A Citizen Soldier Wins the Navy Cross

 

By Mark Hubbs

I had intended to post this blog on April 29, the birthday of the hero in this story.  However, travel away home distracted me.  Here is the story of Dr. Shank.

Lawton Ely Shank is one of America’s forgotten heroes.  The Indiana doctor is the only civilian, and, to my knowledge, the only Army Reservist to receive the Navy Cross.

The Navy Cross

Lawton Shank was born in the little town of Angola, Indiana in 1907 to Lyle and Lulu Shank.  After medical school he worked in a local hospital where he met his future wife.  He was only married for four years to the former Ruby Ricker before he left the hospital to work for Pan American Airways.  This was near the end of the Great Depression, and we can only surmise that the airline offered pay and travel they he could never expect to enjoy in small town Indiana.

Shank's first assignment was in Canton China, the terminus of the Pan American’s China Clipper route.  In early 1941 he was reassigned to tiny Wake Atoll on at the Pan American layover station in the mid-Pacific.  Pan Am maintained a four star hotel on Peale Island at Wake Atoll.  The China and Philippine Clippers of the Pan Am fleet made over night stops at Wake during trans-Pacific flights to Asia.  The wealthy passengers paid dearly for their seats on the clippers and demanded the finest lodgings during layovers at Wake.



The Pan American China Clipper at the seaplane dock on Peale Island, Wake Atoll c.1937.
 From: http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/exhibitions/aviation_museum_exhibitions/K3_archive/china_clipper/03.html#top

 

War clouds were gathering in the Pacific.  The US military began to fortify several islands in the Pacific to serve as a first line of defense should Japan flex its military muscle.  A consortium of several construction companies formed the Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases (CPNAB) to construct naval and airbases and Wake and other remote locations.  Civilian construction contractors, mostly employed by the Morrison-Knudson Company - part of the CPNAB,  began deploying to Wake Atoll soon after Shank arrived on the island.  Although his Pan Am duties included caring for sick passengers and workers at the Pan Am Hotel, the doctor was also "loaned" to CPNAB to care for their workers until a physician could be hired and brought to the island.  Within a few months, over 1,000 CPNAB workers were busy building a new submarine, seaplane and airfield on the atoll.

Dr. Shank left his Pan Am job and Wake Island for home in July 1941.  Remarkably, he was back in just three months later, this time on the payroll of the CPNAB.  As the threat of war intensified, the military presence on the island also grew.  By November, over four hundred Marines and sailors were assigned to Wake. 

The predictions were correct and war came on December 8th, 1941.  Within a few hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese bombers from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Island flew 600 miles north to bomb Wake.  Wake is east of the International Date Line, so it was a day later than Hawaii.  This was the first of a series of almost daily air and sea assaults from Japanese forces. 

Dr. Lawton Shank, "Lew" as his friends called him, was the only medical doctor on the atoll.  Almost 1,600 hundred men, civilian and military, would rely on him in the days to come.  He and his small staff were ill prepared for war.  Scores of men were killed and wounded on the first day, and the makeshift hospital that was established to care for them was bombed on the second day.  The care that Dr. Shank provided for his patients, usually under fire in the worst conditions possible, earned him the respect of every man who knew him.  Below is the citation for the Navy Cross awarded posthumously to Dr. Shank after the war.

To All Who Shall See These Presents Greeting:

This is to Certify that The President of the United States of America Takes Pleasure in Presenting

THE NAVY CROSS TO

SHANK, DR. LAWTON E. (POW)

Citation: The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Dr. Lawton E. Shank, Civilian (U.S. Army Reserve), U.S. Civilian, for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy as Physician to American Contractors, Naval Air Station, Wake Island, while associated with the naval defenses on Wake Island on 9 December 1941. At about 1100, while in the camp hospital, during an intensive bombing and strafing attack in the course of which the hospital was completely destroyed and several persons therein killed or wounded, Doctor Shank remained at his post and supervised the evacuation of the patients and equipment. With absolute disregard for his own safety, and displaying great presence of mind, he was thus enabled to save those still living and to establish a new hospital in an empty magazine. Doctor Shank's display of outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. Born: April 29, 1907 at Steuben County, Indiana Home Town: Angola, Indiana

An American ammunition bunker near the north end of Wake Island.  This is probably the bunker that
Dr. Shank used to shield his patients. Photo by author.

