450 Marines Vs The Imperial Japanese Navy - Wake Island
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 чер 2023
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Merch Store & ALL Other Links:
thefatelectrician.com/
Seriously EVERYTHING is on my website
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other channels:
COMING SOON
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MY PC SPONSOR:
Xidax PC's
www.xidax.com/?xdx=1157
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment used:
www.amazon.com/shop/thefatele...
I'm rather shocked to hear that the commander who was smart enough to think "don't shoot until they're within 4,000 yards" couldn't figure out he was playing a game of telephone by himself for 11 hours.
Wild shit happens in the heat of battle. Being told to jack off and die by the entire US Navy probably didn't help his mental state.
And wasn't even smart enough to talk to the Marines he ran into for a SITREP before panicking and ordering a surrender.
Chesty is not impressed! Win or at least die with dignity as a warrior. My father was a Marine. Marines fight, Marines retreat, but Marines don't surrender!
Always remember, you can raise any officer's IQ by ten points if you remove their gloves, twenty if you remove their shoes also. There is a reason the word officer begins with off.
@@nontoxicpnw4784 retreat...Hell.
We assault in an alternate direction.
I get asked alot to cover major battles. They are very hard to do because so much is going on all at once. This is my first attempt at one, please let me know if you want more like this or if I should just stick to my regular stuff.
Variety keeps your channel interesting
More of this please nic!!!!
Variety is spice of life I really do appreciate all you're content
Yes, keep going, and if I can make a suggestion, Battle off Samar, aka: Last Stand of the Tin Cans
Let's go the Big DAWG posted I look forward to your vids every week
My Grandfather served in Wake Island as a naval civilian contractor.
After Pearl Harbor occurred, he trained with Marines to load Machine guns and went on patrols during the battle.
Became a POW of Imperial Japan and he was sent to a prison camp in Shanghai, China.
Returned to US. October 1945 and became a U.S. Citizen as result of his service in Wake Island.
Ask Grandpa about Wake Island. He said, "I helped," And that was it.
If I ever had a bad day, I always remember, my Grandpa's experience put things in perspective.
Thanks Grandpa.
Thank you for helping grandpa he was one awesome man. God bless you and your family.
"I helped." This made me get teary eyed, I can't lie. Thank you to your grandpa so much for his service helping those Marines during wake island.
Thank you for your grandpas service. That generation is so humble and bottled up all their emotions. They are and were so incredibly brave and strong emotionally and physically. Thank you grandpa!
I bet he knew my friend Richard McKinney, who was from San Francisco and also a contractor. I'd love to know your thoughts on his experiences.
That's a real man, dad. Thanks for sharing this story. Very moving. 👍
"lack of instruction means default destruction" is a perfect quote
That needs to be a T-shirt
Japanese Imperial Navy: We have them surrounded!
Marines: They have us surrounded! Those poor bastards!
🤣
Being surrounded makes shooting at the enemy a lot easier.
Chesty Puller: they can't get away from us this time!
😂😂😂😂😂
My husband, and I were talking about, a situation,he was involved in where, his small unit ,
( One of 3 other small units) 4-6 guys each, ) had a ample supply of munitions, little food and water..and out numbered about , 3-1? Found themselves surrounded, by a target rich environment...it was all good he was able to tell me the story years later..
Things I’ve learned from TFE:
Don’t look at doc funny, if you shoot the officer you’ll find out it isn’t a war crime the first time, grunts and crafts are awesome, and hold your fire until you see the whites of their eyes is still a viable tactic.
Dang straight!!
You also forgot, "Throwing hands is always an option. Even when alone, outnumbered, and hung out to dry," then by god, its time to lose your crap like the third monkey on the ramp up to Noah's ark and brother its starting to rain.
@@Questknight12 my favorite lesson I learned about war is that Calvary will always have a place in the battlefield.
@@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus Cavalry, Calvary is a place.
@@Coffee_and_Games_Official I'd say grammah nazi, but that is an important distinction.
Fair enough.
>Be United States Marine.
>Instructions are cut off.
_Doom Music Starts._
iamthekidyouknowwhatimean run
marine: what are our restrictions?
radio: silence
marine: well, would you look at the time. It´s kill ´o´ clock
*doom music
One minor correction: the coastal artillery cannons were taken from the second USS Texas, the one that later did the gangster lean at Normandy and is currently in dry dock being repaired in Houston.
They were some of her secondary battery that were removed during a refit in the mid-1920s, when she was rebuilt to focus more on long-range gunnery and given torpedo blisters along her sides.
Your clarification is important and thank you for it. I was looking up original armament and got very confused. 👍
Texas is dry docked in Galveston not Houston
Thank you for that. I don't have the time to fact check. Lol ain't it weird how those torpedo blisters helped during wartime, but crippled her in peace time. I got to see her in drydock when she first got there. Pretty sure once she's out, she'd give the rest of this worlds Navy's a serious run.
You know your history, my boy 😎🤙
I have slept on that ship multiple times as a child and witnessed it being taken to Galveston for repairs. I'm not sure if it's ever going back to the San Jacinto monument or not
Japanese Navy: "We have destroyed their artillery we can advance!"
also Japanese Navy: "Why do I hear boss music?"
