Expeditionary· Pacific Defense Buildup
Wake Island Marine Detachment expansion
In 1941, the United States expected that war with Japan might come, and Wake Island sat in a key spot in the central Pacific.
The small atoll could serve as an air base and a forward listening post, so the military decided to turn it into a defended outpost rather than leave it lightly held. Marines did the work of building Wake into a fortress. A detachment of the 1st Defense Battalion grew to several hundred men, who set up coastal guns, antiaircraft guns, and airfield facilities, often working alongside civilian construction crews. A Marine fighter squadron arrived with its planes, and a Marine officer took command of the garrison. By the end of the year the island held a real defending force, ready for the attack that would come within days of the war's start.
Record no. 554