 

The garrison endured daily air attacks and on December 11th repelled a naval and amphibious assault with its heavy seacoast guns. A larger, more determined invasion force arrived two days before Christmas and the well-trained force of Japanese Special Landing Force troops finally overwhelmed the garrison after heavy fighting. In the dawning hours of 23 December 1941, the Japanese captured 1,621 Americans with the fall of the atoll.

All but 360 of the Americans were transported to POW camps in China three weeks after the surrender.  Lew Shank stayed behind to care for those me who were put to work building island defenses for the Japanese.  In September, 1942 another 260 Americans were transported to Japan from Wake Island.  Lew Shank volunteered to stay behind and provide medical care for the remaining 98 POWs.  Dentist James Cunha, and a surgical nurse named Henry Dreyer also stayed to assist Dr. Shank.  Lew Shank was mentioned and praised by many men who knew of his dedication during the battle and during those first few months in captivity.  However, all that we know of Lew and the other 97 POWs left on Wake Island in September, 1942 comes from testimony during war crimes trials that occurred after the war.

Dr. Shank and 97 other American Civilians were murdered by the Japanese on October 7th, 1943. 



The beach where Dr. Shank and 96 other American civilians were murdered by the Japanese in October, 1943. 
Photo by author.

When the war was over, the murders had occurred more than three years previously.  The public had already been outraged with the news of similar massacres in the Philippines and in the European Theater.  No national acknowledgement of the Wake Island massacre ever materialized.  However, Wake Island commander Winfield Scott Cunningham did not forget the heroism displayed by Lew Shank and recommended the doctor for the Navy Cross.  The posthumous award was issued on May 6, 1947.

In Section G of the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu there is a large, flat, marble gravestone. At 5 by 10 feet it is the largest in the cemetery. On it are listed the names of 178 men. This common grave holds the remains of all the unidentified military and civilian burials repatriated from Wake Island in 1946.  Many of these men were killed during the siege, and circumstances did not allow proper burial and identification. Of these names, 98 represent the men who were murdered by the Japanese in October 1943.  Dr. Lawton "Lew" Shank lies mingled among them.

The memorial stone marking the unknown dead of Wake Island at the Punchbowl Cemetary, Honolulu. 
Photo by author.

 

Dr. Shank's parents lived long after World War II.  The family added a memorial to Lew Shank on their headstone in Angola, Indiana.  From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=31644842

 

For more details about the ordeal of American POWs at Wake Island, see a series of previous blog entries that start here:    http://erasgone.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-wake-island-helmet-part-one-dodging.html

 

 

 

History That Tugs at the Heart

Not all history is about impersonal tales from the distant past.  Some stories, even those from several generations ago, can have an closeness and intimacy that can stir emotion.

Christmas Card sent home by Carlton Church, his last correspondence before
capture by the Japanese in December 1941.

I started writing about Wake Island almost 15 years ago. First in magazines and later in my blog. I get correspondence off-an-on from family members of men who served at Wake Island or were murdered by the Japanese there in 1943. They used to come by US mail, but they increasingly come by email, especially since I launched my blog last year.  When I did the first article on the massacre of 98 Americans on Wake Island by the Japanese in 1943, I mentioned in the article that I wondered if there were still sons or daughter or brothers or sisters who still remembered and thought about these men.  I have learned that after that after seventy years have passed, there are indeed many family members who still mourn the lost.  I suspect the dead of WWII, from all over the world, still have family who think of them. 

Some, like my new friend Gary Binge, tracked me down and phoned me.  The story of Gary's grandfather, and the helmet he brought home from the War, generated the article you can find linked below, and much of the new correspondence that I have received.

http://erasgone.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-wake-island-helmet-part-one-dodging.html

 

Some letters seek information, that sadly I usually cannot provide.  Some write to give me more information, which is very much appreciated.  Some just write to thank me and let me know that families of the "Murdered 98" have found my articles and appreciate them.  I was surprised by how many loved ones did not know the details of their loved one's death, until they found my articles.  Those are the most precious to me.  Here are parts of emails I've received over the last few months.  I've removed full names and hometowns so I would not violate the privacy of these fine folks.  These letters are humbling and gratifying at the same time.  It makes all the research and writing worthwhile. 

