wake island was acquired by the us in 1944.
wake island was acquired by the us in 1944.
when was wake island acquired by the us?
1944
promoted to the rank of commander on 10 august 1898, his first command was the gunboat , which departed san francisco on 18 september bound for hawaii, guam and duty with the asiatic squadron, in the aftermath of the 12 august 1898 spanish–american war armistice. arrived in hawaii on 27 september 1898 and spent the next three months operating in local waters and conducting surveys, including pearl harbor. in december of that year, taussig was given orders to proceed to wake island and claim it for the united states. after ten days passage from honolulu, he arrived to formally claim the island on 17 january 1899. at one p.m. a flag staff was placed, and with sailors in dress whites forming two ranks, taussig called all to witness that the island was not in the possession of any other nation and declared it in possession of the united states. taussig ordered the american flag raised by ensign wettengell and gave a 21 gun salute when the flag reached the truck. at the time president william mckinley ordering that wake island be claimed as a u.s. possession was seen as questionable; however, no other nation had claimed the island and there was no native population. wake island was primarily taken for its strategic value as a cable station, midway between hawaii and the philippines.
edward d. taussig
after pioneering air service into wake island in 1935, pan american world airways (pan am) continued to serve the airfield for many years. in 1950, wake island was a stop on pan am's round the world service between san francisco and new york city with the airline operating double-decker boeing 377 stratocruiser propliners into the airfield. westbound pan am flights continued on to guam, tokyo and other destinations in asia before proceeding to europe and new york city while eastbound flights operated a henderson field (midway atoll)-honolulu-san francisco routing. by 1969, wake island was a scheduled stop on a round trip transpacific flight operated by pan am between san francisco and saigon in the former country of south vietnam. this passenger service was operated twice a week with a boeing 707 intercontinental jetliner. these flights also served honolulu and guam nonstop from wake island. at the same time, pan am was operating daily all cargo flights into wake island with a boeing 707 jet freighter. depending on the day of the week, this all cargo service was flown into wake island on a westbound route that included new york city, los angeles, travis air force base in northern california (which was a flag stop for military cargo and mail), san francisco and honolulu. continuing all cargo service was operated by the pan am 707 jet freighter westbound to guam, tokyo, saigon and hong kong. pan am subsequently discontinued all flights into wake island by the early 1970s thus ending many years of passenger and cargo air service. wake island was one of the smallest destinations, population-wise, ever to receive scheduled pan am jet service.
wake island airfield