THE LAST BILLY YANK - A Story of Community and Reconciliation

By Mark Hubbs, Camp #53 Huntsville

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

SERVICE IN THE CIVIL WAR

Samuel Sweinhart was just two months past his seventeenth birthday when he answered his country’s call.  Seventeen is young, but Sam had already been on his own for a over a year after his mother died and his father abandoned his family.  He made his way from his home town in Ohio to Elkhart Indiana where he found work as a carpenter.  

Just a few weeks after the disastrous Union defeat at Bull Run in July 1861, Samuel signed his name on his enlistment papers making him a new private in Company C of the 9th Indiana Infantry.  He could not know that his new unit would become one of the most traveled and combat hardened regiments in the western theater of the Civil War.

Samuel’s service records show that he was 5 ft 10in tall with brown hair and black eyes.  He appears as “present” in every muster roll of his company with no time away on detail or in the hospital. He avoided the camp sicknesses that debilitated or killed so many other soldiers during the Civil War. 

He would have participated with the regiment at each of its battles, including the blood lettings at Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Kennesaw Mountain and the Atlanta Campaign.

The 9th Indiana Infantry reenlisted in mass at Whiteside Tennessee in December 1863 becoming a “Veteran Volunteer” regiment.  Samuel was promoted to corporal soon after “for his bravery and efficiency as a good soldier.”  The 9th Indiana was stationed in Huntsville from December 1864 until March of 1865.  This is when Sam first became acquainted with Huntsville and North Alabama. Many occupying soldiers during the War commented on the beauty and fertility of the land and tidiness of the city.  Samuel Sweinhart would have been no different. 

                                     Brady's photo of Co C, 9th Indiana taken at Whiteside Tennessee

The 9th’s service did not end with surrender of the Confederate armies in April 1865.  That regiment, along with scores of others, were sent to New Orleans and then to Texas as a show of force.  French forces, then occupying Mexico, threatened invasion over the Rio Grande River.  The invasion never came.  The 9th Indiana and most of the other War time volunteer regiments in Texas were mustered out in September 1865.

Sam had survived eight major battles and countless skirmishes and had never fallen ill enough to take him from his duties.  He states in his pension application “Have never been in a hospital during 4 years and 2 months of my service and but once excused from duty on account of sickness when wounded.”  Wounded?  Along the Guadalupe River, near Victoria Texas, a Yankee bullet almost did what Rebel bullets could not. 

“…While I was going for water for coffee, a comrade who was crossing the river, who was about being drowned, called me to assist him, the bank being steep where he was, I caught the muzzle of his gun and on his taking a step the hammer of his gun must have struck a rock or the bank so as to discharge his gun, the bullet entering my left hand between the thumb and fore finger and passing out at the wrist.”

The projectile could have just as easily passed through his chest or head.  His wound festered off and on before healing, “small pieces of bone came out near where the ball had made its exit.”

Sam would never regain full use of his left hand.  As he aged, the hand became increasingly stiff and non functional.  A one handed carpenter cannot prosper. 

RETURN TO HUNTSVILLE

Samuel returned to Indiana with his regiment in September 1865 and remained in the same community as his comrades.  He married Alida Pratt in 1867.  But opportunities must not have been rosy in post-War La Porte Indiana.  Sweinhart and two of his fellow veterans moved to Huntsville, where they had been stationed in the closing months of the War.  

James Speakman in his affidavit for Samuel’s pension application wrote: “. . . we all moved to Huntsville, Ala. (Spearman in Oct 1869, Swinehart in March 1870, and Martin in May 1870) where we have been neighbors ever since.”  Andrew Martin, had been Sweinhart’s Company Commander during the War.  All three settled in and began to raise families, putting deep roots in the Huntsville community. 

Although his friend James Speakman was a carpenter, it seems that Sweinhart never returned to that trade.  He first tried his hand at the grocery business, but eventually secured a job as a letter carrier with the US Postal Service. He was able to purchase a home on Walker Street, near Five Points, to make room for a growing family - Durwood, born in 1870 and Mae in 1873.

Sam’s job as a letter carried undoubtedly brought him in contact with many folks in the community, both native Huntsvillians and others who moved into the city after the War. He and his other Union veterans joined Camp #53 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) a large veteran’s organization that had chapters in every state of the Union.