 

Dear Major Hubbs,

I'm writing to thank you for helping solve a long standing family mystery. My wife is the great-niece of Charles M Villines, one of the Wake 98. For all of her life, the ultimate fate of Charles had been unknown to her family. The family had known that he was on Wake island, and had assumed that he had been taken to China, although no record was ever found of it. Charles had married and had had a child before he went to Wake, but his wife had divorced and he and the rest of my wife's family lost contact with her before the war started. We assume that the notification sent in 1946 to the families went to her, although she may well have not received it, having moved in the interim. We do know that his mother, Zula Villines never received any notification and never knew what had happened to her son.

 Although Charles is listed as being from Salt Lake City, he was an Oklahoma farm boy, born and raised in Pottawatomie County. He had moved to Utah looking for work. Charles had two brothers, James and Tony. They both fought in the Pacific Theater and survived the war. Tony died in an oil-field accident in the 1950s. James is still alive, though in very ill health. James has one daughter (my wife's mother) three granddaughters (including my wife), and five great-grandchildren. For my wife and her sisters that unknown fate of their lost great uncle was a wound that was passed on from generation to generation.

 Today my wife was telling our daughters about her lost uncle and our elder daughter, became curious and started searching the Internet and found your account at yorktownsailor.com. I had done an Internet search years ago and found nothing. Knowing what happened to Charles, as horrible as the fate was, has brought a great deal of relief to my wife and her sisters.

 Thank you,

David S.

 

 (Author's note: This letter from Bonnie C. was especially poignant, and includes a poetic tribute to one of her WWII veteran uncles.)

Dear Friend

 Jack Fenex who was in the mass murder is my uncle. I wept when I read your account that my daughter found. We had many answers, but we had some doubts. My uncle, Elmer Christler was also there, but he became a prisoner of war for four years and came home. My Dad, Walter Christler, wanted to go, but he was turned down because of a bad knee (thank goodness). He served in the Army in the states and left just after I was born.

 I was a baby when the war ended, but the war stories have greatly impacted my life. My uncle Melvin Christler flew "The Hump." My uncle Bill Fenex, walked it. As a child, I remember my mother reading Uncle Jack's letter and crying.

 I know that the stories of sacrifice and service that I grew up with helped me face my trials. It was in my blood.

I was a fussy baby and my Grandpa Fenex rocked me as he listened for war reports. He wasn't sure if Jack had been beheaded because he heard there was a Jack that broke into the kitchen for food as well as the massacre. You simply can't judge.

 My uncle Bill Fenex passed away a short while ago. I wrote this tribute to him:

Good-bye, Uncle Bill

Uncle Bill fought for his country

As an "Honor and duty" with pride.
It scarred his mortal life for sure
In ways that he could never hide.
He held his head so very high
And conquered demons one by one.
May he find the peace he gave to us
With loved ones, the Lord, and blessings won.

 I have sent your article on to many family members and I told them to send them on their families. Again, thank you with all my heart.

 Sincerely, Bonnie C.

 

 

Maj Hubbs;

I just came across your article written about the POW Rock on Wake Island, and in it you mention that you travel there from time to time, I have a favor to ask.  If you should travel to Wake Island again, would it be possible to get a small amount of the coral sand from the area around the POW Rock?

Carlton Church's signature is partially obscured by a very fragile chin strap on Glen Binge's helmet.

 

 Please allow me to explain, though I never knew him, Carlton G (Graves) Church was my Great-Uncle, my Grandfather's brother on my mother's side of the family, and one of the 98 civilians murdered on Wake Island.  Ever since I took a simple picture of the memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific back in the 70's, I have been researching Uncle Carl and Wake Island.

 Just this past Tuesday, while going through old boxes of photos etc, I found a small metal lockbox that belonged to my Great Grandmother (Carl's mother), and in it I found a Christmas Card from Uncle Carl, bearing the return address of Wake Island, and written on the edge of the envelope is "last letter received"...it is postmarked San Francisco Dec 27, 1941.

