-stage Starbird test missiles. The program involved using electro-optical and laser systems mounted on the Starlab platform in the payload bay of an orbiting [[Space Shuttle]] to acquire, track, and target Starbird missiles launched from [[Cape Canaveral]] and Wake. After being impacted by mission scheduling delays caused by the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|explosion of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']], the program was canceled in late September 1990 to protect funding for another U.S. Army space-based missile defense program known as ''[[Brilliant Pebbles]]''. Although no Starbird missiles were ever launched from Wake Island, the Starbird launch facilities at Wake were modified to support rocket launches for the ''Brilliant Pebbles'' program, with the first launch occurring on January 29, 1992. On October 16, a {{convert|30|ft|m|-1}} [[Castor-Orbus]] rocket was destroyed by ground controllers seven minutes after its launch from Wake. The program was canceled in 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burgess |first=John |date=November 4, 1992 |title=Another Orbital Sciences Rocket Failed Last Month, Pentagon Says |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1992/11/04/another-orbital-sciences-rocket-failed-last-month-pentagon-says/fc6d19bc-c896-46e2-9f5a-adfc150f3ec2/ |access-date=September 20, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213085629/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1992/11/04/another-orbital-sciences-rocket-failed-last-month-pentagon-says/fc6d19bc-c896-46e2-9f5a-adfc150f3ec2/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spacelegalissues.com/brilliant-pebbles/#:~:text=After%20considerable%20study%2C%20Brilliant%20Pebbles,was%20finally%20cancelled%20in%201993.|first=Louis|last=de Gouyon Matignon|title=Brilliant Pebbles and Outer Space Military Laws|website=Space Legal Issues|date=May 6, 2019|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426195453/https://www.spacelegalissues.com/brilliant-pebbles/#:~:text=After%20considerable%20study%2C%20Brilliant%20Pebbles,was%20finally%20cancelled%20in%201993.|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Missile testing activities continued with the [[Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile]] (LEAP) Test Program, another U.S. Army strategic defense project that included the launch of two [[Aerojet]] Super Chief HPB rockets from Wake Island. The first launch, on January 28, 1993, reached [[Apsis|apogee]] at {{convert|240|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} and was a success. On February 11, the second launch reached apogee at {{convert|1.2|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} and was deemed a failure.<ref>{{Cite report|url=https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/ADA345799.xhtml|title=Army Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP)|last1=Baker|first1=P.|last2=Funari|first2=A.V.|date=1992|number=199818|access-date=April 26, 2021|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426195656/https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/ADA345799.xhtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to the U.S. Army's continued use of the atoll for various missile testing programs, on October 1, 1994, the [[United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command|U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command]] (USASSDC) assumed administrative command of Wake Island under a caretaker permit from the U.S. Air Force. The USASSDC had been operating on Wake since 1988 when the construction of the Starbird launch and support facilities started. Now under U.S. Army control, the island, which is located {{convert|690|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} north of Kwajalein Atoll, became a rocket launch site for the Kwajalein Missile Range known as the Wake Island Launch Center.<ref>{{cite book|title=Seize the High Ground: The Army in Space and Missile Defense|first1=James A.|last1=Walker|first2=Lewis|last2=Bernstein|first3=Sharon|last3=Lang|publisher=Historical Office, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command|date=2003|url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-88-1/cmhPub_70-88-1.pdf|access-date=September 20, 2021|archive-date=December 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223105901/https://history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-88-1/cmhPub_70-88-1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Operation Prompt Return====
In July 1995, various units of the U.S. military established a camp on Wake Island to provide housing, food, medical care, and social activities for Chinese [[illegal immigration|illegal immigrants]] as part of "Operation Prompt Return" (also known as "Joint Task Force Prompt Return"). The Chinese immigrants were discovered on July 3 on board MV ''Jung Sheng Number 8'' when the {{convert|160|ft|adj=on}}-long vessel was [[Interdiction|interdicted]] by the U.S. Coast Guard south of Hawaii. ''Jung Sheng Number 8'' had left [[Guangzhou|Canton]], China, en route to the United States on June 2 with 147 Chinese illegal immigrants, including 18 "enforcers", and 11 crew on board. On July 29, the Chinese were transported to Wake Island, where they were cared for by U.S. military personnel, and on August 7, they were safely [[Repatriation|repatriated]] to China by commercial air charter. From October 10 to November 21, 1996, military units assigned to "Operation Marathon Pacific" used facilities at Wake Island as a staging area for the repatriation of another group of more than 113 Chinese illegal immigrants who had been interdicted in the Atlantic Ocean near [[Bermuda]] aboard the human smuggling vessel ''Xing Da''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Medical care of illegal migrants intercepted on the high sea (Operation Prompt Return)|first1=R.E.|last1=Ellyson|first2=C.|last2=Callahan|first3=Y.T.|last3=Lee|journal=Military Medicine|date=October 1996|volume=161|number=10|pages=616–619|doi=10.1093/milmed/161.10.616|pmid=8918124|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Military Responses to the Global Migration Crisis: A Glimpse of Things to Come|first=Paul J.|last=Smith|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10427/76842|journal=Fletcher Forum of World Affairs|volume=23|number=2|date=1999|page=87|hdl=10427/76842|access-date=September 20, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181232/https://dl.tufts.edu/concern/pdfs/qv33s722m|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Wake Atoll ISS001.jpg|thumb|Wake Island as seen in March 2001 from the International Space Station]]

====U.S. Air Force regains control====
[[File:THAAD missile launch on Wake Island.jpg|thumb|A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched from a THAAD battery located on Wake Island, during Flight Test Operational (FTO)-02 Event 2a, conducted November 1, 2015.]]
[[File:Guam Memorial on Wake Island.jpg|thumb|left|US Air Force Captain Allen Jaime, commander of Wake Island at the time, unveiled the new Guam Memorial on June 8, 2017. The memorial honors the 45 [[Chamorro people|Chamorros]] from Guam who worked for Pan American Airlines and were on the island when the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941. 10 of the men were killed during the attack, and the remaining 35 were sent to prison camps in Japan and China.]]

<!--[[File:Campaign Fierce Sentry FTO-02 E2 Insignia.png|thumb|The insignia for ''Campaign Fierce Sentry'' (FTO-02 E2), a [[Missile Defense Agency]] Integrated Flight Test in 2015, depicts a map of Wake Island within the head of an eagle]]-->
On October 1, 2002, administrative control and support of Wake Island was transferred from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Air Force's 15th Wing of PACAF based at [[Hickam Field|Hickam Air Force Base]] in Hawaii. The 15th Wing had previously controlled Wake from July 1, 1973, to September 30, 1994. Although the Air Force was again in control, the [[Missile Defense Agency]] would continue operating the Wake Island Launch Center. The U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site would maintain and operate the launch facilities and provide instrumentation, communications, flight and ground safety, security, and other support.<ref>''Wake Island returns to Air Force control'', Jim Bennett, "The Kwajalein Hourglass", Volume 42, Number 78, Tuesday, October 1, 2002</ref>

On August 31, 2006, Wake Island was hit by the [[Typhoon Ioke]] with sustained winds over 155&nbsp;mph and gusts of 190; this caused damage to the wildlife and facilities on the atoll.<ref name="Air Force-2006">{{Cite web |date=September 15, 2006 |title=Airmen add up damage at Wake Island |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/129764/airmen-add-up-damage-at-wake-island/ |access-date=October 12, 2023 |website=Air Force |language=en-US |archive-date=October 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004134032/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/129764/airmen-add-up-damage-at-wake-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There was considerable damage, but overall, it was less than feared on inspection. The runway was largely intact, but some electrical and waste-water systems had been damaged.<ref name="Air Force-2006" /> The golf course at Heel Point and Golf clubhouse was also damaged by the Ioke Typhoon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wake Island Airfield, Terminal Building, Wake Island |url=https://www.historic-structures.com/um/wake_island/wake_island_airfield.php |access-date=October 14, 2023 |website=Historic Structures |language=en-us |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013123501/https://www.historic-structures.com/um/wake_island/wake_island_airfield.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