FORMER ENEMIES BECOME COMRADES

Samuel seems to have been well respected in the community.  Some of his friends were the most unlikely.  The GAR camp in Huntsville was never a very large one, but another veteran’s organization, the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), obviously enjoyed excellent membership in Alabama and all the other former Confederate States.  The Egbert C. Jones Camp of the UCV in Huntsville was no exception. 

Despite being bitter enemies decades before, the common experiences of hardships and dangers of a soldier often brought these organizations together for both ceremonial and social gatherings.

In 1892 Sam traveled to Indiana for a reunion of his old regiment. His remarks during the reunion were recorded in a souvenir booklet.

“For over 30 years I have lived among the “Johnnies;” the captive of a woman of the Southland.  The people of my section have always treated me well and among my very best friends are men who carried a musket in the Confederate army.  Many of you no doubt remember Huntsville and Northern Alabama very well.  We have a beautiful country in the Tennessee Valley and some of you boys used to think we had some beautiful women. And you were right, we have!

. . . the boys in gray are now my best friends and they told me to tell you, old Yanks, to come and see them and you would be received with open arms, as comrades. I can assure you that the old fighting men of the South have solid respect for the fighting men of the North.”

As the years passed, there were fewer and fewer old soldiers remaining.  James Speakman died in 1895 and is buried in Ohio.  Andrew Martin passed in 1903 and is resting in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville. 

Eventually Sam Sweinhart was the last Billy Yank in Huntsville, and the Grand Army of the Republic ceased to exist in Madison county. 

But Sam was not alone among Civil War veterans. His “Johnny” friends soon adopted him.  He was invited to become an honorary member of the Egbert C Jones camp of the United Confederate Veterans in Huntsville.  He attended all of their meetings. That organization too, continued to shrink as its aging members passed on.

His obituary in the Huntsville Times explained: 

“Sweinhart was the only man in this section of the country who had the distinction of belonging to the United Confederate Veterans and the Grand Army of the Republic at the same time. He is one of the few veterans of the Civil War who have achieved close comradeship with soldiers of both sides without ever being censored by the other.”

In February 1928, Samuel Sweinhart posed as part of the last known group photo of the Jones UCV camp. (Seated, second from Left) 

The association with the UCV continued until 1929, even as Sam’s and Alida’s health continued to decline.  The flu was always a danger, especially for older folks.  Sam and Alida both contracted “flu-pneumonia” in early January 1929.  At the age of 84 Sam died and his spirit ‘Passed over the river to rest in the shade of the trees.”  His beloved “woman of the Southland” Alida, died less than 48 hours later. 

January 13, 1929 saw a rare double funeral at Maple Hill cemetery. Sam and Alida were laid to rest on that day. But unless you knew the people there, you would not have known the most remarkable aspect of this ceremony.

The surviving members of the Huntsville UCV served as pallbearers for this old “Billy Yank” and his wife.  Sam’s “Johnny” friends paid one last tribute to their old soldier friend.

Grave stone of Alida and Samuel Sweinhart at Maple Hill Cemetery

The Huntsville Times reported:

“In his passing Madison County has lost its last surviving veteran of the Federal Army and one of its oldest and highly respected citizens. - a man who fought the South in those historic days of ’64 but who had come to love and revere this section during the past 58 years so that he had often wished he had been born beneath the Dixie skies.”

Author’s Note - The Huntsville times was incorrect in naming Sweinhart the last Union Veteran of Madison county.  At least one other man holds that distinction.  He was, however, that last Grand Army of the Republic member in Madison County.  

The legacy of GAR and Billy Yank and the UCV and Johnny Reb are still carried on to this day in Huntsville by Camp #53 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and by the Egbert C Jones Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Sources:

Civil War Pension Applications of Samuel Sweinhart. National Archives, Washington DC. 1867, 1912. 

Comments by Samuel Sweinhart, Reunion Book of the Ninth Annual Reunion of the 9th Indiana Infantry, Rensselaer, Indiana. Aug 30-31 1895. Pages 13 and 22. 

Another Old Ex-Soldier Passes On To Join His Comrades Across the River. Huntsville Times, Huntsville AL, January 11, 1929. 

