Given Up for Dead
By Bill Sloan

     Just five hours after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they made a bombing run on Wake Island--a tiny, nearly barren coral atoll in the Central Pacific. Wake was squarely in the middle of Japanese-held islands and was a valuable link in communications with the Far East. Given Up For Dead is the unprecedented story of America's first major battle of World War II

     Undermanned, short on equipment, and ill-prepared, the courageous handful of men who fought under Marine Major Devereaux and Navy Commander Cunningham held the coral island for an unbelievable sixteen days as it was pummeled with bombs and machine gun fire, and then was attacked on land by an overwhelming force. Surrender was a surprise to everyone...the marines that were winning the battle, and the Japanese, who were losing the battle. Was it necessary? It was probably inevitable...but certainly seems in retrospect to have been premature.

      Given Up For Dead is a gripping story that reads like a great suspense novel. Sloan's research and interviews have turned up many new insights about this nearly forgotten battle. The gut-wrenching tales that have come out of the interviews with the long lost survivors of the heroic battle are heartbreaking. The tales of the ordeals they suffered at the hands of their Japanese captors as prisoners of war are told with sensitivity. The ineptitude of the commanding officers stands alone for history to criticize, but the great courage of the Marines and Sailors is a tale to compare with the Alamo. The execution of the remaining civilians was a shock to the United States, and seemed to be just an act of vengeance by the Japanese commander.

     This riveting account is a long-needed addition to the written history of World War II, and belongs in every library. It should be required reading in every American History class. I couldn't put this book down...except to dry my eyes occasionally. Wars always seem so senseless, and even 60 years after the fact the plight of these men tears at your soul.