On January 6, 2009, President [[George W. Bush]] issued Executive Order 8836, establishing [[Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument]] to preserve the marine environments around Wake, [[Baker Island|Baker]], [[Howland Island|Howland]], and [[Jarvis Island]]s, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef and [[Palmyra Atoll]]. The proclamation assigned management of the nearby waters and submerged and emergent lands of the islands to the Department of the Interior and management of fishery-related activities in waters beyond 12 nautical miles from the islands' mean low water line to the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] (NOAA).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_1/NWRS/Zone_1/Pacific_Remote_Islands_Marine_National_Monument/Documents/PP%20PRIMNM.pdf |title=Establishment of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument |publisher=U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |date=January 6, 2009 |access-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325150453/https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_1/NWRS/Zone_1/Pacific_Remote_Islands_Marine_National_Monument/Documents/PP%20PRIMNM.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> On January 16, Secretary of the Interior [[Dirk Kempthorne]] issued Order Number 3284 which stated that the area at Wake Island assigned to the Department of Interior by Executive Order 8836 will be managed as a [[National Wildlife Refuge]]. Management of the emergent lands at Wake Island by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, will not begin until the existing management agreement between the [[Secretary of the Air Force]] and the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] is terminated.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Proclamation 8336 of January 6, 2009 – Establishment of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument – By the President of the United States of America|journal=Federal Register|volume=74|issue= 7|date=January 12, 2009|url=http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/MNM/Proclamation%208336%20-%20PRIA.pdf|access-date=September 16, 2015|archive-date=April 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412031225/https://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/MNM/Proclamation%208336%20-%20PRIA.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Delegation of Management Responsibility for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, Rose Atoll Marine National Monument and the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument'', United States Department of the Interior Order Number 3284, Secretary of the Interior Dick Kempthorne, Washington, D.C., January 16, 2009</ref>

The [[Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center|611th Air Support Group]] (ASG), a U.S. Air Force unit based at [[Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson]] in [[Anchorage, Alaska]] took over control of Wake Island from the 15th Wing on October 1, 2010. The 611th ASG was already providing support and management to various geographically remote Air Force sites within Alaska, and the addition of Wake Island provided the unit with more opportunities for outdoor projects during the winter months when projects in Alaska are minimal. The 611th ASG, a unit of the [[Eleventh Air Force|11th Air Force]], was renamed the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jber.jb.mil/ |title=611th Air Support Group adds eight tropical Pacific locations |date=September 24, 2010 |website= |access-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924164008/http://www.jber.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123222602 |archive-date=September 24, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Aerial view of Wake Island in July 2014.JPG|thumb|Wake Island in 2014]]
[[File:Four F A-18C Hornets fly in formation over Wake Island and USS Theodore Roosevelt. (24096567298).jpg|thumb|USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'' passes by Wake, 2017]]
On September 27, 2014, President [[Barack Obama]] issued Executive Order 9173 to expand the area of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument out to the full 200 nautical miles U.S. [[exclusive economic zone]] (EEZ) boundary for each island. By this proclamation, the area of the monument at Wake Island was increased from {{convert|15,085|to|167,336|mi2|km2|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Proclamation 9173 of September 25, 2014 – Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion – By the President of the United States of America|journal=Federal Register|volume=79|issue= 188|date=September 29, 2014|url=http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/MNM/2014-23319.pdf|access-date=September 16, 2015|archive-date=April 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412031232/https://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/MNM/2014-23319.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, 3300 tons of waste dumps was removed from the islands on barges.<ref name="Staff-2022">{{Cite web |first1=Karina |last1=Quintans |first2=Erik |last2=Myers |website=Society of American Military Engineers |date=September 20, 2022 |title=Environmental Rehabilitation on Wake Island |url=https://samenews.org/environmental-rehabilitation-on-wake-island/ |access-date=October 26, 2023 |language=en-US |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026145756/https://samenews.org/environmental-rehabilitation-on-wake-island/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On November 1, 2015, a complex $230&nbsp;million U.S. military missile defense system test event, called ''Campaign Fierce Sentry'' Flight Test Operational-02 Event 2 (FTO-02 E2), was conducted at Wake Island and the surrounding ocean areas. The test involved a [[Terminal High Altitude Area Defense]] (THAAD) system built by [[Lockheed Martin Space Systems|Lockheed Martin]], two [[TPS-X|AN/TPY-2 radar system]]s built by [[Raytheon]], Lockheed's Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications system, and {{USS|John Paul Jones|DDG-53|6}} [[guided missile destroyer]] with its [[AN/SPY-1]] radar. The objective was to test the ability of the [[Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System|Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense]] and THAAD Weapon Systems to defeat a raid of three near-simultaneous air and missile targets, consisting of one [[medium-range ballistic missile]], one [[short-range ballistic missile]] and one [[cruise missile]] target. During the test, a THAAD system on Wake Island detected and destroyed a short-range target simulating a short-range ballistic missile launched by a [[Boeing C-17 Globemaster III|C-17 transport plane]]. At the same time, the THAAD system and the destroyer launched missiles to intercept a medium-range ballistic missile launched by a second C-17.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hookelenews.com/uss-john-paul-jones-participates-in-ballistic-missile-defense-test/ |title=USS ''John Paul Jones'' participates in ballistic missile defense test : Hookele – Pearl Harbor – Hickam News |date=October 5, 2018 |website= |access-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005030918/http://www.hookelenews.com/uss-john-paul-jones-participates-in-ballistic-missile-defense-test/ |archive-date=October 5, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-missile-defense-idUSKCN0SQ2GR20151102|title=U.S. completes complex test of layered missile defense system|date=November 2, 2015|access-date=March 3, 2022|website=Reuters.com|archive-date=November 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117074749/https://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/02/us-usa-missile-defense-idUSKCN0SQ2GR20151102|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017, Thai contractors and armed forces personnel celebrated the Thai New Year or [[Songkran (Thailand)|Songkran]] in April, and Thai King's Day was celebrated in December.<ref name="Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson-2017">{{Cite web |date=April 19, 2017 |title=Air Force members celebrate Thai New Year and Water Festival at Wake Island |url=https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1157218/air-force-members-celebrate-thai-new-year-and-water-festival-at-wake-island/ |access-date=October 14, 2023 |website=Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson |language=en-US}}</ref> Wake at one point had an estimated 2 million rats, and despite eradication efforts hunting rats at night is popular activity of the islanders.<ref name="Staff-2022" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Downey |first=Kirstin |date=October 15, 2019 |title=The US Military Is Pouring Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Into Tiny Wake Island |url=https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/10/the-u-s-military-is-pouring-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-into-tiny-wake-island/ |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=Honolulu Civil Beat |language=en |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026145755/https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/10/the-u-s-military-is-pouring-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-into-tiny-wake-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In early 2024, the island experienced multiple high waves that inundated areas, and this damaged dormitories and a dining hall. This was not the only U.S. facility damaged; to the south at [[Roi-Namur]] inundation also caused damage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wake Island recovering from flood |url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/467606/wake-island-recovering-flood |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=DVIDS |language=en}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Wake Island 2.jpg|thumb|left|Wake Island map]]
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders floatright"
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Acres
! scope="col" | Hectares
|-
! scope="row" | Wake Islet
| 1,367.04
| 553.22
|-
! scope="row" | Wilkes Islet
| 197.44
| 79.90
|-
! scope="row" | Peale Islet
| 256.83
| 103.94
|-
! scope="row" | Wake Island (total of all three islets)
| 1,821.31
| 737.06
|-
! scope="row" | Lagoon (water)
| 1,480.00
| 600.00
|-
! scope="row" | Sand Flat
| 910.00
| 370.00
|}
[[File:Wake Jun 15 002 (18470450424).jpg|thumb|Looking west at Peacock Point, Wake Island in 2015]]
[[File:Wilkes Island Wake Atoll (170410).jpg|thumb|Looking North-west over Wilkes Island, which has almost been split by the old partially completed submarine channel]]
[[File:Wake Jun 15 001 (18470438894).jpg|thumb|Looking southwest across eastern side of Wake Island]]
Although Wake Island is officially called an island in its singular form, it is geologically an atoll composed of three [[islet]]s (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale islets).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bryan |first=E.H. Jr. |date=May 15, 1959 |title=Notes on the geography and natural history of Wake Island |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6095/00066.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Atoll Research Bulletin |volume=66 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.5479/si.00775630.66.1 |oclc=77749310 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227065046/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6095/00066.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |access-date=August 13, 2017}}</ref> They enclose a shallow lagoon of {{Convert|3.3 by 7.7|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}}, with average depth of around {{Convert|1|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} and a maximum depth of {{Convert|4.5|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}.<ref name="Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System">{{Cite web |title=Education Resources: Regional Information, Wake Island {{!}} PacIOOS |url=https://www.pacioos.hawaii.edu/education/region-wake/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101132734/https://www.pacioos.hawaii.edu/education/region-wake/ |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2015 |title=Wake Atoll {{!}} U.S. Department of the Interior |url=https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/wakeatoll |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=www.doi.gov |language=en |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026144209/https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/wakeatoll |url-status=live }}</ref> It is ringed by a sandy beach of around {{Convert|80|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} wide with an offshore fringing reef.<ref name="Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System" /> The atoll has an average elevation of about {{Convert|3.6|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} and maximum elevation of {{Convert|6.4|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}},<ref name="Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System" /> with a total land area of about {{convert|6.5|km2|sqmi|abbr=off|sp=us}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 15, 2012 |title=Wake Island, Pacific Ocean |url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/79392/wake-island-pacific-ocean |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026142253/https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/79392/wake-island-pacific-ocean |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=earthobservatory.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref>