 If you are interested, I can send you pictures of the cards, envelope and letter.

Thank you,

Philip M.


Carlton Church's last note home before his capture by the Japanese. 
Carlton was one of the 98 Americans executed by the Japanese in October, 1943.

 

Mark,



I want to thank you for the Blog you’ve established for relatives of Wake Island Americans who were attacked in 1941. My grandfather worked for the Morrison-Knudsen Co. as a dredge operator. I’ve read several books about the battle for Wake, but unfortunately, the military authors did not include much about the civilians who also bravely fought and suffered.

 Barbara M.

 

 

 Hello Mark.  

 My name is Ron.   Uncle, Redmond James (Jim) Wilper was one of the “forgotten 98” on Wake Island.  I have seen photographs of the Binge helmet and I see that my Uncle Jim signed it because you have listed the names of all who signed.  I would like to see a photo of the signature.  Do you have photos of every single signature?  If so, could you possibly send me a photo of Redmond (Jim) Wilper’s signature?  Perhaps you know how I could get in touch with the Binge family or pass my inquiry on to them.  I appreciate your help and I really enjoyed your blog.  Ron

 (Author's note:  I provided a close up of photo of Jim Wilper's signature as soon as I found this email.  The owner of the helmet, Gary Binge, was more than delighted for me to pass on the photo to Jim's family.  I received this reply)

 

Redmond (Jim) Wilper's signature on Glen Binge's helmet. 
Jim was barely out of his teens when he was murdered by the Japanese.

 

Mark: Thank you so much. It came through just great. Jim's little brother Frank, age 88 will greatly appreciate this as will my siblings and our children. It is very thoughtful of you Mark, and you Gary for sending this to us. The saga of Wake Island is still well remembered here in Boise. Best wishes. Ron

 

A Wake Island Helmet - Part Four "The Forgotten Ninety Eight"

The Forgotten Ninety-Eight

 





Glen Binge with his sons soon after his release from Japanese POW camps in 1945. 
He, nor any of the other survivors, knew the fate of their comrades who were left on Wake Island.
Courtesy of the Glen Binge family.

 



The day-to-day record of POW life at Wake ended when Russell clambered aboard the Tachibana Maru.  The routine of the remaining 98 did not change, however.  Only increasing U.S. bombing raids and the loss of one of the ninety-eight interrupted the monotony.  An American was caught stealing food in July 1943.  After a brief investigation, a Japanese lieutenant wielded the sword that removed the head of the unknown American.  Captain Shigimatsu Sakaibara, the new island commander who had been whisked ashore by an Imperial Navy bomber from Kwajalein in December 1942, presided over the murder.

 

Captain Shigimatsu Sakaibara, later promoted to Admiral.  The fate of the 98 Americans rested in his hands.
National Archives and Records Administration

 

The U.S. Navy also was tightening a noose around the atoll. Extensive submarine patrols harassed all shipping coming in and out of Wake.  This increased attention aggravated the island commander.  Sakaibara and his subordinates were certain that an invasion was imminent. In reality, the United States had no intention of forcing a landing on Wake.  As with most Japanese-held islands that did not have a tactical or strategic role for further campaigns, they were merely isolated from their source of supplies and left to wither on the vine.  Bombings were designed only to deprive the enemy of the use of their airfield, seaplane base, and port facilities.

POW Rock.  In May 1943 some anonymous American chiseled this inscription in a large coral boulder on the lagoon shore of Wilkes Island.
This rock has become a lasting memorial to the 98 POWs.  Photo by Author.

A U.S. carrier task force, which included the USS Yorktown (CV-10), arrived offshore on 5 October 1943.  During the following two days the task force dropped 340 tons of bombs on the atoll, and the accompanying cruisers and destroyers hurled 3,198 eight-inch and five-inch projectiles.  The raid did extensive damage to the infrastructure on the atoll, and 31 Japanese planes were destroyed on the ground.  This was the largest U.S. raid on the atoll up to that time. Sakaibara was certain that the armada assembled offshore included a landing force.  He decided that the troublesome prisoners must be killed to eliminate the threat they might pose during the coming invasion.

