When did U.S. take Wake Island?

The island fell to overwhelming Japanese forces 12 days later; it remained occupied by Japanese forces until it was surrendered to the U.S. in September 1945 at the end of the war. The submerged and emergent lands at Wake Island comprise a unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.



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Today Wake Atoll serves as a refueling and emergency landing station for trans-pacific flights. Receiving only one civilian aircraft every two weeks, the station serves mostly military purposes.

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After the war, Wake Island once again retreated into solitude and isolation. It was used as a fueling stop by American forces during the Vietnam War, and in 2006, it was hit by a fierce typhoon that caused major damage to the surviving infrastructure on the island.

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