The island is made of coral and sand, as it sits on a coral reef that grew on the top of a [[seamount]] made of the remnants of an old [[volcano]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201192418/https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |archive-date=December 1, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=FWS.gov |language=en-us}}</ref> This is consistent with many islands in the Pacific, which are formed when waves erode extinct volcanoes until they reach the surface of the ocean and coral grows on it, forming an atoll (see also [[guyot]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |title=Deepwater Wonders of Wake: Geologic Overview of the West Pacific: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research |url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/geology/welcome.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026140105/https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/geology/welcome.html |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=oceanexplorer.noaa.gov |language=EN-US}}</ref> The island is covered in boulders that average 5–6 feet in diameter (1–2 meters) especially on the southern side of Wake and Wilkes islands.<ref name="Wake Atoll">{{Cite web |date=June 11, 2015 |title=Wake Atoll |url=https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/wakeatoll |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026144209/https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/wakeatoll |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023 |website=doi.gov |language=en}}</ref>

Wake is located two-thirds of the way from [[Honolulu]] to [[Guam]]; Honolulu is {{convert|2300|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the east, and Guam {{convert|1510|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the west. [[Midway Atoll]] is {{convert|1170|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the northeast. The closest land is the uninhabited [[Bokak Atoll]], {{convert|348|mi|km|abbr=on}} away in the [[Marshall Islands]] to the southeast. The atoll is to the west of the [[International Date Line]] and in the [[Wake Island Time Zone]] ([[UTC+12]]), the easternmost time zone of the United States and almost one day ahead of the [[U.S. state|50 states]].

A shallow channel separates Wake and Peale, while Wilkes is connected to Wake by a causeway. The partially completed submarine channel, which has washed through Wilkes at times, almost splits the island in half.

The atoll has several named capes and points:<ref name="A Magnificent Fight" />

*[[Wilkes Island]] (Split islet on the south and west)
**Kuku Point (Western Cape of Wilkes)
**Wilkes Channel (a channel to the small port/harbor area on the south side of the island)
**Submarine channel (an artificial channel for a partially completed World War II submarine harbor also called New Channel)<ref>{{Cite web |title=21. The never-completed submarine channel started at the beginning of... |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-never-completed-submarine-channel-started-at-the-beginning-of-WWII-through-the_fig15_225849247 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102235442/https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-never-completed-submarine-channel-started-at-the-beginning-of-WWII-through-the_fig15_225849247 |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>
*[[Peale Island]] (on the north and west, separated from Wake by a narrow channel)
**Toki Point (Western Cape of Peale)
**Flipper Point (Tip of Peale Island land that extends into the lagoon pointing west)
*Wake Island (excluding the islets)<ref name="Lobel-2008">{{Citation |last1=Lobel |first1=Phillip S. |title=Aspects of the Biology and Geomorphology of Johnston and Wake Atolls, Pacific Ocean |date=2008 |work=Coral Reefs of the USA |volume=1 |pages=655–689 |editor-last=Riegl |editor-first=Bernhard M. |place=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-6847-8_17 |isbn=978-1-4020-6846-1 |last2=Lobel |first2=Lisa Kerr |editor2-last=Dodge |editor2-first=Richard E.}}</ref>
**Heel Point (the north cape of Wake islet before it turns towards Peale)
**Peacock Point (the Southern and eastern point of Wake Island)
**Causeway crossing Wilkes Channel to Wilkes Island

===Climate===
Wake Island lies in the tropical zone but is subject to periodic [[temperate]] storms during the winter. [[Sea surface temperature]]s are warm all year long, reaching above {{convert|80|°F|°C}} in summer and autumn. [[tropical cyclone|Typhoons]] occasionally pass over the island.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCloskey |first=Meagan |date=September 16, 2006 |title=Military airfield at Wake Island still usable after Super Typhoon Ioke |url=https://www.stripes.com/news/military-airfield-at-wake-island-still-usable-after-super-typhoon-ioke-1.54162 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426183811/https://www.stripes.com/news/military-airfield-at-wake-island-still-usable-after-super-typhoon-ioke-1.54162 |archive-date=April 26, 2021 |access-date=April 26, 2021 |work=Stars & Stripes}}</ref> Temperatures range between {{convert|65|°F|°C}} and {{convert|95|°F|°C}} and it gets about 40 inches of rain each year, with the rainy season running from July through October. The island lies in the northeast [[trade winds]] of the Pacific.<ref name="Wake Atoll" /> The climate of Wake Island is classified as [[Tropical savanna climate|tropical savanna]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]] ''Aw/As'', [[Trewartha climate classification|Trewartha]] ''Asha'').