Confederate Veterans to Carry Union Hero and His Wife To Grave. Huntsville Times, Huntsville AL, January 12, 1929.

Soldiers’ Home Notes (Announcement of death of James Speakman). Dayton Herald, Dayton OH. September 28, 1895

16 Days To Die – Three Sailors trapped in the USS West Virginia

USS Arizona is the best known of the battleships sunk during the Pearl Harbor attack.  And rightly so because of the massive loss of life on that famous ship.  The USS Utah also still lay on the bottom of Pearl Harbor, its rusted hull is still visible on the south shore of Ford Island.  Less is written about the USS Oklahoma and the USS West Virginia.  Both were raised and repaired and saw service later in the war.  This story is about the West Virginia and the men who survived the attack but were trapped below decks.


Re-blogged from War History Online.  https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/pearl-harbor-16-days-to-die.html

The USS West Virginia as she appeared in 1934.
She still had this basic configuration during the attack on Pearl Harbor

In the aftermath of the attacks on Pearl Harbour during World War Two stories emerged of sailors who were trapped in the sunken battleships, some even survived for weeks.

Those who were trapped underwater banged continuously on the side of the ship so that anyone would hear them and come to their rescue. When the noises were first heard many thought it was just loose wreckage or part of the clean-up operation for the destroyed harbour.

The USS West Virginia the day after the attack

However the day after the attack, crewmen realised that there was an eerie banging noise coming from the foward hull of the USS West Virginia, which had sunk in the harbour.

It didn’t take long for the crew and Marines based at the harbour to realise that there was nothing they could do. They could not get to these trapped sailors in time. Months later rescue and salvage men who raised the USS West Virginia found the bodies of three men who had found an airlock in a storeroom but had eventually run out of air.

They were Ronald Endicott, 18, Clifford Olds, 20, and Louis Costin, 21. Within the storeroom was a calendar and they had crossed off every day that they had been alive – 16 days had been crossed off using a red pencil. The men would have been below deck when the attack happened, so it is unlikely that they knew what was happening.

Those who survived the attack and were crew on the USS West Virginia have remembered the story and retold it quietly as a story of bravery and determination of the young soldiers.

In truth, the US Navy had never told their families how long the three men had survived for, instead telling them that they had been killed in the attack on the harbour. Their brothers and sisters eventually discovered the truth but were so saddened that they did not speak of it.

One of Clifford’s friends and comrades Jack Miller often returned to the harbour and would pray for his friend at the site of the sunken wreck. He says that just the night before the attack they had been drinking beer together, and he had wanted to rescue him desperately in the days after the attack.

However there was no way of any rescue crews getting to them since if they cut a hole in the ship, it would flood it, and if they tried to use a blowtorch it could explode since there was too much oil and gasoline in the water.

Survivors say that no one wanted to go on guard duty anywhere near the USS West Virginia since they would hear the banging of trapped survivors all night long, but with nothing that could be done.

The USS West Virginia as she appeared in 1944 after repair and extensive up grading.

You can read more about the West Virginia's career at this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_West_Virginia_(BB-48)

A Cigar Case and Tomb Stone

Many years ago a co-worker gave me an old leather cigar case that was carried by a soldier during the Civil War.  The front of the case sported  a CDV photo of a woman and on the inside, inscribed in ink, was: 

“Presented to Captain Sands 

by 

Colonel Miles

47th Ill” Vol”

The case was steel framed and clasped shut similar to an old time coin purse.  The outside was Moroccan leather (now turned brown).  The inside still retained its bright red color.  It had room for six stogies, three on each side.

The Inside of Captain Sand's Cigar Case

There is a photo of a woman in the front cover of the case,
but there is no way to know if it is original to the case.  The
photo has an Ohio back mark.

I set it aside and it was several years before I got around to researching Captain Sands and Colonel Miles.

Daniel L. Miles was the easiest to find.  He was actually a Lieutenant Colonel and was second in command of the 47th Illinois Infantry.  The 47th was raised early in the War at Peoria Illinois and saw its first combat skirmishing with the enemy in southern Missouri.  It was part of a brigade consisting of the 47th Ill. 5th Iowa, 39th Ohio and the 11th Ohio Battery, commanded by Captain Frank C. Sands.  