*Godzilla size health bar appears in the sky over Wake Island*
Imperial Japanese Fleet: 👁️👄👁️
Imperial troops get within 4,000 yards
Loading... shows up in the corner panel
Why did I read that in typical Japanese racist fashion, lmao
I heard a story once, from the 70's or early 80's. There was a barracks inspection at Quanttico, colonel with all attending lower officers and NCOs. An old man who was visiting the base happened in; he was wearing his ribbons. A Lance Corporal saw him, read the ribbons and immediately called out "Wake Island Marine on the Deck!". Everyone, including the officers, snapped to attention and saluted.
Thats awesome. Nothing but respect for those who served.
absolutely glorious. that gentleman had to have felt amazing to still be so respected and honored.
I enjoy your Vado but I do have 1 questions when you said japan finely lost 2 warship on the first day attack wake island. What about the midget submarine. That the escort destroyer the Ward Sunk at the mouth of Pearl Harbor and for 60th year no 1 believe the captain until scuba divers found the and saw the 3 in hold in the counter tower also that would make anther great story
Well that gave me chills…
Read the ribbons?
3:06 Putting a bayonet on a 5-Inch gun is the most Marine thing I have ever heard.
"Given a lack of instruction, resort to destruction" Might be one of the greatest quotes ever. Banger story time
I just want to give props to those 400 civies that had the balls to go down fighting instead of running off and hiding somewhere. We need more people like them in this world
Much like the Battle of Thermopylae, you had the 300 Spartans, but you also had the 700 Thespians.
Not all of them fought back. Many hid, not that I blame them.
Your on an island in the middle of enemy controlled water. A smaller island at that. Not many places to hide. Plus back then men were still men and many fought back when called upon
Many civilians were kept on the island and used as forced labor to build defenses for the japanese. A few hundred civilians were kept on the island, 45 died before the end of 1942, 265 were later sent to POW camps leaving 98 on the island. In 1943 97 were executed and buried in a mass grave, one man escaped but was found weeks later and executed.
The fight is coming there, and there aren't resources to get home. You can choose to assist in your own defense, or you can rely on the skill of fewer men, then the hospitality of your wardens.
Anyone that has ever met a Marine knows that a single squad of unsupervised Marines could conquer the planet in a month ( three weeks if there is alcohol involved ).
2 weeks if the enemy took out doc and the CO lol
@@robertburns5990 Yeah, if you take out the officers, all you've done is left the rest w/o supervision and it just got real...ugly, that is, for the world, cause you shot Doc. OORAHH
So 3 weeks?
Well said. Semper Fi! OooRAH!
"If" there's alcohol involved? Have you met Marines?
"What did you do with the rugs, dude?"
"They really tie the room together, man!"
Mau urinated on them, hence the expression "the China man pissed on my rug" made famous by the film The Big Lebowski directed by the Cohn Brothers. BTW China man is not the proper nomenclature
My late uncle was one of the marines on Wake. .30 cal machine gunner, Kuku point, on the Wilkes island section of Wake proper. He survived the torture, forced labor, and starvation in the Japanese POW camps. Had his appendix removed with a razor blade and was stitched up with whatever thread they could scrap together.
My wife's late uncle was a Marine on Wake and also had his appendix removed by a buddy. Cpl. Norman Laursen
@@wjphillip I highly recommend reading “Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity”
It’s a very detailed account of what these marines went through from the first shots fired to their liberation from captivity.
When the video started I wondered why they never taught us about this in school but when you mentioned the government abandoning soldiers it made a lot more sense
I'm somewhere between those 2 lol 😆 😂
It's really a no win situation though. Was it worth it to risk CVs (battleships are already out of the question lest they want to follow the fate of Repulse and Prince of Wales) which the navy doesn't have many to spare to relieve an island that is already surrounded by IJN?
@@alwayscurious3357 I would take the opportunity to send the submarines and hope they got lucky with those horrid torpedos or at least send an air wing. It sounded like Japan was angry. From what I have heard, an angry enemy is a stupid enemy and a stupid enemy makes mistakes.
The Japanese were quite formidable when it came to naval warfare during the early stages of world war 2. Sending ships for a relief effort would be near suicide
@@squiddymcsquid6371And also they tried sending Lexington and Saratoga IIRC to relieve Wake but given they'll be stacked against the Kido Butai is really risky.
20 years ago I had the pleasure of meeting one of those Marines in person. At 80-plus years of age, he remembered every detail of the fight and POW camp. The Alamo of the Pacifc.
You lucky soul. It's the first I'm hearing about it, 20 years ago I was 14 and still caring about highschool. On the off chance The Fat Electrician checks in on comments, (yeah, talking to you Nic, one electrician to another) I'd love to see a video on the rocket sled gforce testing that was led by a brilliant scientist and head guinea pig. Not so much military, but good for the human race as a whole. If you could just redo all of Simon whistler's history videos with an American dad twang, I would rewatch them all again. Lol
That would be amazing to hear
Tell us more
I'd been avoiding this one, due to the sad nature of the outcome, but you managed to tell it so well, and I was not aware that many made it through the war. Thank you.
Interesting side note. The last vessel to leave Wake island just prior to the Japanese attacks was a commercial tug boat named Arther Foss (of tug boat Annie fame). That boat continued on throughout the war and survives to this day as the flagship of Foss Maritime, she’s had her home port change from Tacoma to Seattle Washington since then.
Finally he made a video on wake island.
The greatest story of the marine corps in ww2.
