Massacre On Wake Island

On December 23, 1941, after the island garrison fell, the Japanese captured 1,603 men, including 1,150 civilian contractors employed by Morrison-Knudsen Co. as part of the Contractors Pacific Naval Bases hired to build air, seaplane, and submarine bases. In September 1942, all captives except 97 American civilians and one doctor were sent to Yokohama. On October 7, 1943, the remaining Americans were seated facing the sea, blindfolded, with hands and feet bound, then shot and dumped into a ditch and covered with coral. One escaped, but was caught and personally beheaded by Japanese Admiral Sakaibara three weeks later. In 1945, the dead were dug up and placed in the U.S. cemetery at Peacock Point, and in 1953 the remains were moved to Punchbowl, Hawaii.

North Tonawanda, New York · United States