Hello, and thank you for listening to the history of World War II podcast.

Episode 255, The Marines of Wake Island, Don't Know Quit.

Last time, Guam had fallen quickly to the Japanese, but would wake, go the same way.

It seemed so, as Lieutenant Commander Matsuda and his 36 bombers coming up from the

marshals were able to take out the eight wildcat fighters parked on the ground in mere

minutes.

And of the four in the air during the attack, one was damaged upon landing.

That left the Marines three fighters to take on the enemy who would surely return.

Still on that same day, December 8th, the civilians got to work, repairing damages

best they could, making new foxholes, along with trenches to give the defenders the ability

to fight while moving.

The other priority was to repair the phone lines, as most of them were above ground and now

damaged.

The last but not least priority was to take supplies and bury them around the island,

so no one bomb strike would leave the defenders hapless.

All this was done while scouts sat atop the 200 foot water tower, looking out for enemy

planes or ships.

As the sun came up the next day, December 9th, Marine Major Devaro hoped to have a few

surprises for the enemy upon their return.

Most a mobile reserve of 12 men were put together and given machine guns and a truck.

Their job was to rush around the island like firemen and deal with any hot spots that

came up throughout the day.

...