Back in the day Wake Island was considered the Alamo of the Pacific.
And the unofficial beginning of the best "Reallocation Experts" in the world. The SeaBees
@@Saanonymous80 I was surprised he didn't mention them but like he said, there's a lot going on in these major battles.
@@ninjabearpress2574 it truly was , history does repeat itself
Reinforcements were quickly ruled out by American brass. The Marines were aware, they did what Marines do, their duty. 🌎🦅⚓
My great grandpa was one of those construction workers, he wound up in a Shanghai pow camp. It’s awesome hearing this cause he never talked much about it so no one really knew why he had been through.
MERICA
Did it take 12 people to carry his casket, cuase the sheer weight of his balls of steel?
My grandfather didn't have anything quite that intense, but he was part of the crew of a merchant marine ship docked at the Port of London on Sept 7, 1940... aka, ground zero for the first raids of The Blitz. Given there were over 1,600 casualties and 100,000 tons of cargo destroyed in a single day, I can only imagine the kind of nightmare he lived through... and, just like your great grandpa, he never said a word about it. I only realized what had happened years after he died while looking over some old records of his.
... and the sea bees were born. 🌊🐝💪I salute that man. 🫡
My grandfather was one of Marines that was at the battle of Wake Island. He was one of those POW's and was taken to Japan. My mother told me that he and other POW's saved some women, children, and elderly by jumping into the water during a air raid.
Be safe and be 😎
"Apparently the IJN Smellyou and Tasteyou were too busy" I died good shit man
My grandfather was a marine on Wake Island and got to spend the rest of the war as a guest of the Imperial Japanese. Thanks for covering this!
This will be coming out of left field. Have you ever been to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum? In the WW2 area there is a WildCat Fighter. During it's restoratiton a memorial to the pilots of Wake Island , the Memorial consisted of a Wildcat propeller and engine cowling, was taken down so it could be used to restore the fighter on display. The propeller and engine cover are the same that flew air cover for your Grandfather.
You should consider the story of Guy Gabaldon - a Marine, raised by a Japanese family in California, who during the Battle of Saipan, literally talked 800 Japanese soldiers to surrender to him. It's a fantastic story - one of many. He was awarded the Navy Cross for that.
The Pied Piper of Saipan!
Prejudice kept it from being the Medal of Honor
@@darrellfarley1869 Unfortunately I think you're right. His ties to the Japanese community in LA didn't help. In fact, he married a Japanese woman.
Wow awesome stuff, nice to hear stories like this were men don’t have to die for the ambitions of leaders, tho they were all probably for it in the moment, I hope they were able to live fulfilling lives after the war.
That sounds like a cool story.
My maternal grandfather was an army engineer who worked on wake island shortly after this happened.
He spoke to me about it once, and only once. He spoke about the dead japanese washing up on shore in waves and, as a young man, the story shook me to my core.
He also saw one of the atomic bombs from a carrier, and at an estimated distance of around 200 miles away, he said it looked like a second sun rising in the sky.
Stop lying
@@Cessna152ful please enlighten me as to how you're so sure I'm lying lol
@@BuckF0eJiden
1. It was years before the US occupied Wake Island. He covered that in the video. Perhaps your grandfather saw Japanese soldiers or sailors in the waves on some island, it was not Wake Island.
2. Look up Hiroshima and Nagasaki on google maps and draw a 200 mile ring around them. No aircraft carrier was within 200 miles of the home islands when we dropped the atomic bombs.
@@morefiction3264you do realize that after the war the US tested nukes in places like bikini atoll in 1946
My grandfather was a Navy man on Wake Island. He was granted the Purple Heart and was a POW. He never liked talking about that time. But! He came to my 4th grade class of delinquents and told his story of what happened, and we all listened like angels with wide eyes and ears. We all still talk and praise him till this day. He still had albums of photos and “relics” of Wake Island. I miss him dearly. One of the last times he ever got to tell his story in person and now he can live on, including the book that was written.
My Grandad served in WWI (yes, one) as a Medic & it's great to see those "tools" being used here. BTW, he survived & passed away when I was 2. I still have the love letters he sent to my Nana during the "Great War". Priceless.
My grandpa was in the U S Army Air Service in WWI (didn’t become the Air Corps until 1926) I have a piece of Trench Art he made, a jewelry box from a section of a damaged aéroplane (as he had written)!
@@darrellfarley1869 That's AWESOME! You're so blessed to have family that kept such treasures. Mine, too. Worth more than all the gold in the world.
Thank You SO much for sharing!
Same here, one of my Grandads was in the Navy during WW1, (the other a merchant marine in WW2 - probably why I joined the sea going bellhops too). I've got some photos of him on liberty in Paris immediately after the war... doing what sailors do.... and I swear, NONE of us have changed a bit. lol
@@leftistsarenotpeople 😂🤣my grandpa was a Sgt, when the war ended he an 3 buddies were supposed to get leave in Paris before going back to the states. Nooooo, General Pershing decided to send all the Air Service people home first because they weren’t going to be on occupation duty. So none of them were going to make the Army a career so they went AWOL, went to Paris and lived it up for 28 days then surrendered to the first Officer they saw so they wouldn’t be Deserters!!! (It was an officer they had been out drinking and chasing skirts with) so he spoke on their behalf at their Courts Martial! They all got Honorable Discharges just reduced to Privates First Class! Grandma still got his pension check till she died in 1989.