{{Weather box
| location = Wake Island, US (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1953–2004)
| single line = yes
| Jan record high F = 89
| Feb record high F = 93
| Mar record high F = 92
| Apr record high F = 94
| May record high F = 93
| Jun record high F = 94
| Jul record high F = 94
| Aug record high F = 97
| Sep record high F = 96
| Oct record high F = 92
| Nov record high F = 90
| Dec record high F = 91
| year record high F = 97
| Jan high F = 83.2
| Feb high F = 83.3
| Mar high F = 84.0
| Apr high F = 85.4
| May high F = 86.8
| Jun high F = 88.8
| Jul high F = 89.1
| Aug high F = 89.4
| Sep high F = 89.1
| Oct high F = 88.1
| Nov high F = 86.0
| Dec high F = 84.4
| year high F = 86.5
| Jan mean F = 78.7
| Feb mean F = 78.3
| Mar mean F = 78.7
| Apr mean F = 80.0
| May mean F = 81.4
| Jun mean F = 83.3
| Jul mean F = 83.4
| Aug mean F = 83.7
| Sep mean F = 83.4
| Oct mean F = 82.8
| Nov mean F = 81.3
| Dec mean F = 79.9
| year mean F = 81.2
| Jan low F = 74.2
| Feb low F = 73.3
| Mar low F = 73.4
| Apr low F = 74.5
| May low F = 76.0
| Jun low F = 77.9
| Jul low F = 77.7
| Aug low F = 78.0
| Sep low F = 77.7
| Oct low F = 77.4
| Nov low F = 76.5
| Dec low F = 75.3
| year low F = 76.0
| Jan record low F = 63
| Feb record low F = 63
| Mar record low F = 60
| Apr record low F = 62
| May record low F = 64
| Jun record low F = 70
| Jul record low F = 65
| Aug record low F = 65
| Sep record low F = 64
| Oct record low F = 63
| Nov record low F = 61
| Dec record low F = 64
| year record low F = 60
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation inch = 1.64
| Feb precipitation inch = 1.48
| Mar precipitation inch = 2.07
| Apr precipitation inch = 1.50
| May precipitation inch = 2.03
| Jun precipitation inch = 1.78
| Jul precipitation inch = 4.10
| Aug precipitation inch = 4.38
| Sep precipitation inch = 5.91
| Oct precipitation inch = 5.18
| Nov precipitation inch = 2.39
| Dec precipitation inch = 2.14
| year precipitation inch = 34.60
| unit precipitation days = 0.01&nbsp;mm
| Jan precipitation days = 9.6
| Feb precipitation days = 8.6
| Mar precipitation days = 11.9
| Apr precipitation days = 13.2
| May precipitation days = 13.2
| Jun precipitation days = 13.5
| Jul precipitation days = 18.0
| Aug precipitation days = 18.4
| Sep precipitation days = 19.6
| Oct precipitation days = 18.4
| Nov precipitation days = 14.4
| Dec precipitation days = 13.4
| year precipitation days = 172.2
| source 1 = NOAA<ref name="NOAA txt">{{cite web |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=WQW00041606&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL |title=Summary of Monthly Normals 1991–2020 |access-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523111042/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=WQW00041606&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL |url-status=live }}</ref>
| source 2 = XMACIS2<ref name = XMACIS2>{{cite web
|url = https://xmacis.rcc-acis.org/
|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
|title = xmACIS2
|access-date = June 21, 2024
|archive-date = August 15, 2019
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190815183401/http://xmacis.rcc-acis.org/
|url-status = live
}}</ref>
}}

====Typhoons====
[[File:Wake Island Memorial Chapel damaged by Hurricane-Typhoon Ioke 2006.jpg|thumb|Damaged trees and debris left by [[Hurricane Ioke|Super Typhoon Ioke]] in 2006 at the Memorial Chapel on Wake Island]]

On October 19, 1940, an unnamed typhoon hit Wake Island with {{convert|120|kn|km/h}} winds. This was the first recorded typhoon to hit the island since observations began in 1935.<ref name="CP1967">{{cite web |date=May 4, 2007 |title=1967 Central Pacific Tropical Cyclone season |url=http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/summaries/1967.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702145238/http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/summaries/1967.php |archive-date=July 2, 2017 |access-date=December 10, 2011 |publisher=Central Pacific Hurricane Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration}}</ref>

[[Typhoon Olive (1952)|Super Typhoon Olive]] impacted Wake on September 16, 1952, with wind speeds reaching {{convert|150|kn|km/h}}. Olive caused major flooding, destroyed approximately 85% of its structures, and caused {{currency|1.6&nbsp;million|USD|passthrough=yes}} in damage.<ref name="CP1967" />

On September 16, 1967, at 10:40 pm local time, the eye of [[Super Typhoon Sarah (1967)|Super Typhoon Sarah]] passed over the island. Sustained winds in the eyewall were {{convert|130|kn|km/h}}, from the north before the eye and the south afterward. All non-reinforced structures were demolished. There were no serious injuries, and most of the civilian population was evacuated after the storm.<ref name="CP1967" />

On August 28, 2006, the United States Air Force evacuated all 188 residents and suspended all operations as Category 5 [[Hurricane Ioke|Super Typhoon Ioke]] headed toward Wake. By August 31 the southwestern eyewall of the storm passed over the island, with winds well over {{convert|185|mph|km/h}},<ref>{{cite news |date=September 1, 2006 |title='Super' Typhoon Slams Tiny Wake Island |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/super-typhoon-slams-tiny-wake-island |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080427021116/https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211537,00.html |archive-date=April 27, 2008 |work=Fox News Channel}}</ref> driving a {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on|0}} [[storm surge]] and waves directly into the lagoon inflicting major damage.<ref>{{cite news |date=October 31, 2009 |title=Monster' Typhoon Ioke Makes Direct Hit on Wake Island |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2006-08-31-voa11/313383.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604180131/https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2006-08-31-voa11/313383.html |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |access-date=October 27, 2014 |work=VOA News}}</ref> A U.S. Air Force assessment and repair team returned to the island in September 2006 and restored limited function to the airfield and facilities leading ultimately to a full return to normal operations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vadnais |first=Chris |date=September 15, 2006 |title=Airmen add up damage at Wake Island |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/129764/airmen-add-up-damage-at-wake-island/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920213118/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/129764/airmen-add-up-damage-at-wake-island/ |archive-date=September 20, 2021 |access-date=September 20, 2021 |work=Air Force Print News |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Ecology===
[[File:Air Force partners for environmental conservation on Wake Atoll.jpg|thumb|left|Ecologists on Wake Atoll spraying herbicide into the bark of an invasive ironwood tree, 2017]]

Wake Island is home to the Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge<ref>{{cite web |title=Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125032911/https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |archive-date=November 25, 2022 |access-date=November 24, 2022 |publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service}}</ref> and is a unit of the [[Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument]].
[[File:Brisinga panopla - USNM 1424229.jpg|thumb|''Brisinga panopla'' in the waters near Wake Island]]
[[File:Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos wake.jpg|thumb|A Grey Reef shark in the waters near Wake]]
Native vegetation communities of Wake Island include scrub, grass, and wetlands. ''[[Tournefortia argentia]]'' (heliotrope tree) dominated scrublands exist in association with ''[[Scaevola taccada]]'' (beach cabbage), ''[[Cordia subcordata]]'' (sea trumpet), and ''[[Pisonia grandis]]''. Grassland species include ''[[Dactyloctenium aegyptium]]'' and ''[[Tribulus cistoides]]''. Wetlands are dominated by ''[[Sesuvium portulacastrum]]'', and ''[[Pemphis acidula]]'' is found near intertidal lagoons.<ref name="rat">{{cite journal |last1=Griffiths |first1=Richard |last2=Wegmann |first2=Alex |last3=Hanson |first3=Chad |last4=Keitt |first4=Brad |last5=Howald |first5=Gregg |last6=Brown |first6=Derek |last7=Tershy |first7=Bernie |last8=Pitt |first8=William |last9=Moran |first9=Matthew |last10=Rex |first10=Kristen |last11=White |first11=Susan |last12=Flint |first12=Beth |last13=Torr |first13=Nick |date=2014 |title=The Wake Island Rodent Eradicaation – Part Success, Part Failure, but Wholly Instructive |journal=Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference |volume=26 |doi=10.5070/V426110487 |s2cid=86982575 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The atoll, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognized as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] for its [[sooty tern]] [[bird colony|colony]], with some 200,000 individual birds estimated in 1999.<ref name="bli">{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |title=Wake Island |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/wake-island-iba-united-states-minor-outlying-islands-(to-usa) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118072550/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/wake-island-iba-united-states-minor-outlying-islands-(to-usa) |archive-date=January 18, 2021 |access-date=January 23, 2021 |website=BirdLife Data Zone |publisher=BirdLife International}}</ref> [[List of birds of Wake Island|56 bird species]] have been sighted on the atoll.<ref name="rat" /> Wilkes Island is largely designated as a bird refuge and includes a field mowed annually to attract sooty terns and other birds that might otherwise seek to nest on the mowed apron of the airfield runway.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rauzon |first1=Mark J. |last2=Boyle |first2=David |last3=Everett |first3=William T. |last4=Gilardi |first4=John |date=2008 |title=The Status of the Birds of Wake Atoll |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6793/561_Rauzon_BirdsofWakeAtoll.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Atoll Research Bulletin |volume=561 |page=25 |doi=10.5479/si.00775630.561.1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026172036/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/6793/561_Rauzon_BirdsofWakeAtoll.pdf |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |access-date=October 26, 2023}}</ref>