An American aircraft over Wake Island during the massive raid in October 1943.
National Archives photograph

 A heavy cruiser’s 8-inch guns bombard Wake, as seen from USS Minneapolis (CA-36), 5 October 1943. The two following ships are (in no particular order): USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS New Orleans (CA-32). National Archives photograph

The Headquarters Company commander, Lieutenant Commander Tachibana, was ordered by Captain Sakaibara to move the prisoners from their compound to an antitank ditch on the northern tip of Wake Island.  There, in the waning afternoon light of 7 October 1943, Lieutenant Torashi Ito, of the Headquarters Company, had the Americans lined up and seated along the ditch facing the sea.  They were blindfolded with their hands and feet bound.  Three platoons of Tachibana's company assembled behind them and opened fire with rifle and machine gun fire. 

The lonely stretch of beach on the north shore of Wake Island where the 98 Americans met their fate.  Photo by Author
 

A Korean laborer who witnessed the massacre testified later, "All prisoners, both dead and wounded were bayoneted."  The names of nineteen of the dead men appear on Binge’s helmet.

The Americans then were unceremoniously dumped into the ditch and covered with coral sand.  The indignity suffered by the prisoners was not complete, however.  The following day, a report from an enlisted man that he saw one of the prisoners escape during the confusion of the massacre prompted the disinterment of the bodies.  The corpses were dug up and counted, then hastily reburied.  The sailor had been correct; one American was missing.  The Korean laborer also saw the man flee and recognized him as "Mr. John" his favorite among the Americans.  That man, whose full name has never been discovered, was re-captured a week later.  Captain Sakaibara personally beheaded the lone escapee.  There were two men named John who were among those murdered by the Japanese.  One was John Martin of Pomeroy, Washington who autographed Glen Binge's helmet many months before.  Could he be “Mr. John?”

Next Time, Part Five - http://erasgone.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-wake-island-helmet-part-five-legacy.html

You can see a complete listing of all the names of Glen Binge's Sun Helmet at this link:  https://sites.google.com/site/markehubbs/home/names-on-the-wake-island-sun-helmet

A Wake Island Helmet - Part One, "Dodging Hell in Small Parcels"

Authors Note: My October 2000 article "Massacre on Wake Island" (Navy History Magazine) was the first detailed account of the murder of 98 American civilians by the Japanese in 1943.  It has subsequently been used as a reference in several World War II books and articles.  In the years since, I have been contacted by scores of people who were related to victims, or are acquainted with family members of the murdered 98.  One family member never knew the details of his father's death until he found my article. We were both in tears before that phone call concluded.

 In 2011, a descendant of a man who survived the battle and three years as a POW contacted me.  I felt privileged that he chose me to tell about his grandfather.  Glen Binge's story is remarkable, but the souvenir helmet that returned home with him is even more extraordinary, for it is a memorial to the lives of twenty-seven other men who did not come home.

 I wrote about that man and the autographed helmet that he brought home in an article entitled "A Memento of Terror," published by World War II History Magazine in March 2012.  This will be an enlarged version of that article.  Because of its length, I'll present it in five installments. 

Glen R. Binge was the first to sign his helmet.  His is one of the few signatures on the inside. Courtesy Glen Binge Family

"Dodging Hell in Small Parcels"

 Glen Binge brought his helmet home at the end of World War II.  The helmet bears the names and addresses of over fifty of his comrades.  This was not an unusual thing.  Many soldiers kept their helmets as souvenirs.  But Glen Binge was not a soldier, or a marine.  He was an American civilian who had beaten the odds to survive one of the most famous battles of World War II and three and a half years as a POW in Japan’s most infamous prisoner of war camp.  The cloth covered fiber sun helmet that survived and came home with him is a puzzle.  How could such a fragile item survive the rigors of combat and a brutal captivity, especially when over half the men who signed it died at the hands of the Japanese?  This is the story of the Wake Island men who signed Glen Binge’s helmet.