@@darrellfarley1869 LMAO.... US servicemen will be US servicemen from now till eternity I reckon. LOL
This is a prime example why you never assume the worst.
Had that Major not assumed defeat and forced everyone he found to surrender, that island could have very well remained in American hands.
If I’m honest probably not. Especially with no reinforcements or resupply from the navy. But if he had any idea what the hell the Japanese did to people who surrendered, or to people in general, at the time he should’ve/probably would’ve told them to die standing.
No aspersions toward the Fat Electrician, but what he didn't mention was that when the Japanese realized they were going to lose the war, the garrison commander at Wake ordered 98 civilian contractor POWs be massacred. One man escaped to memorialize the war crime on a nearby coral rock before he was eventually captured and killed.
also he comes across as incompetant for asking for a status report
Actually it was the Navy Commander who was in charge of the island not Major Deverux who ordered the surrender
I spent over a decade in Marine Corps Aviation and Wake Island was something of an unofficial required study. I was always amazed at the similarities between the surrender of Wake Is and the surrender of Corregidor Is.
I read a book detailing Wake when I was a kid in the early ‘60’s. The author’s version was mostly fabricated. The Marines were most certainly doomed. The top brass weren’t about to sent a ship or group to save them.
The fleet had been decimated. Carriers were so very precious at that point. Poor communications via hardwired handsets ruled the day. A reorganized defense would certainly have cost the enemy countless lives. The Japanese pride would have them take the island at all costs even if just starving them out was a viable option. That being said the Japanese lost from a morale standpoint. It really pissed America off. That’s a bad idea then as it is today. It’s 2023 and since we’re not fighting somebody we’re going after each other. A shooting war always brings us together. Americans love fucking shit up.
I grew up down the street from a survivor of the Bataan Death March.
He was always irked that in 1980,Congress voted to give the Corregidor survivors the same award as the guys who'd been on Bataan.
He always said that "A little walking never killed nobody.In my experience,it was always the Ja(anese) bayonets & bullets...."
It proved that POGs we definitely are but backed into a corner we can throw down with the best of em same lesson with Leatherneck
At the time,carriers were still auxiliary battle units,not front line weapons systems.
Taking out the battleships forced the Navy into accepting new tactics.
Admiral Halsey was transporting additional aircraft to Wake Island when the orders to turn around were received.
He had to leave the bridge of USS Enterprise to avoid hearing seditious talk among the officers who didn't want to leave the Marines out to dry. & go into the combat zone regardless. @@Kuhladestkyicky
@@doughesson When I was attending Eastern Montana College in the early 1980s we had an art professor named Benjamin Steele. He was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. During his years ina Japanese internment camp, he taught himself to draw to pass the time. The gymnasium at the college, not MSU-Billings is assigned with a huge mural he created of the Bataan march. I was pregnant when I went to work for the art department, and I named by son after him. He was a believer figure, who died about 5 years ago, but his memory will live on.
The civilian workers were employed by the Morrison-Knudsen Construction company out of Boise, Idaho. And 98 civilians were left on the island to work on fortifications for the Japanese. And on 5 October 1943 they were marched to the beach where all 98 were beheaded and their bodies put in a mass grave.
I know there’s a lot to cover with Wake Island but I’d like to mention Captain Henry T. Elrod “Hammerin Hank”. His plane was shot down but he survived and after crash landing he lead a group of marines on the ground during an attack. Unfortunately he died during that attack. He’s the first Marine Corps Aviator to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in the air and on the ground.
No, people like him or so eager to get a damn like, or to feel smart that they just spout off useless information. Crazy i just wqtched a video about some of the greatest men to grace this earth. Then this pathetic specimen comes rolling along.
@@eleventhknight9744irrelevant
He added to the information imparted by the video. Chill out.
@@45CaliberCure he provided cool info, you need to take your chill pill
Rest in peace Hammerin Hank A real American hero and Legend God bless
Since the number of living WWII veterans is dwindling quickly stories like this will keep their heroism alive. Looking forward to more like this.
The last Pearl Harbor survivor passed away a few days ago at the age of 103 . My grandpa is 91 years old and served in the Korean War .
This is why I wish vets like my great grandpa would have talked about their experiences.
Me too, Vets are the best ❤
@@ulfrick11 problem is, sometimes those experiences are too traumatic to re-experience in the telling. They just want them to be forgotten.
@@jakkll right. Most war stories aren't good. War isn't exactly fun
“If 450 of those marines and civilians can do that, imagine what we’ll be able to do when we’re ready.” And that, ladies and gentlemen in my opinion, was the final spark that lit the flame of this nation. Political lines be damned, divisions broken, and a surge of unity and iron willed resolve. Americans of all strips and colors and stars took up any means and ways they could to provide and ensure they and their boys and girls overseas would ALWAYS be ready.
Your longer format is rad! As a historian and WW2 researcher, you earn an A+ for accuracy of information. And boots points for spreading knowledge in an interesting and entertaining fashion that doesn't end up with agro political battles in the comments lol. Plus, the level of respect is classy AF.
"...given a lack of instruction, Marines resort to de-struction..." True story. Great job covering this historic battle!
They're called Teufelshunde for a reason
God bless the USMC
I had to pause for laughter when you mentioned fixing bayonets to artillery pieces.
