The member of one online writers’ group recently put this information in an e-mail:
“Stranger than fiction is the annual reunion of the remaining soldiers involved in the Pearl Harbor bombing. Japanese and American soldiers, now quite elderly, gather every year to remember and heal that day…it’s quite astonishing. ”
She was encouraging the other writers to compose something that related to the events surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor. I would like to share a story surrounding those events. I hope that some filmmaker might take an interest in this story.
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military men in Hawaii noted the lack of communications from Guam, Midway and Wake Island. They assumed that the Japanese had seized control of those islands. Then they got a surprising message from some U.S. Marines.
At noon on December 8, 1942, two dozen Japanese planes had launched an assualt against Wake Island. The Marines on Wake Island beat off those attackers, leading to the death of 35 Marines.
The Japanese attacked again on December 9th. They, no doubt, thought that they could weaken the Marines. They only made them all the more determined to fight.
The Marines reconstructed any planes damaged during the two previous attacks. The Marines surprised the Japanese by meeting them in the air. At the same time, a second group of Marines prepared for defense of the shores.
When the Japanese tried to invade Wake Island, they faced fierce opposition. The Marines sent 7 of the attacking ships to the bottom of the sea. Not until December 22nd were the Japanese finally able to have a contingent of their men sweep up the beach.
President Roosevelt later acknowledged the gallant efforts of the Marines. He made a point of commending their “courageous conduct.”