Due to human use, several [[invasive species]] have become established on the atoll. Feral cats were introduced in the 1960s as pets and for pest control. Eradication efforts began in earnest in 1996 and were deemed successful in 2008.<ref name="Rauzon-2008">{{cite journal |last1=Rauzon |first1=Mark J. |last2=Everett |first2=Wlliam T. |last3=Boyle |first3=David |last4=Bell |first4=Louise |last5=Gilardi |first5=John |date=2008 |title=Eradication of feral cats at Wake Atoll |journal=Atoll Research Bulletin |volume=560 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.5479/si.00775630.560.1}}</ref> Two species of rat, ''[[Rattus exulans]]'' (Polynesian rat) and ''[[Rattus tanezumi]]'' (Asian house rat), have colonized the island. ''R. tanezumi'' populations were successfully eradicated by 2014, however, ''R. exulans'' persists.<ref name="rat" /> ''[[Casuarina equisetifolia]]'' (ironwood or coastal she-oak) was allegedly planted on Wake Island by Boy Scouts in the 1960s for use as a windbreak. It formed large mono-cultural forests that choked out native vegetation. Concerted efforts to kill the population began in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schmidt |first1=Anastasia |date=April 26, 2017 |title=Air Force partners for environmental conservation on Wake Atoll |url=https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1163481/air-force-partners-for-environmental-conservation-on-wake-atoll/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914193858/https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1163481/air-force-partners-for-environmental-conservation-on-wake-atoll/ |archive-date=September 14, 2021 |access-date=September 14, 2021 |work=Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson}}</ref> Other introduced plant species include ''[[Cynodon dactylon]]'' (Bermuda grass) and ''[[Leucaena leucocephala]]'' (miracle tree). Non-native species of [[ant]]s are also found on the atoll.<ref name="rat" /> Overall, the island is a mixture of tropical scrub brush and grass with trees; some of the trees are over 25 feet tall (over 7 meters).<ref name="Wake Atoll" />

[[File:Corl0258 (27497553484).jpg|thumb|left|Wake's waters are home to one of the largest known populations of Bumphead Parrotfish.]]
The lagoon, surrounding reef, and the ocean are noted for their diverse collection of marine life. Wake waters have the largest known population of [[bumphead parrotfish]] (''Bolbometopon muricatum)''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |title=Deepwater Wonders of Wake: Wake Island and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Management: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research |url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/monument-mgmt/welcome.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/monument-mgmt/welcome.html |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=oceanexplorer.noaa.gov |language=EN-US}}</ref> The coral reef that surrounds the island is home to at least 100 species of coral and over 320 species of fish.<ref name="www.fws.gov">{{Cite web |title=Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge {{!}} U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201192418/https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake-atoll |archive-date=December 1, 2023 |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=fws.gov |language=en-us}}</ref> In the coral reef, there is a diverse collection of shark species, including [[Grey reef shark|grey reef]], [[Blacktip reef shark|blacktip]], and [[dusky shark]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Shark Island: Wake Atoll |url=https://www.discovery.com/nature/welcome-to-shark-island--wake-atoll |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=Discovery |language=en}}</ref> The atoll is home to multiple species of land crabs, with ''[[Coenobita perlatus]]'' being especially abundant.<ref name="rat" />

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|type = USA
|1936 | ~50
|1941 |1738 
|1942 |5738
|1943 |4098?
|1944 |?
|1945 | 400
|1960 |1097
|1970 |1647
|1975 | 8700+
|1980 | 302
|1990 |   7
|2000 |   3
|2009 | 150
|2010 | 188
|2015 |  94
|2017 | 100
|align=right}}
<!--This does not include the Pan Am hotel era and misses the Japanese Garrison population-->
Wake Island has no permanent inhabitants, and access is restricted. However, as of 2017, there are approximately 100 Air Force personnel and American and Thai contractor residents at any given time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1157218/air-force-members-celebrate-thai-new-year-and-water-festival-at-wake-island/ |title=Air Force members celebrate Thai New Year and Water Festival at Wake Island |first=Anastasia |last=Schmidt |website=Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson |publisher=11th Air Force Public Affairs |date=April 19, 2017 |access-date=April 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907123336/http://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/1157218/air-force-members-celebrate-thai-new-year-and-water-festival-at-wake-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2011, the [[billet]]ing at the airfield supports 198 beds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Population of Wake doubles during recent TRANSPAC|date=October 28, 2011|first=Amy|last=Hansen|website=Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson|publisher=11th Air Force Public Affairs|url=https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/290952/population-of-wake-doubles-during-recent-transpac/|access-date=August 24, 2021|archive-date=August 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824234639/https://www.jber.jb.mil/News/News-Articles/Article/290952/population-of-wake-doubles-during-recent-transpac/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The start of habitation was in 1935, the staff of the Pan Am waypoint and hotel on Peale Island.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Oceaniaweb/snapshot/Snapshot-Oceania-21.htm|title=Snapshot of Oceania: Wake Island|website=sheppardsoftware.com|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181719/https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Oceaniaweb/snapshot/Snapshot-Oceania-21.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1941, over 500 troops and over 1200 contractors were on the island. At the surrender on December 24, 1,603 (not counting those that had died in the battle) were surrendered to the Japanese.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-wake-island-1941|title=The Battle of Wake Island: Nation's Morale Lifted in 1941|date=December 23, 2020|website=The National WWII Museum &#124; New Orleans|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221307/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-wake-island-1941|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="usni.org"/> There was also 45 people from Guam that had been employed at the Pan Am airport and hotel that were left there also, of those 10 died on Wake and 35 were sent to POW camps in Asia.<ref name="guampedia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.guampedia.com/wwii-45-chamorros-caught-in-wake-invasion/|title=WWII: 45 CHamorus Caught in Wake Invasion – Guampedia|date=July 15, 2014|website=guampedia.com|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://www.guampedia.com/wwii-45-chamorros-caught-in-wake-invasion/|url-status=live}}</ref> During the war all but 98 civilians were taken off the island or died, so the main occupants became the Japanese garrison there.<ref name="usni.org"/> The Japanese garrison during the war was nearly 4000, as described earlier in this article.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wake-Island|title=Battle of Wake Island &#124; WWII Pacific Theater, USMC Victory &#124; Britannica|website=britannica.com|date=October 23, 2023|access-date=October 23, 2016|archive-date=December 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206145854/https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wake-Island|url-status=live}}</ref> About 1000 of these were confirmed to have been taken away by hospital ship in June 1945.<ref name="www.combinedfleet.com"/>

There were 45 workers from Guam working to support the Pan Am airbase. During the battle for Wake Island, five were killed, and five more were wounded in the attacks on December 8, 1941. Afterward, the Wake Island commander asked if the workers would help defend the island, and they agreed. During the defense of the island, the five wounded workers were killed when the hospital was bombed. When the island fell to the Japanese forces, the 35 remaining were taken prisoner and sent to a Japanese POW camp in China, where two died and others were tortured. The 33 survivors were sent to Osaka, Japan, where they stayed until the end of the war. In 1988, the Guam workers were given veteran status and POW medals for their participation in the Battle of Wake Island.<ref name="guampedia.com"/>

In 1975, there were at one point 8,700 Vietnamese refugees on the atoll when it was used as a waypoint in ''Operation New Life''.<ref name="wakeisland2"/><ref name="A Wake Island Story"/>

In the early 21st century, many of the civilian contractors come from Thailand.<ref name="Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson-2017" />

==Government==
[[File:NOAA Map of the US EEZ.svg|thumb|left|Map showing the Wake [[exclusive economic zone]] (left) in the United States. To the west is the CNMI and Guam, and to the right is Midway, the Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa, and some other islands/atolls of the US.]]
According to an agreement between the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Air Force, on June 24, 1972, the United States Air Force assumed responsibility for the civil administration of Wake Island.<ref name="Lcweb2.loc.gov"/>