My brother's a Marine so I one hundred percent, iron-clad guarantee his response would be, "Wait, we can do that?"
😂
Grunts and crafts, grunts and crafts.
Just give it a moment. Some dumbass artilleryman will figure that shit out.
When Chesty Puller was given a demonstration of the flame thrower at Camp Lejeune he remarked "where's the bayonet attach" . God bless Chesty!
Just discovered your channel and loving your content. As a retired Marine MSgt it is heartwarming to hear you describe the exploits of my brothers. Marines are taught a lot of history in order to instill Esprit de Corps but most of the stories are pretty basic. I had never heard the details of Wake and always believed we lost due to overwhelming forces and lack of supplies. Thank you for the details and the succinct and humorous presentation. In the process of catching up on all your content. Keep it coming please!
This was special to me because my father was one of the Marines stationed on Wake. At the time, it onlynhad half of the unit there and the other half was still at Pearl Harbor awaiting transport to Wake. The unit was the 1st Defense Battalion, which was a reinforced battalion.
After the surrender, he and about a company's worth of men were held in a POW camp on mainland China. They were there until about 1-1.5 years before the end of the war when they were shipped to Japan for use as slave labor.
My father was finally repatriated back to the States in 1946 and was kept at Golden Gate Naval Hospital for a year. After that year when he was discharged from the hospital, he was discharged from the Marines. After Korea happened, he reenlisted but, because of his POW status, was kept stateside.
Get this man a teaching position somewhere where his pearls of history and wisdom will be appreciated.
But that would limit his audience. I'm torn here. Fat Electrician would make a legendary history teacher, but only so many students can fit in once class.
I still remember some high school history lectures. His coverage of the revolutionary was amazing.
@@aparanoidbw No he is fine where he is. His level of knowledge would require collage professor. And we all know not one collage is likely to hire someone that actually understands history and is willing to teach it.
The Battle of Sunda Strait is a pretty hallowing tale. The USS Houston (a heavy cruiser, already damaged from previous engagements, having one of her main battery turrets knocked out), the HMAS Perth (a light cruiser), and a Dutch destroyer attempted to escape the falling Dutch East Indies through the Sunda Strait. They ran into a Japanese invasion force, consisting of 1 light carrier, 1 seaplane carrier, 5 cruisers, 12 destroyers, 1 minelayer, and 58 troopships. The result was all Allied vessels being sunk, with the Japanese machine-gunning survivors in the water, before taking 675 POWs (of which around half would make it home); the Japanese suffered 4 troopships sunk or grounded, 1 cruiser damaged, 3 destroyers damaged, and the minelayer being sunk by friendly fire. Some reports state that the Houston emptied all of her magazines for all her ammo, from her main guns to her secondaries to her AA to her saluting guns. Numerous reports state her crew carried 8" ammo from the rear magazine of the broken turret and took it to the forward magazines for use. When the city of Houston found out about the disappearance and presumed sinking of the Houston, it held an enlistment initiative, in which 1,000 people enlisted into the Navy on the first day
A striking tale. Of determination, resilience, dedication to achieving the objective, and just outright badassery
@Agent Washington indeed. During the Memorial Day speech that coincided with the Houston volunteers, FDR said: "Our enemies have given us the chance to prove that there will be another USS Houston, and yet another USS Houston if that becomes necessary, and still another USS Houston as long as American ideals are in jeopardy. Our enemies have given us the chance to prove that an attack on peace-loving but proud Americans is the very gravest of all mistakes."
Fun fact: FDR personally knew the crew of the Houston and it was supposedly his favorite ship in the USN
My father was one of those "Construction Workers" also known as Sea Bees. The Sea Bees would eventually morph into frogmen. They were fierce fighters - seemingly unstoppable.
No he wasn’t
@@Cessna152ful eksqueeze me?
My Nephew is becoming a Sea Bee right now.
@@hoag2531 those guys are basically SEALS who can read a speed square 😆
Seabees have always been seabees Frogman morphed into Seals
I flew into Wake in 1986 as a young Marine. There was still guns and plenty of rusty mementos remaining 41+ years before. I knew the history of course but was a bit of a bucket ass that didn’t take in more of the island while I was there. I still feel lucky to have been able to visit that historic site. Semper Fi……. RIP Maj. Devereaux, Marines under his charge, and the civilians who were so brave and proud to the end.
A good friend’s father was a civilian contractor on wake. He spent several years in a POW camp after being captured. These Marines and contractors were next level tough.
my great uncle was also a civilian contractor on wake. He sadly died there
He was a hero. He would have had some amazing stories.
Built Ford tough
I really wished I had gotten to know him@@npc2153
I get more out of your 16 minutes videos than I do from a 2 hour history channel documentary. Lol I love the light comedic aspect you add while still remaining factual.
Keep it up! Love your stuff!
Not to mention respectful.
I work as a contractor with Marines and they are legit a different breed.
Have you ever stumbled upon a UA-cam channel and immediately said to yourself, "welp, I know how I'll be spending the next however long it takes to watch every single video on this channel"? That's me the last 2 hours.
Welcome lol and yes i have
@@the_fat_electrician 3 days later and I've watched every video at least once. Now I'm on round two. Absolutely love your content and your respect for our incredible armed forces. Thank you so much for the work you, and thank you for your service!
