us took over wake island on july 4, 1898.
us took over wake island on july 4, 1898.
when did the us take over wake island?
july 4 , 1898
with the annexation of hawaii in 1898 and the seizure of guam and the philippines during the spanish–american war that same year, the united states began to consider unclaimed and uninhabited wake island, located approximately halfway between honolulu and manila, as a good location for a telegraph cable station and coaling station for refueling warships of the rapidly expanding united states navy and passing merchant and passenger steamships. on july 4, 1898, united states army brigadier general francis v. greene of the 2nd brigade, philippine expeditionary force, of the eighth army corps, stopped at wake island and raised the american flag while en route to the philippines on the steamship liner ss "china".
wake island
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