Miles evidently formed a friendship with Sands and presented him with this cigar case sometime during that time frame.  In early March the Federal forces in that area were reorganized into the Army of the Mississippi under General John Pope. After the surrender of Confederate forces at Island #10, the Army of the Mississippi was sent to join General Halleck’s advance towards Corinth, Mississippi in late April of 1862.  During this reorganization, the 47th Illinois and the 11th Ohio were separated and never again served in the same division.  

The 47th Illinois was made part of the 2nd Division, 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Mississippi along with 5th Iowa, 39th Ohio, 5th Minnesota, 11th Missouri and 8th Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin regiment is best known for “Old Abe” a young bald eagle which was kept as a regimental mascot.  Indeed the entire brigade became known as the “Eagle Brigade.”

On May 8th, 1862 the Eagle Brigade was sent on a reconnaissance in force towards Farmington, Mississippi a few miles east of Corinth.  A large force of Confederates intercepted them and the small Battle of Farmington ensued.  The 47th’s regimental historian recorded:

“The regiment suffered an irreparable loss in the death of  its Lieutenant Colonel, Daniel L. Miles, who was struck  below the knee by a six pounder solid shot from one of the  enemy's guns.  His leg was amputated, but he died the next day. He was great of soul, formed in heroic mould, and every inch the ideal soldier.  Into this action the Wisconsin 8th had taken "Old Abe," the historic war eagle.  He was carried upon a perch beside the colors and when the regiment was ordered to lie down behind the crest of a hill, he hopped from his perch and flattened himself as close to the ground as did any of the men.”  Bugle Echoes, The Story of the 47th Illinois Infantry by Cloyd Bryner (1905)

Ltc Daniel L. Miles.  KIA at Farmington, MS
May 8, 1862

The 47th went on to fight in the Battle of Iuka, supporting, by chance, their old friends in the 11th Ohio Battery (more on Iuka later).   The 47th later fought at Corinth, Raymond, Champions Hill, Vicksburg, Red River Campaign, the repulse of Price’s Missouri Raid, and the Siege of Spanish Fort, AL.  It was mustered out at Selma, AL in January 1866.

Captain Frank Sands, 11th Ohio Battery

The Guidon for the 11th Ohio Battery

The 11th Ohio gained fame at the Battle of Iuka in September 1862.  In a meeting engagement between Union forces under Generals Rosecrans and Ord and Confederate forces under General Sterling Price, the 11th became the center of the Union line and the focus of the Confederate attack.  Cloyd Bryner of the 47th Illinois recalled:

“On the crest of the hill stood the 11th Ohio battery.  Hamilton (the brigade that the 11th Ohio Battery supported) fought three times his own force led by Price in person — the battle became furious.  In front, up the road, came the enemy’'s heavy columns.  From the battery upon the hill a deadly fire was poured into the advancing foe. The Confederate musketry concentrating upon the devoted battery soon killed or disabled most of the horses.  The wounded animals ran shrieking, mad with pain and fear. On came the line of gray, only to be hurled back in disorder.  "The Eagle Brigade" came into action on the double quick, the 47th on the left of the nth Missouri, the 5th Minnesota on the right and the Wisconsin 8th in support.  A whole brigade of Texans born down upon the 48th Indiana, which was forced to give about one hundred yards, when it was met and supported by the 4th Minnesota and held its position until relieved by the 47th Illinois.  Three times the guns on the crest of the hill were charged by the Confederates, the cannoneers were bayoneted at the guns ; seventy-two dying at their posts.”

Lt Henry Neil of the 11th Ohio remembered in his account of the fight:  “As the masses of the enemy advanced the battery opened with canister at short range, mowing down rebels by the scores, until, with every officer and horse killed or disabled, it fell as easy prey.  But this success was short lived.”

A marker next to Mississippi Highway 25 in Iuka marks the spot where the 11th Ohio Battery
was engaged during the Battle there in September, 1862

He reported of the losses:  “The Battery entered the fight with ninety-seven men and five officers, commissioned and acting.  Of these, eighteen were killed and thirty-nine wounded, many mortally.  A number of the wounded had been bayoneted at their guns.  Of the cannoneers alone, forty-six were killed or wounded.  Forty-six out of a total of fifty-four.  More than five men out of every six.”