Same here
The naval infantry that attacked Wake Island is a but more complicated than a Japanese version of our Marine Corps. They were actually Army infantry, but the Navy's Army. The Japanese military made had an incredible level of distrust between the Imperial Army and Navy. They didn't trust each other to the point that the navy had infantry regiments and the army had ships. And everybody had airplanes, which absolutely didn't coordinate.
As Drach put it; when some japanese destroyers were defending army landing barges against an american ship attack, some japanese torpedoes missed their targets and struck the army barges. They probably counted those as enemy kills.
Jesus fuck no wonder they lost
Albeit the "most spectacular team kill of the war", as drach puts it. Yikes
Thanks the stars they were infighting as much as they were! Had they not been trying to outdo each other, they may have been able to win more battles and negotiate an end to the war! Keeping what they’d conquered and changing the whole world dynamic!
Didn’t know that, thank you for the share of knowledge!
If you want another battle, the Battle of Samar would be absolutely brilliant in your style.
A battle of samar would be nuts!!! I mean shit, the overwhelming force the Japanese had, and the destroyers that fought like battleships.
Drachinifel's version was great with his dry English humour, but I think it needs some True TFE diction.
@@AnitreaSadi and the destroyers view those as “Even odds”
Those destroyers yelled "Leroy Jenkins" and charged japanese battleships. The US destroyers also embodied I didn't hear no bell, kept fighting after being hit.
The Battle Off* Samar is the Taffey 3 engagement.
My grandfather was a Seebee on these islands at this time.. God i wish he was here today to tell me stories
I was an 0811 (Marine Artillery) and that initial contact is every artilleryman’s wet dream. That is a close and direct fire mission. Direct fire is being able to see and aim at what you are trying to hit. These Marines lived the dream and fucking won
I did the math, and if you count the 400 civilians and 70 navy coremen, then the battle was fairly even (troop numbers wise) because that adds up to 920 vs. the 900 Japanese soldiers. With this in mind, doing the math means that for the US rag-tag team, they managed a 1-7.5 ratio of men lossed to men that survived. Meanwhile the japanese managed a 2-3 ratio of men lossed to men that survived. To put this in an easier to relate numbers perspective, the US lost 3 out of every 22.5 people while the Japanese lost 15 out of every 22.5 people! Massive respect to these men who knew they were in an uphill battle like no other yet fought on and made the enemy hurt far worse than anyone could have ever imagined!
Not to mention that only about 400 of them were fighting the 900 soldiers and the rest were on artillery duty fighting the vast number of ships! Hardcore soldiers right there. They should be honored and remembered by all!
Even the common defender's advantage doesn't bridge that gap. When assaulting a position with infantry, you should expect to take ~3x the casualties you inflict. The Japanese took ~5x the casualties they inflicted, against a force that was almost half militia.
Frankly, the Marines & militia delivered *far* more than any commander could ever reasonably ask or expect of their men.
You need to cover the story of USS Marblehead. A ww1 era crusier that was supposedly sunk by the Japanese 4 times but manged to went from the asian pacific, to the Indian ocean, to the ports of Africa, through the wolf packs of German subs in the Atlantic, back to the port in New York while being on the verge of sinking.
"Who are you?"
"USS Marblehead"
".... are you *sure*?"
I swear the IJN couldn't keep track of what ships they actually sunk since this is the second ship USN i've heard of being misreported as sunk multiple times.
@@oddball9053 US Navy damage control is freaking nuts, in a good way. And nothing really drives that point home more than the fact that this is like the 3rd time I can think of something like this happened, USS Yorktown and USS New Orleans being the other 2 though New Orleans was likely only reported as "sunk" one time if at all.
@@kmodo93 Let's not forget the Grey Ghost herself, USS Enterprise, who was declared sunk 3 times
Filled with the spirit of the polish navy, it sounds like.
I love your presentations on Dan Daly, Nasty McNeice, and Wake Island. Would you please do one for Army General Patton and Marine Corps General Puller.
My grandfather, who had moved to America from china in hopes of finding gold, ended up on wake island as a cook with the navy. After the first attack, he was given a gun and told to shoot anything that comes on the beach. The irony is that he ended up a POW in a Japanese prison camp in China.
I just want to make sure you are aware that you've singlehandedly kept recruitment numbers from reaching zero across all of the branches. And he managed to do it in such a funny and entertaining way while still honoring and holding those that have served in reverence. Just want to say thank you for your service sincerely from all of us proud red-blooded Americans!
Also the part about those Marines about to put bayonets on the end of that Cannon was an epic line. LOL
I was a member of VMA-211 "Wake Island Avengers". I had the pleasure of stopping at Wake Island on my way back from a deployment to Japan. We got to meet several surviving members from the original 211 group back when they were called the Wake Island Defenders. It was amazing to a part of the same unit that served during that fight!
Rah from 542
@@HolyClownFuckarus
513
Thank you!
Wake Island is a beautiful place with a brutal history. I've been there twice while in the USMC in the 80's.
I'm going to be honest. Your story telling has really grown on me. As a Marine, hearing all the history I learnd in Boot Camp retold with a respectful amount of Smartassery is delightful. IDK if this is wierd but sex and violence occupy the same part of the brain. Your sellin Corp Porn.😅
Every time I listen to you, I get a pride I can't describe. . .
Other than that I'm blessed to be an American. Thank you for this lesson.
Same
Absolutely same.
I got emotional watching this one.