The Secretary of the Air Force has delegated the civil administration authority at Wake Island to the [[General Counsel of the Air Force]] under [[Law of the United States|U.S. federal law]] known as the ''Wake Island Code''. The general counsel provides civil, legal, and [[Judiciary|judicial authority]] and can appoint one or more judges to serve on the Wake Island Court and the Wake Island Court of Appeals.<ref name="Lcweb2.loc.gov"/>

Certain authorities have been re-delegated by the general counsel to the Commander, Wake Island, a position currently held by Commander, Detachment 1, [[Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center]]. The commander may issue permits or registrations, appoint [[Law enforcement officer|peace officers]], impose [[quarantine]]s, issue [[Traffic code|traffic regulations]], commission [[Notary public|notaries public]], direct [[Emergency evacuation|evacuations]] and inspections and carry out other duties, powers, and functions as the agent of the general counsel on Wake.<ref>''Subchapter N-Territorial and Insular Regulations, Part 935-Wake Island Code'', 32 CFR Ch. VII (7-1-12 Edition), Government Printing Office, July 1, 2012</ref>

Since Wake Island is an active Air Force airfield, the commander is also the senior officer in charge of all activities on the island.<ref name="static.e-publishing.af.mil">{{cite web|url=https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/saf_gc/publication/hafmd1-14/hafmd1-14.pdf|title=HAF MISSION DIRECTIVE 1–14|date=December 29, 2016|website=Static.e-publishing.af.mil|access-date=March 3, 2022|archive-date=June 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625204116/https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/saf_gc/publication/hafmd1-14/hafmd1-14.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Empire of Japan administered the atoll from December 23, 1941, to September 4, 1945.

The U.S. administered the island from January 17, 1899, when it was both unclaimed and uninhabited.

==Transportation==

===Aviation===
[[File:WakeIsland (2).jpg|thumb|Wake Island Airport Terminal is listed as a national historic landmark of the US.]]
Air transportation facilities at Wake are operated by the [[United States Air Force]] at [[Wake Island Airfield]] in support of trans-Pacific military operations, western Pacific military contingency operations, and missile launch activities. The {{convert|9850|ft|m|adj=mid|abbr=off|-long|sp=us}} runway on Wake is also available to provide military and commercial in-flight emergency services. Although there is only one flight scheduled every other week to transport passengers and cargo to Wake, approximately 600 aircraft per year use Wake Island Airfield.<ref name="Lcweb2.loc.gov"/><ref name="static.e-publishing.af.mil"/>

In 2020, the runway and support facilities were modernized.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AFCEC leads major airfield modernization at Wake Island Airfield |url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/389954/afcec-leads-major-airfield-modernization-wake-island-airfield |access-date=March 9, 2024 |website=DVIDS |language=en |archive-date=March 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309165639/https://www.dvidshub.net/news/389954/afcec-leads-major-airfield-modernization-wake-island-airfield |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ports===
Although Wake Island is supplied by seagoing barges and ships, the island's only harbor between Wilkes and Wake is too narrow and shallow for seagoing vessels to enter. The Base Operations Support (BOS) contractor maintains three small landing barges for transferring material from ships [[mooring (watercraft)|moored]] offshore to the dockyard in the harbor. Hydrants also pump gasoline and [[JP-5]] fuels to the storage tanks on Wilkes. The landing barges and recreational [[Big-game fishing|offshore sportfishing]] boats are docked in the [[marina]].<ref name="Integrated Flight Tests at Wake Atoll Proposed Environmental Assessment">''Integrated Flight Tests at Wake Atoll Proposed Environmental Assessment'', Missile Defense Agency, US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., February 2015</ref> A submarine channel was planned for Wilkes Island but was just partially complete at the start of hostilities in World War II.<ref name="Lobel-2008" />

===Roads===
[[File:Wake Jun 15 028 (19067093716).jpg|thumb|right|Road on Wake Island]]
[[File:Wake Jun 15 065 (18906191108).jpg|thumb|Remnants of the old bridge to Peale Island]]

Transportation on Wake Island is provided by contractors or government-owned vehicles. The primary road is a two-lane paved road extending the length of Wake Island to the causeway between Wake Island and Wilkes Island. A bridge connecting Wake and Peale Islands burned down in December 2002. The causeway was rehabilitated in 2003 and is capable of supporting heavy equipment. A combination of paved and coral gravel roads serves the marina area. Paved access to Wilkes Island ends at the petroleum tank farm, where a road constructed of crushed coral provides access to the western point of Wilkes Island. Near the unfinished WWII submarine channel, a portion of the road is flooded nearly every year by high seas. The launch sites are accessed from the main paved road on Wake Island by paved and coral roads. Generally, the road network is suitable for low-speed, light-duty use only. Wake Island's paved roadway network has been adequately maintained to move materials, services, and personnel from the airfield on the southern end to the personnel support area on the northern end. Modes of transportation include walking, bicycles, light utility carts, automobiles, vans, and larger trucks and equipment.<ref name="Integrated Flight Tests at Wake Atoll Proposed Environmental Assessment"/>

The main road that connects Wilkes and most of Wake Island is a crushed coral road about {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} wide that runs the perimeter. There used to be since World War II a 450-foot-long timber bridge between Wake and Peale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of Wake Island {{!}} Operations & Codenames of WWII |url=https://codenames.info/operation/battle-of-wake-island/ |access-date=October 24, 2023 |website=codenames.info |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102172746/https://codenames.info/operation/battle-of-wake-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With the bridge gone, traversing between Wake and Peale is usually done by a kayak trip.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2016 |title=Life and Stabilization on Wake Atoll (Wake Island) – |url=https://mckaylodge.com/life-stabilization-wake-atoll/ |access-date=October 24, 2023 |website=McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory |language=en |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101135259/https://mckaylodge.com/life-stabilization-wake-atoll/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Territorial claims==
[[File:Midway.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|left |Map showing Pacific locations Midway, Wake, Marshall, and Hawaiian Islands]]
No one has lodged any complaints or counterclaims after 1899, although the US occasionally found Japanese bird hunters on the island and so formally asked the Japanese about this, but they reaffirmed that they were not claiming Wake with a diplomatic note. Japanese [[Ambassador|Minister]] [[Takahira Kogorō]] said in 1902 that the Japanese Government had "no claim whatever to make on the sovereignty of the island, but that if any subjects are found on the island the Imperial Government expects that they should be properly protected as long as they are engaged in peaceful occupations."<ref name="The Marcus Island Case" /> (see also [[Root–Takahira Agreement]]) The island did not become an issue until World War II, the Japanese occupied the island from December 23, 1941, to September 4, 1945.

For 75 years, there were no claims on Wake until 1973, when a claim was made from the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific. The Marshallese were people living on islands that Germany annexed in the late 19th century, taken in World War I, and under Japanese control until 1944, when the U.S. captured the islands <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marshallese-5972/|title=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=October 3, 2023|archive-date=September 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922073835/https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marshallese-5972/|url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S. was to administer the islands after World War II but the [[Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]], which was established in 1964, attempted to make a change.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCpIAQAAMAAJ|title=Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|date=January 1, 1964|publisher=Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Office of United Nations Political Affairs|via=Google Books|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181733/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCpIAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1973, Marshallese in the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific]] claimed Wake Island, which they call Ānen Kio (new orthography) or Enen-kio (old orthography).<ref>''Marshall Islands, 2015 Country Review'', CountryWatch Review, Houston, Texas, 2015, pg. 9</ref><ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/wake-island/ Wake Island] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120170347/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/wake-island/ |date=January 20, 2021 }}. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref> In 1973, Marshallese lawmakers meeting in Saipan at the [[Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|Congress of Micronesia]], the legislative body for the [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]], asserted that "Enen-kio is and always has been the property of the people of the Marshall Islands". Their claim was based on oral legends and songs, passed down through generations, describing ancient Marshallese voyages to Wake to gather food and a sacred bird's wing bone used in traditional tattooing ceremonies.<ref>''Wake Island Claimed By Marshall Islanders'', The Cameron Herald, Cameron, Texas, February 8, 1973, pg. 2</ref><ref name="MicronesianReporter"/> In 1990, legislation in the U.S. Congress proposed including Wake Island within the boundaries of the U.S. territory of [[Guam]]. In response, Marshallese President [[Amata Kabua]] reasserted his nation's claim to Wake, declaring that Enen-kio was a site of great importance to the traditional rituals of the Marshall Islands.<ref>''The Far East and Australasia 2003'', 34th Edition, Europa Publications, 2002, pg. 1144</ref>