The Morrison-Knudsen Company issued this sun helmet to Glen Binge when he arrive at Wake Island in 1941.
It has the signatures of fifty of his comrades.  Twenty-seven of them died at the hands of the Japanese.
Courtesy Glen Binge Family

At fifty-one, Logan Kay was too old to be scrambling through coral gravel dodging Japanese bombs.  That is where he found himself on the morning of December 8^th, 1941.  A force of twenty-seven Japanese bombers struck Wake Atoll within a few hours of the attack against American military installations in the Hawaiian Islands.  Wake is 2,300 miles west of Honolulu and across the International Date Line.  It was the 8^th of December where Logan Kay of Clearlake Park, California and his friend Fred Stevens of Sioux City, Iowa struggled to find shelter.  Stevens had a bad case of food poisoning contracted the day before.  "Scotty" as his friends called Kay, helped Stevens to a large steel dredge pipe where they would shelter for the next few days.

Logan Kay and Fred Stevens signed together in a box that separates them from other signers.  Notice the "77." 
That is number of days that Kay and Steven eluded the Japanese and avoided capture on Wake Island.
Courtesy Glen Binge Family

The Pan American Airways hotel on Peale Island was in shambles. (Wake Atoll is made up three islands: Wake, Peale and Wilkes.  The "V" shaped atoll is nine miles long from tip to tip.)  Japanese bombs put it out of business and killed ten of its Guamanian staff.  The Philippine Clipper floating at the hotel dock, survived the bombing.  Soon, all the Caucasian Pan Am employees and five passengers were in the air, fleeing to Hawaii.  Jesus "Seuese" Garcia of Agana, Guam acted as spokesman for the surviving thirty-five Guamanian hotel employees who were left behind.  They could only stand and watch as the big seaplane winged away.  Garcia marched his Chamorros to the island commander to offer their services to defend the atoll.

For the following fifteen days, the Marine garrison on Wake held out against repeated Japanese air and naval attacks.  Many of the civilians on the island assisted the Marines in both logistics and combat roles, Logan Kay and Fred Stevens along with them.  They were among 1,150 civilian contractors employed by the Morrison-Knudsen Company, part of a cooperative of eight construction companies called the Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases (CPNAB).  The CPNAB was contracted to build an airfield, seaplane base, and submarine base and to dredge a channel into the lagoon to allow access for submarines.  

Wake Island is 2,300 miles west of Hawaii.  Map from USMC History of the Battle of Wake Island
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Wake.html#VII

The garrison endured daily air attacks and on December 11th repelled a naval and amphibious assault with its heavy seacoast guns.  A larger, more determined invasion force arrived two days before Christmas and the well-trained force of Japanese Special Landing Force troops finally overwhelmed the garrison after heavy fighting.  In the dawning hours of 23 December 1941, the Japanese captured 1,621 Americans with the fall of the atoll.

"Come out and give up.  The Island was surrendered at seven-twenty this morning."  Twenty three year old carpenter, Rodney Kephart heard the call from his hiding place.  Kephart, from Boise Idaho, assisted in defense of the island during the long siege by tending the wounded and digging trenches.  He admitted after the war, "It certainly was a relief to be free from the suspense of it all, and to be through dodging hell in small parcels."

Rodney Kephart circa 1999.  His story can be found here:  http://home.comcast.net/~winjerd/Kephart.htm

“The Emperor has gracefully presented you with your lives”

 As resistance ceased on Wake, the U.S. Marines, sailors, and contractors were marched to the runway and seated in rows facing a line of Japanese machine guns.  Logan Kay and Fred Stevens were the only men who avoided capture.  They hid in the bush certain that those surrendering were to be murdered.  Indeed, this was the plan of the Japanese troops who held them.  Only the intervention of Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, who commanded the invasion force, prevented the slaughter.  After Kajioka arrived, an interpreter read a proclamation to the prisoners that said, in part: "The Emperor has gracefully presented you with your lives."  An unknown voice bellowed from the crowd of Americans: "Well, thank the son-of-a-bitch."

Go to Part Two - http://erasgone.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-wake-island-helmet-part-two-babe.html

Go to this page to see letters from family members who responded to this blog article - http://erasgone.blogspot.com/2013/03/history-that-tugs-at-heart.html

You can see a complete listing of all the names of Glen Binge's Sun Helmet at this link:  https://sites.google.com/site/markehubbs/home/names-on-the-wake-island-sun-helmet