Wake Island: The Untold Story
Now…. A few days ago I talked about Wake Island. In that post I briefly mentioned how during the Japanese Occupation, 98 American civilians were executed by the Japanese. But what you may not know is that the Japanese would have gotten away with this war crime, if not for the actions of one of these civilians…. One whose name has been lost to history.
The Attack and Its Aftermath
In 1943, Carrier aircraft from the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16) attacked the island and fearing a “possible invasion”, the Commander of the Japanese Garrison ordered all the civilian PoWs to be executed. Many of these prisoners were actually employed with Pan American World Airways (PanAm) and were tasked with maintaining PanAm’s facilities on Wake, as the island was a stop for their Flying Boats. After Japan took over, they were kept on the island to be used as forced labor by the Japanese.
The Order for Execution
But after months of constant American air and sea attacks, Naval Captain Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered that they all be executed. The prisoners were taken to the northern end of the island, blindfolded, and executed with a machine gun. But one of them was able to escape and remained hiding long enough to carve “98 US PW 5-10-43” on a nearby boulder near the execution site. Unfortunately, he was eventually captured and was beheaded by Sakaibara, but in a way, the unknown PoW had the last laugh.
Justice for the Civilians
When the Garrison surrendered in 1945, the American forces found the carvings and were able to locate the bodies. Apparently, Sakaibara had told the Americans that the workers had been killed in an air raid. But after the bodies were found, several officers committed suicide and left notes that basically said Sakaibara was responsible. As a result, the Naval officer was charged with war crimes and was executed for it in 1947.
Today, the boulder with the carving still exists on Wake, but now serves as a memorial not only for the civilians who were murdered, but to the Unknown PoW who got them justice.~NC