Dude I get that too and I'm not even american 😂
Anytime you hear the Marines you know its gonna be good
Not if you're for the other side, then it's "who did I piss off?" running through their mind for probably a really short time. Lol
I wonder why those construction workers were never named honorary marines since they were trained by marines and fought next to marines.
@9:23 "given a lack of instruction, they will resort to destruction". Poetry
As a Marine, I always loved learning about the history of our brothers and sisters. It really made you proud of the Title and honor you carry when you earn that EGA. These men were next level. Super proud to be able to share the title with such superior men of honor.
He could do a series on that covering ya'lls song. Shores of tripoli, halls of Montezuma, etc.
@@rodgerscott8808 rich history. Those are all the battles we fought.
Semper Fi brother
@@alexslocomb342 Semper Fi
There were no “sisters” at Wake Island.
hey in all seriousness thank you for telling this story. My great grandfather was actually a private contractor on Wake. Essentially what happened was what I've been told. But the complement of Marines ready to fight any person that was still a private contractor was given a gun instead. Hear your marine. Good luck. Thanks for shedding some light on just what he had to go through on wake. And as the story he says electrian goes became a first generation POW of WW2, still damn proud of it and to stuborn to die he live to 96 and i had the honor of knowing him and have is name as my middle name.
The documentary on (I think from history channel) wake island I watch every few years never gets old. It’s gold seeing those vets return to the area and talk about the experience
I absolutely love how you tell stories. I can't go a single second without not paying attention and going "wait what!?" either by what happened in the story or some joke you said
"Given a lack of instruction, they will resort to destruction". Epic. Love these new vids with a more detailed slice of events because you not only cover the equipment used but the men using said equipment. Surely he kept the rugs, I'd like to think they are in a family members home to this day.
I get that this is a huge time investment for you. I'm 64 . I have read about this and seen documentaries over 1/2 century. The way you told their battle in just 26 min., you told it the way I would have wanted my story told if I had been there. Thank you for your effort. Now, more please.
I was assigned to VMA-211 in 1980 at MCAS El Toro Ca. We were called the Wake Island Avengers. Great people....Great squadron. Semper Fi.
You are one if not the best storytellers I have heard. Quickly going through your catalog. Really enjoyable. USA USA
My boyfriend and I recently started watching your videos and while watching this one the story of the escaped Wake Island American in China started to sound really familiar… and then you showed the photo of the solider standing next to Mao and confirmed my suspicion that hey! that’s my great grandpa! I love the mention and coincidence of me seeing your video. Before passing away, he wrote a book about his experience called Rescued by Mao by William “Bill” Taylor. I really don’t know what he did with those Chinese rugs so I’ll have to ask my great grandma… If I find out I’ll be sure to comment again but I love the content, keep up the amazing work!
so how are the rugs?
Rug update please!😂
I want to know too
Also wanting an update on the rugs
Rigs?
I can't think of a better example for the phrase "don't start what you can't finish" than Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
I join the marines and was assigned to the wake island avengers and build the squadron when they changed over from av8 to F35s, the squadron has a ton of memorabilia from wake island as well as the gau gun from one of the av8 that was destroyed during the bastion attack. VMFA-211 basically has been destroyed completely twice in history. But we where the first us based F35B to drop bombs and do gun runs in combat. Plus the squadron was always rebuild and brought back to life.
I had the opportunity to stop at Wake Island for refueling on a deployment to the Philippines and it's hard to imagine how small it is until you've seen it. I can't imagine it being your last stand.
I like the longer form videos because it slows down your cadence without removing any of the information or sidesplitting humor. This story was told with a special degree of reverence, though. More, please.
First thing i see in the title: marines
Next thing i think: this isnt gonna end well. For anyone
Well done ! You are one of the very few people who understand the history of this battle correctly. The Marines were not expecting to surrender and went into battle knowing that they’d likely die fighting, and so they fought so aggressively and bravely. In the final battle, the Marines actually wiped out all of the Japanese soldiers on Wilkes Island and were assembling to mount a counter attack on Wake, when Major Deveraux approached and told them to surrender. This battle deserves a historically accurate movie. I hope someone makes it.
I love this segment. Thank you. My grandfather was one of those Marines that defended Wake Island. He was just 19 years old. He did not talk much about his time as a POW. He passed in 1968; just before I was born.
We Marines love our history. Thank you for doing an outstanding job on this video. Keeping our four father's story alive.
Ah, yes, my favorite discount history teacher. Named your child after a Kentucky legend, and bring us the greatest historic military badassery that even they don't own up to or tell us about.
You're a gift to the American people. One day I will buy all of your merchandise. One day.
Awesome channel, former marine here 6112/ 6172 started as mechanic on ch46 got my A.O. wings worked in phase crew, completely learned every bolt and torque specs of this aircraft, after different levels of phase we had to track blades and balance them also torque shaft and engine testing took place worked with one of our sergeants he was a crew chief he taught me everything he knew so i put in to go to S.E.R.E. school and since i had more training than normal crew chiefs
I really want to thank you and your way of telling the story.. Major D. had my dad on a cushman m/c carry his orders until he got blown off twice and couldn't get back to him, so he didn't carry the surrender order. this order was given by Commander Cuntingham USN that had top command on Wake..being a POW for 3yrs.11mos. was beyond your worst nightmare. he told me my first story when I was 12, he passed the next year.