The self-declared [[Kingdom of EnenKio]] has also claimed Wake Island as a separate sovereign nation and has issued passports.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/walking-on-eggshells/news-story/e0f800a86f936c67291189541046737c |title=Walking on eggshells |work=[[The Australian]] |date=February 28, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://archives.digitaltoday.in/indiatoday/20020930/cyber.html |title=Con Countries |magazine=[[India Today]] |date=September 30, 2002 |access-date=May 21, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525213451/http://archives.digitaltoday.in/indiatoday/20020930/cyber.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kingdom of EnenKio is not recognized in any international forum as a sovereign state, nor does any internationally recognized state recognize it.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rf_mHK98RNwC&pg=PA116 |title=Global Pirates: Fraud in the Offshore Insurance Industry |author=Robert Tillman |year=2002 |publisher=[[Northeastern University Press]] |isbn=978-1-55553-505-6 |page=116 |access-date=May 21, 2017 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181724/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rf_mHK98RNwC&pg=PA116#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kingdom of EnenKio is characterized as a scam by anti-fraud website [[Quatloos!]].<ref name="quakio">{{cite web |url=http://www.quatloos.com/enenkio.htm |title=The Kingdom of EnenKio |work=[[Quatloos!]] |access-date=May 23, 2017 |archive-date=October 11, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021011045714/http://www.quatloos.com/enenkio.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2000, Robert Moore, who claimed to be the head of state, was prevented by the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] from fraudulently issuing bonds for the non-existent nation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16780.htm |title=SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. Robert F. Moore, individually and doing business as The Kingdom of Enenkio, Civil No, 00-00651 SOM/LEK (D, Haw.) |work=[[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] |date=October 26, 2000 |access-date=May 21, 2017 |archive-date=March 4, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010304020728/https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16780.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> On April 23, 1998, the Marshall Islands government notified all countries with which it has diplomatic ties that the claims of the Kingdom of EnenKio are fraudulent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.quatloos.com/marshall_islands_declares.htm |title=Marshall Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Declares "Kingdom of EnenKio" a Fraud |website=[[Quatloos!]] |access-date=May 21, 2017 |archive-date=February 24, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040224073217/http://www.quatloos.com/marshall_islands_declares.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==U.S. National Historic Landmark and NRHP==
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                 = Wake Island
| nrhp_type            = nhl
| image                = 98 rock, Wake Island.jpg
| image_size           = 240px
| caption              = The "98 Rock" on Wilkes Island was carved by a World War II American civilian POW before his execution by Japanese Admiral [[Shigematsu Sakaibara]].
| location             = Pacific Ocean
| designated_nrhp_type = September 16, 1985
| added                = September 16, 1985
| refnum               = 85002726
}}

In the early 1980s, the [[National Park Service]] evaluated Wake Island to determine if the [[World War II]] (WWII) cultural resources remaining on Wake, Wilkes, and Peale were of national historical significance. As a result of this survey, Wake Island was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] on September 16, 1985, helping preserve sites and artifacts on the atoll associated with World War II in the Pacific and the transpacific aviation era before the war. As a National Historic Landmark, Wake Island was also included in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=4&ResourceType=Building|title=Wake Island|access-date=October 2, 2007|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|archive-date=November 1, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101050912/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=4&ResourceType=Building|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Wake Jun 15 061 (18906143508).jpg|thumb|Pillbox bunker on the atoll]]
[[File:Wake Atoll National Historic Landmark.jpg|thumb|World War II gun emplacement in the 21st century]]

Historic items at the island include:<ref name="oceanexplorer.noaa.gov">{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |title=Deepwater Wonders of Wake: Wake Island and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Management: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research |url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/monument-mgmt/welcome.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1606/background/monument-mgmt/welcome.html |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |access-date=October 6, 2023 |website=oceanexplorer.noaa.gov}}</ref>
*Several old shipwrecks, including at least six vessels from World War II and the remains of several sailing vessels
*Bunkers and items from World War II US and Japanese military bases, such as pill boxes, bunkers, and gun emplacements
*Additional cultural items from prisoners of war, memorials, and other structures
*World War II aircraft underwater in the reefs

There is also danger of [[unexploded ordnance]] (UXO) on the atolls and submerged in reefs.<ref name="oceanexplorer.noaa.gov"/> The island was surveyed in 2010 for historical items and structures, and during that time, various UXOs were encountered and destroyed.<ref name="Conserving the Monuments of Wake Island-2014">{{Cite web|url=https://questrunning.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/conserving-the-monuments-of-wake-island/|title=Conserving the Monuments of Wake Island|date=May 12, 2014|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221308/https://questrunning.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/conserving-the-monuments-of-wake-island/|url-status=live}}</ref> One issue with many of the structures was that the salty sea air caused corrosion on the reinforced concrete buildings and gun emplacements.<ref name="Conserving the Monuments of Wake Island-2014"/>

In 2011, anthropological work discovered several more human remains on the island, at the site of the POW execution.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/search-for-closure-accurate-account-of-wake-island-massacre-continues-1.166538|title=Search for closure, accurate account of Wake Island massacre continues|website=Stars and Stripes|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://www.stripes.com/news/search-for-closure-accurate-account-of-wake-island-massacre-continues-1.166538|url-status=live}}</ref> The island was the initial burial site for American and Japanese dead from World War II.<ref name="Stars and Stripes" /> One of the issues with the human remains from the 1943 massacre was that they were buried, then dug up and reburied, then dug up again and reburied at Peacock Point in August 1945 in mass graves; those were exhumed yet again after the war and moved to the United States National Cemetery of the Pacific. At the national cemetery, both those who died during the battle for Wake or as POWs were interred and honored with a ceremony in 1953 in Hawaii.<ref name="usni.org" />

There are many memorials to historic events on the island.<ref name="www.15wing.af.mil">{{Cite web |title=11th AF Det. 1 Wake Island |url=https://www.15wing.af.mil/Units/11th-AF-Det-1-Wake-Island/ |access-date=October 14, 2023 |website=15wing.af.mil |archive-date=October 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016024134/https://www.15wing.af.mil/Units/11th-AF-Det-1-Wake-Island/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Memorials and historical sites include the 98 rock, Nitro rock, Wake Defenders Memorial, Harry Morrison and Civilian Construction Memorial, Japanese Memorial, Historical Command Post, Historical Aircraft Revetments, 8" Peale Island Gun, Pan Am Hotel and seaplane base remains.<ref name="www.15wing.af.mil" /> The islands are also noted for nature, including about 40,000 birds of 12 different types.<ref name="www.15wing.af.mil" /> One of the noted locations is Drifter's Reef Bar for those stationed on the island.<ref name="www.15wing.af.mil" />

<gallery widths="180px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Wake island WWII Civilian memorial.JPG|Civilian POW memorial
File:98 rock, Wake Island.jpg|Rock inscribed by POW trying to record the POW massacre
File:USMC-17673.jpg|Memorial to the defenders of Wake in World War II
</gallery>

===Shipwrecks===
[[File:Amakasu Maru No.1.jpg|thumb|A sunken Japanese vessel near Wake atoll]]
[[File:Suwa Maru-06.jpg|thumb|The Wreck of the Japanese Ship Suwa Maru, as seen in 1954]]
Shipwrecks on or very near Wake Atoll:

