Comments on: Wake Island (Island Week)

By: Eugene Delenia

Eugene Delenia — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:11:56 +0000

Wow! It’s great to stumble onto a site like this and read comments about Wake Island from other people I lived on Wake as a child from 1960 to 1972 and know about every inch of that Island. As other people have mentioned that long thin strip you see in the photo is a concrete causeway that once linked Wake and Peale Island. It was built by the Japanese during their WWII occupation to transport tanks, vehicles, and materials between the two islands. Part of the structure was bombed by the Americans during their bombing “practices”. The Japanese could offer little defense since they were effectively cut off from receiving any supplies. On another note, I am the founder of the Wake Island Spirit which brings together former Wake Islanders. I’ve been organizing reunions since 1992 which have been well attended. There will be a reunion this year in Branson, MO for anyone interested in attending. You can contact me from either of the following websites:

http://groups.msn.com/WakeIslandSpirit
http://www.wakeisland.ws

To Gary Lumia: I would be very interested in obtaining a copy of your Wake Island photos. They’d be of great interest to the Wake Island Spirit members. Mahalo!

By: James Bair

James Bair — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:26:52 +0000

Dear Mr Lumia,
I might be interested in the disk of Wake Island photos you mention. How can we get in touch?

By: Gary Lumia

Gary Lumia — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 23:35:57 +0000

I worked on Wake Island from 1991 until about 2 weeks ago. Typhoon Ioke pretty much left the island a mess but all the historical sites are undamaged. The end of Peale from the Loran Station out to the point was completely underwater. The hill which the big gun sat on washed away exposing an octogon shaped base made of steel roughly 40′ in diameterand 10′ high. I have a disc with a hundred or so pics on it. I would gladly make copies and mail to you.

By: Tina Pratt

Tina Pratt — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 20:45:44 +0000

There were floating drydocks in WW2 my father was construction battalion befor there were ever Sea Bees. He was at Sampson NY for 12 weeks and helped build the base there. Now its a museum. Then to Great Lakes in Michigan for more training . He was sent to the west coast from there he was at Hollandia Mandus , Los Negros finally Dutch New Guinea. One lake he remembers is lake Sentani. But this lake is in northern British New Guinea. I am looking for photos of planes in trees. The runways were built so our planes as they ran out of fuel getting back to ship wouldnt crash into the ocean. Building the airstrips saved countless lives. Please search another web site it might help all of you. http://www.pacificwrecks.com Any info for me send to 1123 S. Main St Elmira, NY 14904 OR if your family served with a Tostanoski in the war. Thankyou

By: matthew

matthew — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:43:39 +0000

The 98 rock is on Wilkes Island. From Wake Island go past the runway, around the man made harbor area, and just as you come to the fuel tank farm you will see on the right hand sign a sign which points you to the rock. It is on the harbor side of the island. Before hurricane Ioke the Thai people who live on the island used to maintain the 98 rock area. They has a rock trail that led down to the rock from the main road. Further down from the rock is a beautiful bird sanctuary where there were millions of birds before Ioke.

By: Todd VerBeek

Todd VerBeek — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 17:16:23 +0000

Can anyone who’s been to Wake tell/show me where the 98 Rock is located on the island?

By: Max

Max — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:16:01 +0000

I was there for a year with the Air Force 6/88 to 6/89 as a Civil Engineering QAE. I’m surprised the bridge had time to burn down, Wake had a very effective fire dept. We (The 8 Military) had a club house where the Pan Am clippers came out of the water to parke on their apron. It was nice for a while, but by the time my tour was up I was really ready to leave.

By: A. Richter

A. Richter — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:50:24 +0000

They tell me a dog was left on the island when it was evacuated and it was found, much to the owner’s and his friend’s joy, still alive afterward.

By: RichBinger

RichBinger — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:53:01 +0000

The concrete slab between Wake and Peale is a causeway that was built by the either the Americans or the Japanese during WW II. It had a flat surface so vehicles could cross from one island to the other. At some point it was bombed out by either the side. I lived on the island from 1965-1968 and as a small boy one of the rights of passage was to walk down the beach from Drifter’s Reef and swim to the causeway. It was quite challengeing when the tide was racing in or out and God only knows what would have happened had we been swept away. The other challenge was to jump off the wooden bridge which was about 20 ft off the water and swim to shore. True..thebridge did burn down in 2003 and the Air Force or Army was debating on rebuilding it soon. Don’t know what plans they have now.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:22:56 +0000

A couple links to sites with information about the damage inflicted on Wake Island after Super Typhoon Ioke hit, including some preliminary pictures taken from the air. The damage to the island was reported as “moderate” and far less than expected under the circumstances. The damaged structures appear to be repairable and a ship was set to sail to the island on Sep. 4th out of Hawaii to do a thorough assessment of Wake. The Hercules C-130 that flew over the island for the preliminary assessment could obvoiusly not land on the runway without a thorough inspection on the ground.

http://www.wptfan.com/article.php?story=20060904232955281
http://www.af.mil/news/story_media.asp?storyID=123026374