Dude these longer videos are awesome. You’re reverence, respect and sense of humor for these stories are amazing. Keep up the awesome work homie
I prefer the longer videos as well
I second this. Got my sub on the first video of his I watched
@@dirtybones6Same. Was the 30+ minute about McNasty.
Well said.😊
Ditto
As a Marine, I love these videos. Anytime you do one about Marines, I know I’m going to love it. Semper Fidelis
HOORAH!!!👍
its bred in, we arent trained to care.
Ooh Rah brother
Happy for you Marine. Shamefully the government rewarded Devereux after the war. He should have received a bad conduct discharge and brought up on murder charges
Sadly, I’ve never experienced that brotherhood, but my son is currently serving in The Corps on Okinawa. I have great respect, admiration, and appreciation for all who serve honorably in every branch of our military, but have always had a special respect for the Marines (perhaps because my fav uncle was in the Corps in Vietnam), I too love the vids detailing their exploits.
Fun Fact. Hammering Hank or Henry Elrod was a very distant grandfather of mine. My name's J. Elrod so it's nice to see someone actually pointing out how badass Henry Elrod was.
I don't know why but I find his reading of events more satisfying than actual war documentaries
for a first attempt at covering a major battle, you did a commendable job! I never knew that much about Wake Island, despite being a fan of WW History and being the daughter of a Navy fanboy, couldnt join when he was a kid due to medical reasons, and I felt I learned a great deal. I never would have thought such a trouncing would ever occur outside of the early ages of firearms. I'm rambling , too long; didnt read, you did a hell of a job!
I agree you asked the most important question, "What did the marine do with the rugs?" Loved the break down of the battle, and I can't wait to see your take on other battles!
And what happened to the marine?
Got stuck there twice for a total of 2 months, cool historical island, good to visit for a 2 days or so
I like the way The Fat Electrician does history. On my way in an Air American DC8 to L.b.J. 's war the plane stopped to refuel at Wake. Their was still a damaged tank on the beach.
You are telling me more about military history and technology than the history books in high school AND my university. I never knew that George Bush flew a bombing run over Japanese-occupied Wake Island, nor did I know that the one marine escapee was given rugs from Mao Zedong.
In conclusion, thank you for everything you are doing!
Bush also flew a bombing run over Chi Chi Jima when his plane was shot down. He barely managed to be rescued from the ocean but the other pilots that got shot down over the island had to deal with true war crimes. From the Japanese soldiers tying them to poles and practicing bayoneting them, cannibalizing americans soldiers , and other horrid things.
There was a video about it somewhere on youtube that was pretty brutal but a good watch
Be a touch careful about considering this verbatim history ... main beats maybe......hilarious entertainment definitely, but completely accurate history ? maybe not
@@markhowells13 are you just going to random comments to act like a dick?
Its so interesting to hear the story of Wake Island. Im in naval aviation and we use Wake Island as a fuel stop getting across the ocean because our plane (C130T) is big and slow. Believe it or not Wake is one of my most favorite locations on Earth. Very small island, obviously no cell service and they'll open the bar for you if they have stock. Also, you can see the whole *ucking galaxy at night with maybe 10 lights on the island being your only light pollution (so basically zero). Its so quiet and peaceful to see that and hear gentle waves. Wake Island is my happy place. 👍🏼
@coo 1 beens776 very cool comment thanks
I ruined your 69 likes, I apologize however the part of your comment about seeing the whole Milky Way reminded me of one of my favorite memories from Afghanistan and that was the absolute ocean of stars above our heads being "ruined" by light pollution.
Yep West-Pacs from the East coast to Iwakuni in a 130 leading or chasing jets.
Stops were LA (Miramar)
Hawaii (K-Bay)
Wake, then Iwakuni
Wake is a BEAUTIFUL PLACE clearest water you’ll see sans a melting glacier, pill boxes are still around the island
We had a cookout at the lagoon while we were there
Wake island is gorgeous. Was there coming home in 2006. I’ve got my battle of wake island book signed from the ATC controller
@@ryder9hahaha. Yep!! Wake. Hawaii. San Diego. Beaufort.
A direct quote from the Marine that met Mao Zedong, "He congratulated me on surviving and making it through China, and gave me two woven carpets that I took home," Taylor recalled.
(The 20-inch-by-14-inch carpets, with green, brown, pink and black checkered patterns and borders, hang today at the end of a long hall in Taylor's home. They are in a glass case.)
Brother I am a Veteran too. Man I enjoy your Military History lessons. Keep up the good work and I share them too.
I landed on Wake Island to refuel a Hawker 800 in 2012 on my way from Honolulu to Guam. I knew a good bit about it then and the awe and reverence I felt for those marines and civil engineers was overwhelming. This is one of the best examples of how poor communication and intel directly affects the outcome of an event. Should have been a victorious repulsion.
I don't care what anyone says. Your story telling is great. And wont put folks to sleep like other short content creators out there. Keep up the great work. Gonna have to send you a tip for this one!
Other creator just tell a story, he instead does what anyone should do and that is honor the life's that was lost and regard them as heroes
Funny you mentioned that bit about Marines fitting a bayonet to the arty piece if they could.
When shown a new flamethrower on Guadalcanal, Chesty Puller remarked, "Where the hell do you put the bayonet?".
Marines are _different_ .
8:00 and a partridge in a pear tree?