The 11th had suffered the highest losses of any battery in a single engagement of the Civil War.

The 11th Ohio went on to participate in the Battle of Corinth and the Vicksburg Campaign.  During the Little Rock Campaign of Aug - Sept 1863 the Battery still had not recovered from its terrible losses at Iuka.  Infantrymen from various regiments in it's brigade were detailed to help serve it's guns.  One of them was my Great-Great Grandfather, Pvt. James Hagerman of the 126th Illinois Infantry.

Somehow, fate had unexplainably placed into my hands the cigar case that belonged my ancestors Battery commander!  I have nothing that belonged to Grandfather Jim.  No family keepsakes or heirlooms, not even a photograph.  This cigar case, linked to two other men, has become the only tangible link to my Great-Great Grandfather.   

Pvt Jim Hagerman served loyally through the War and married an Arkansas girl in 1865, having never returned to his home state of Illinois.  Melinda preceded him in death in 1874.  He died penniless in Little Rock about 1898 and was buried in a pauper’s grave, I know not where.   I ordered a memorial grave maker from the Veteran’s Administration many years ago and erected it in Weeden Cemetery near England Arkansas where his children are interred.  That simple VA stone, and now his commander's cigar case are all that we have of Grandfather Jim Hagerman. 

Wake Island, Invaded Again! July 2015

Wake Island is one of my favorite places.  I have visited there many times since the early 1990s to conduct archaeological and environmental compliance projects for US Army.   Its tropical beauty is only surpassed by the tragic history that abounds among its beaches and concrete pillboxes.  Wake is not only a military installation, but a bird sanctuary and a National Historic Landmark for the World War II siege and battle that occurred there.  Wake is over 2,000 miles west of Hawaii and one of the most isolated US outposts.
 


Wake Island (actually a coral atoll composed of three islands, Wake, Wilkes and Peale) was once a thriving military base.  It is now inhabited only by a hand full of Air Force military and civilian personnel and a crew of Thai workers who keep the facilities and airfield open for use.  The main "customer" now is the US Missile Defense Agency.  This month Typhoon Halola passed over the low lying atoll and most of the personnel were evacuated as the storm approached.




The storm caused quite a bit of damage and littered enough debris on the airfield that supply rescue aircraft could not land.  On July 20, 2015 Wake was invaded again, but this was a different invasion than the one that occurred in December, 1941. 

Waking Up Wake

Reblogged from here - http://r.listpilot.net/c/afa/9uc7vf8/ldaok

Special operations airmen from Kadena AB, Japan, executed a parachute jump onto Wake Island in the Western Pacific to clear the island's runway following a typhoon earlier this month. "Special tactics operators and MC-130 aircrew provide a rapid response to difficult problems that makes it safer for the next guy to get the job done," Lt. Col. Edmund Loughran, commander of Kadena's 320th Special Tactics Squadron, said in a release. All personnel were evacuated from Wake ahead of Typhoon Halola, leaving it vacant since July 15, according to officials. The 353rd Special Operations Group airmen surveyed and cleared the runway permitting contingency responders aboard a C-17 to land 20 minutes later to begin reopening the base. "It was critical that we open the airfield and get Wake Island back online quickly," said 36th Contingency Response Group Commander Col. Lee Anderson from Andersen AFB, Guam. The 353rd SOG flew the mission aboard a 1st Special Operations Squadron MC-130H Combat Talon II on July 18.

353rd SOG aids Wake Island airfield opening

By Tech. Sgt. Kristine Dreyer, 353rd Special Operations Group Public Affairs / Published July 24, 2015



WAKE ISLAND AIRFIELD -- Members from the 353rd Special Operations Group deployed to Andersen Air Base, Guam, July 18, 2015 to support the 36th Crisis Response Group with the opening of Wake Island airfield after a typhoon hit the island.

Prior to Typhoon Halola’s arrival, more than 125 Department of Defense members were evacuated July 15, 2015 leaving the island vacant. After the typhoon moved past the island, a Special Tactics Team from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron was tasked to conduct the initial assessment of the runway.



