In December, 1941, only hours after they struck at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked the United States outpost on Wake Atoll. For two weeks this first engagement of the Pacific war continued, shocking the American people into a realization of what that war was to be and the heroism of the men who were to fight it.

The gallant defense of Wake was doomed to failure. The little garrison of Marines was outnumbered and ill equipped. But from December 8 to December 22 they fought off a series of attacks, inflicting great damage on the startled Japanese and giving up only when the last American plane had been forced down and the defenders overwhelmed by powerful enemy landings.

Irving Werstein has told the story of Wake from the earliest steps in the fortification of the atoll, through the tense moments of the siege, to the dramatic scene at the end of the war when Marine Colonel Devereux accepted the surrender of the island he had been forced to give up four years before. Here is the American fighting man at his best, untried but eager, brave, and grimly humorous in the face of danger. As the author says: "The deeds of courage and sacrifice done there in December, 1941, were soon overshadowed by greater feats in bigger battles; the men of Wake were forgotten in the immensity of global conflict. But not even the passing years could tarnish the spirit and courage of the brave men who had rekindled American pride in a time of despair and humiliation."

From the dust jacket