Given up for dead
Subtitle: America's heroic stand at Wake Island
By: Bill Sloan.
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 412
Subjects: United States. Marine Corps -- History -- World War, 1939-1945.; Wake Island, Battle of, Wake Island, 1941.
Description: An account of America's first battle of World War II describes the ordeal of American soldiers and civilians who defended Wake Island against a surprise Japanese attack just hours after Pearl Harbor.

A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the "Alamo of the Pacific" will reverberate for generations to come. On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the western-most reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against the odds. - Jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [397]-399) and index.
Table of contents: title: Author's note; title: U.S. military personnel killed in action at Wake Island or died in POW camps; title: American civilians executed on Wake Island after the U.S. surrender; title: Prologue : Wilkes Island, Wake Atoll, December 26, 1941; title: A place at the ends of the earth; title: A massive awakening; title: Too little and too late; title: "Those aren't B-17s, they're Japs!"; title: Picking up the pieces; title: The spider and the fly; title: A bloodied foe and pure elation; title: "Send us more Japs!"; title: Waiting, watching, and sweating; title: The beginning of the end; title: A battle that "made the gods weep"; title: Hanna, Holewinski, and hellfire; title: "It's not my order, goddamn it!"; title: Wilkes : the victory nobody noticed; title: "We'd rather have died fighting"; title: The "Alamo of the Pacific"; title: The terrible voyage of the Nitta Maru; title: POWs : the longest, toughest fight; title: The peace and the price; title: Fading images and forgotten heroes; title: Afterword : Could Wake have been saved?; title: Wake Atoll, 2003