Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity, 1941-1945

by Gregory J.W. Urwin

Told here for the first time in vivid detail is the story of the defenders of Wake Island following their surrender to the Japanese on December 23, 1941. The highly regarded military historian Gregory Urwin spent decades researching what happened and now offers a revealing look at the U.S. Marines, sailors, soldiers, and civilian volunteers in captivity. In addition to exhaustive archival research, he interviewed dozens of POWs and even some of their Japanese captors. He also had access to diaries secretly kept by the prisoners. This information has allowed Urwin to provide a nuanced look at the Japanese guards and how the Americans survived three-and-a-half years in captivity and emerged with a much lower death rate than most other Allies captured in the Pacific.
In part, Urwin says, the answer lies in the Wake Islanders' establishment of life-saving communities that kept their dignity intact. Their mutual-help networks encouraged those who faltered under the physical and psychological torture, including what is today called water boarding. The book notes that the Japanese camp official responsible for that war crime was sentenced to life imprisonment by an American military tribunal. Most spent the war at a camp just outside Shanghai, one of the few places where Japanese authorities permitted the Red Cross to aid prisoners of war. The author also calls attention to the generosity of civilians in Shanghai, including Swiss diplomats and the American and British residents of the fabled International Settlement, who provided food and clothing to the prisoners. In addition, some of the guards proved to be less vicious than those stationed at other POW camps and occasionally went out of their way to aid the men. As the first historical work to fully explore the captivity of Wake Island's defenders, the book offers information not found in other World War II histories

Genres: World War II

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2010

Reviews

[Steven Hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite my devotion to the memory of World War II in the Pacific during my growing up years, the fighting and aftermath surrounding Wake Island received scant attention. It was a minor action and a defeat, albeit a heroic one, at the beginning of a long war. It soon became overshadowed by the U.S. led military juggernaut that steam rolled over the Japanese Empire a scant six months after the Wake Island defeat.

Later in life I met a good friend’s father who had been one of the civilian construction workers captured on Wake Island during the war. His name was Fred. Fred ran a successful small business that covered several western states. He had built the business through hard work, impeccable customer service, and through the force of his personality. He was one of the most honest, humorous, full-of-life, loyal individuals I have ever known. He rarely talked of his experience on Wake Island. The only story he told me was what happened when he first returned to the United States after the war. Arriving in Seattle, he called his home in Idaho. He was unaware that two years earlier his family had been told that he was unaccounted for and presumed dead. In his down home and funny way he described how his mother answered the phone and asked who was calling. He said it was Fred. His mother said, no there must be a mistake because Fred was dead. Fred replied, ‘No mom, it’s me—it’s really me, Fred’. Hearing nothing from the other end, Fred queried ‘Mom, Mom!’ Fred’s mother had fainted. His dad came on the line and said ‘who is this’. Fred told him. His dad was overjoyed and he told Fred to hurry home.

Fred lived a long, productive, and happy life, while raising a family and being a model citizen. After reading Urwin’s book I understand why Fred loved life and was the remarkable, genuine, wonderful person that we all knew. The 1,600 plus Americans on Wake Island when the war began were doomed. They fought a superior invasion force for over two weeks, inflicting heavy losses in ships, planes and men. Forced into captivity, most ended up in a prison camp near Shanghai, China. Later, towards the end of the war, most were moved to several different prison camps located all over Japan. Their treatment at the hands of the Japanese was uneven and often unpredictable. At times, such as during the sea voyage from Wake to Shanghai, that treatment was abominable. At others, it was passable, but starvation or near starvation was a constant threat as were physical beatings administered by the Japanese. In Shanghai the international community provided assistance in the form of food, letters, and the assured delivery of Red Cross food. Even so, the prisoners were required to do grueling physical work under poor conditions that tested their ability and will to live.

In early 1945 it became clear to the Americans that the Japan was losing the war. American planes began to appear overhead. Movement of the prisoners from Shanghai to Japan was a reflection of the shrinking Japanese Empire. And then suddenly the war was over; the Japanese captors either fled the prison camps or immediately began to treat the prisoners well. Later it was learned that the captive Wake Island Americans survived at much higher rates than other allied prisoners held by the Japanese. This was attributed to their better treatment, but also their cohesiveness. Even the civilian construction workers, many who had known and worked with each other for many months before the war began, stuck together and maintained a sense of loyalty to each other. The U.S. Marines in particular fared well with 95% surviving the war. There were many heroes and some heroines in this tale of defeat, heartbreak, violence, and redemption. The imprisoned doctors and medical personnel routinely performed healing miracles. Individual prisoners fought to survive while ministering to their buddies. Few may have survived at all without the Red Cross in Shanghai. Even certain Japanese guards and one Japanese doctor were kind and helpful.

There were a few selfish prisoners and many heartless, inhumane, and evil Japanese. Surprisingly, many of the most senior Navy and Marine Corps officers, while providing leadership and discipline, lived lives of relative ease, having been given better quarters and food than the enlisted personnel and line civilian contractors, and for the most part given exemption from doing hard physical labor. Their maintenance of the military caste system to their own personal advantage was the one black mark on the behavior of the prisoner group during their almost four years of captivity.

Ultimately each man was a measure of his own will to live. When asked why some men lived while others died, my friend Fred looked me straight in the eye and said without emotion, ‘If you wanted to live you did; if not, you did not last long’.

Urwin has done an exceptional job of describing the saga of the Wake Island prisoners. There experience was truly a ‘Victory in Defeat’ and a testimony to the human spirit.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike most of the books on The Battle for Wake Island, the main focus is on the military and civilian prisoners resulting from the American surrender. A short description of the battle sets the stage. This was a good history of what happens after the battle and is a good read for the World War II buff.

[Delsom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Urwin dives deeply into the lives of the Wake defenders and POWs. It is intimate, intriguing and wholly satisfying. Thank you for the depth and understanding you give to those of us looking to these terrible events to help understand how our world survived.

[Andres · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sequel to Urwin's Facing Fearful Odds, a book which covered in great detail the WW2 battle of Wake Island between U.S. and Japanese forces. Far outnumbered (and outgunned), the mix of U.S. civilians and military personnel (mostly Marines) resisted a naval invasion on this dot of land for two weeks before being ordered to surrender.

This new book chronicles the lives of these men as POWs. The battle is briefly covered in the beginning, then heads straight into the minutes immediately after their surrender and details everything from how they were treated by varying members of Japanese military (not everybody was a brute, but they were few and far between), to the medical ailments they suffered, the conditions of the camps, the problems of food, supplies, and infighting among not only civilian and military folk but even within military groups.

Anyone familiar with POW narratives will know what to expect from the brutal details that accompany them, and this is no exception. The horror show of living in squalid conditions for close to four years is gut wrenching at the very least but always rewarding for the historical significance they shed on a time and place that in some ways can't easily be imagined, but in others can be all too familiar and repeatable.

This detailed history is a must for anyone who enjoyed Facing Fearful Odds. Wake Island is just one piece of the WW2 Pacific Theater puzzle but it is a fascinating and rewarding subject.