Aircrew from the 1st Special Operations Squadron and Special Tactics
operators from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron, conduct mission planning
for the opening of Wake Island while enroute to Andersen Air Base, Guam,
July 18, 2015. Members from the 353rd Special Operations Group worked with
the 36th Contingency Response Group from Andersen Air Base, Guam, to open
Wake Island air field after Typhoon Halola passed through the island. (Photo
courtesy of Staff Sgt. Matthew Sharp)

“The 353rd SOG responded quickly and efficiently to support the 36th CRG,” said Lt. Col. John Trube, 353rd SOG deputy commander and mission commander. “This operation not only demonstrated the SOG’s ability to quickly deploy anywhere, anytime in the Pacific, but it also showed seamless interoperability between the 36th CRG and the 353rd SOG that led to mission success.”

Staged out of Andersen Air Base, Guam, an MC-130H Combat Talon II from the 1st Special Operations Squadron provided airlift for a Special Tactics jump clearing team and combat search and rescue team to infil Wake Island. After conducting military freefall operations onto an unmarked drop zone, the operators were able to clear the runway, assess the airfield environment and receive the first aircraft within 20 minutes allowing the arrival of a C-17 Globemaster III from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, carrying a team from the 36th CRG and Wake Island Airfield staff.




The view from an MC-130H Combat Talon II flying over Wake Island July 20,
2015. Members from the 353rd Special Operations Group worked with the 36th
Contingency Response Group from Andersen Air Base, Guam, to open Wake Island
air field after Typhoon Halola passed through the island. (U.S. Air Force
photo by Tech. Sgt. Kristine Dreyer)

A rescue jumpmaster from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron uses rescue
jumpmaster procedures to allow a special tactics team to conduct military
freefall onto an unknown and unmarked drop zone. Members from the 353rd
Special Operations Group worked with the 36th Contingency Response Group
from Andersen Air Base, Guam, to open Wake Island air field after Typhoon
Halola passed through the island. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt.
Kristine Dreyer)

“The sheer size of the Pacific can turn an ordinary mission into a real challenge,” said Lt. Col. Edmund Loughran, 320th STS commander. “Special Tactics operators and MC-130 aircrew provide a rapid response to difficult problems that makes it safer for the next guy to get the job done. I am very proud of what the Team was able to accomplish on Wake Island.”



A special tactics team from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron jumps out of
an MC-130H Combat Talon II to infil onto Wake Island July 20, 2015. Members
from the 353rd Special Operations Group worked with the 36th Contingency
Response Group from Andersen Air Base, Guam, to open Wake Island air field
after Typhoon Halola passed through the island. (U.S. Air Force photo by
Tech. Sgt. Kristine Dreyer)

Once access to the island was gained, the crisis response Airmen from Andersen Air Base worked with the local residents to further assess the area for damage and reestablish the airfield, so normal operations could resume as quickly as possible.




A combat controller from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron clears the first
C-17 Globemaster III from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, to land on
Wake Island July 20, 2015 after it was hit by a typhoon. The special tactics
team was the first to arrive to the island by military freefall jump from an
MC-130H Combat Talon II. Members from the 353rd Special Operations Group
worked with the 36th Contingency Response Group from Andersen Air Base,
Guam, to open Wake Island air field after Typhoon Halola passed through the
island. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kristine Dreyer)

"It was critical that we open the airfield and get Wake Island back online quickly,” said Col. Lee Anderson, 36th CRG commander. “The team from 353rd SOG showed up with skilled operators ready to execute. It's always a pleasure to work with the Quiet Professionals."




A special tactics team from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron unloads
equipment from an MC-130H Combat Talon II on Wake Island July 20, 2015.
After conducting military freefall operations onto the unmarked drop zone,
the operators were able to clear the runway and receive the first aircraft
within 20 minutes. Members from the 353rd Special Operations Group worked
with the 36th Contingency Response Group from Andersen Air Base, Guam, to
open Wake Island air field after Typhoon Halola passed through the island.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kristine Dreyer)

Wake Island airfield, located in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii, is ran by the U.S. Air Force and is managed by the PACAF Regional Support Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. In addition to being a strategic location in the Pacific, Wake Island serves as a divert airfield for overseas flights.