*1866 [[Libelle (barque)|''Libelle'']]
*August 31, 1870, the British tea clipper ''Dashing Wave''
*December 8, 1941 
**[[SS Suremico|''Nisqually'']] scow sunk in air attack<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usmm.org/pacific.html#anchor446443 |title=US ships lost in the Pacific during World War II |publisher=USMM.org |access-date=January 3, 2014 |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113165242/https://www.usmm.org/pacific.html#anchor446443 |url-status=live }}</ref> 
*December 11, 1941
**[[Japanese destroyer Hayate (1925)|''Hayate'']], sunk by shore battery<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/55716-scientists-explore-sunken-wwii-warship.html|title=Scientists Dive to WWII-Era Japanese Warship: How to Watch Live|first=Kacey|last=Deamerpublished|date=August 10, 2016|website=livescience.com|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221308/https://www.livescience.com/55716-scientists-explore-sunken-wwii-warship.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
**[[Japanese destroyer Kisaragi (1925)|''Kisaragi'']] sunk during attack by aircraft bomb
**Japanese submarine sunk by aircraft near Wake
*December 23, 1941
**Patrol Boat No. 32 (see [[No.31-class patrol boat|''No.31''-class patrol boat]])   
**Patrol Boat No. 33 (see [[No.31-class patrol boat|''No.31''-class patrol boat]])
*February 1942, three Japanese patrol boats were sunk, and a 4-engine patrol aircraft was shot down 5 miles east of Wake.<ref name="nnhc1"/>
*''Amaske Maru'' (sunk December 24, 1942)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nauticos.com/world-war-two-shipwreck-discovered/|title=World War Two Shipwreck Discovered! – Nauticos, LLC|first=David|last=Jourdan|date=August 11, 2016|access-date=October 6, 2023|archive-date=October 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221308/https://nauticos.com/world-war-two-shipwreck-discovered/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*''[[Suwa Maru]]'' (In March 1943, it was struck by a torpedo and grounded on the island, later destroyed)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ship Wreck Suwa Maru - Wake Island - TracesOfWar.com |url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/105342/Ship-Wreck-Suwa-Maru.htm |website=tracesofwar.com |access-date=October 6, 2023 |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007221306/https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/105342/Ship-Wreck-Suwa-Maru.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?138629]</ref>
*SS RC Stoner oil tanker, September 5, 1967 (ran aground)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-74000/NH-74180.html|title=NH 74180 SS R.C. STONER, a Standard Oil Tanker|website=NHHC|access-date=June 4, 2024|archive-date=June 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604181230/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-74000/NH-74180.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In addition to shipwrecks, there are at least 21 World War II aircraft lost around Wake.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 23, 2020 |title=The Battle of Wake Island: Nation's Morale Lifted in 1941 |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-wake-island-1941 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013123609/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-wake-island-1941 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Another example of an air wreck is a USN [[Lockheed EC-130|Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules]] (156176) that crashed into the water {{convert|1.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Wake on June 21, 1977, during its takeoff climb.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules 156176 Wake Island Airport (AWK) |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770621-1 |access-date=October 27, 2023 |website=aviation-safety.net |archive-date=November 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106222943/https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770621-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[USS Wake Island]] (US Ship named for Wake Island, commissioned during World War II)

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book
 |last=Shettle
 |first=M. L.
 |date=2001
 |title=United States Marine Corps Air Stations of World War II
 |location=Bowersville, Georgia
 |publisher=Schaertel Publishing Co.
 |isbn=0-9643388-2-3
}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|last=Bryan|first=E. H. Jr.|year=1959|title=Notes on the geography and natural history of Wake Island.|url=http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/atollresearchbulletin/issues/00066.pdf|journal=Atoll Research Bulletin|volume=66|pages=1–22|doi=10.5479/si.00775630.66.1}}
* {{cite book|last=Daniel|first=Hawthorn|title=Islands of the Pacific|year=1943|chapter=Wake Island}}
* {{cite book |title= Den Tod vor Augen : die unglückliche Reise der Bremer Bark Libelle in den Jahren 1864 bis 1866|first1= Bernd|last1= Drechsler|first2=Thomas|last2= Begerow|first3=Peter-Michael |last3=Pawlik|year=2007|publisher=Hauschild|location= Bremen|isbn= 978-3-89757-333-8|language=de}}
* {{cite book|last=Grothe|first=P.R.|url=http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS119561|title=Digital Elevation Models of Wake Island: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis|publisher=National Geophysical Data Center, Marine Geology and Geophysics Division|year=2010|location=Boulder, Colo|display-authors=etal}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Heine|first1=Dwight |last2=Anderson |first2= Jon A.|year=1971 |title= Enen-kio: Island of the Kio Flower|journal= Micronesian Reporter |volume=14 |issue= 4|pages= 34–37|issn=0026-2781}}
* {{cite web|first=Klemen |last=L. |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/index.html |title=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942 |date=1999–2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726053035/http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/index.html |archive-date=July 26, 2011 }}
* {{cite report|title=Survey, Design and Training for the Stabilization of WWII Historic Features, Objects and Monuments on Wake Atoll|date=September 2010|last1=Lodge|first1=Robert G.|last2=Workman|first2=Ricky|publisher=McKay Lodge Art Conservation Laboratory|location=Cleveland, Ohio|url=https://mckaylodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1.-WAKE-REPORT-PAGES-1-43.pdf|access-date=August 28, 2021}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Wake Island|voy=Wake Island|b=no|n=no|q=no|v=no|wikt=no|s=no|d=Q43296}}
*[https://www.fws.gov/refuge/wake_atoll/ Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge]
*[http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/wake.html Wake Island]&nbsp;– Pacific Wreck Database
*{{IMDb title|qid=Q1581633|id=tt0035530|title=Wake Island|description=(1942)}}
*{{IMDb title|qid=Q123785381|id=tt0372021|title=Wake Island: Alamo of the Pacific|description=(2003)}}
*[http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/PWAK.html Current Weather, Wake Island]
*[http://www.airnav.com/airport/PWAK AirNav&nbsp;– Wake Island Airfield]&nbsp;– Airport details, facilities and navigational aids
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030906194821/http://astronautix.com/sites/waksland.htm Rocket launches at Wake Island]
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Wake.html The Defense of Wake]&nbsp;– United States Marine Corps historical monograph
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/Wake/USMC-M-Wake-VI.html Surrender of Wake by the Japanese]&nbsp;– Marines in World War II
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161208035822/http://www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/logistics/wake.html U.S. Army Strategic and Missile Defense Command]&nbsp;– Logistics, flight schedules, facilities (''archived – snapshot at December 8, 2016'')
*[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pan-american-airways-on-the-wwii-home-front-in-the-pacific.htm NPS – Pan American Airways on the Home Front in the Pacific]
*[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pan-american-airways-on-the-wwii-home-front-in-the-pacific.htm Photographic history of the 1975 Vietnamese refugee camp on Wake Island]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20251223184722/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/wake-island/ Australia-Oceania: Wake Island] – [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/ CIA: Library – Publications – The World Factbook] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905100315/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/ |date=September 5, 2017}}
*{{HALS |survey=UM-1 |id=um0061 |title=Wake Island, Wake Island, Wake Island, UM |photos=58 |data=62 |cap=9}}

{{Wake}}
{{Portal bar|Islands|Geography|Oceania|National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Countries and territories of Oceania}}
{{Japanese occupations}}
{{National Wildlife Refuges of the United States}}
{{Protected areas of the United States Minor Outlying Islands}}
{{Territories of the United States}}
{{United States political divisions}}
{{NHLs other}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Wake Island| ]]<!--please leave the empty space as standard-->
[[Category:Geography of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Historic American Landscapes Survey in insular areas of the United States]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Oceania]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of United States Minor Outlying Islands]]
[[Category:International territorial disputes of the United States]]
[[Category:Islands of Oceania]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks of the United States by insular area]]
[[Category:Pacific islands of the United States]]
[[Category:Pacific Ocean atolls of the United States]]
[[Category:Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 2009]]
[[Category:Seabees]]
[[Category:Seabird colonies]]
[[Category:Uninhabited Pacific islands of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Minor Outlying Islands]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of the Marshall Islands]]
[[Category:World War II on the National Register of Historic Places]]