Talk:Wake Island

Easternmost

Apparently Wake is the closest US territory to the International Date Line on the East side. Since Alaska straddles 180°, it's actually the furthest East and West. Bollar 03:45, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)

There is no East Pole. Furthermore, why would you pick "lowest" East latitude in one arbitrary (even if none of the older, once-common alternatives are used much any more) coordinate system rather than 180° E as "easternmost"? Furthermore, I don't think Wake is either highest or lowest East latitude on a Greenwich base in U.S. including possessions. I'm taking this nonsense out.

"Easternmost" is a point which can be reached in a shorter distance from anywhere else in the U.S. by traveling in an easterly direction rather than in a westerly direction. Gene Nygaard 14:27, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

What's more, a zig-zag "East Edge of the Earth" is even sillier than basing it on Greenwich coordinates. Just how many ships have fallen off as they traveled on to the east of Wake Island? Gene Nygaard 14:40, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Fixed "population"

What the article previously said was that there were 200 contractors present as of October 2001 in a July 2004 estimate. Now, I rather doubt that there was an attempt made in July 2004 to have estimated how many contractors were present in 2001, but rather that was the incorporation in to the article of a more-current estimate without removing the old language. My edit makes the logical assumption that the estimate as of 2004 was of the number of people present in 2004. If someone knows this to be wrong, please revert it. I also know from my own experience how nebulous such a number can be; at any one moment, just who is "permanently" there, who is "TDY", and who is "in transit" can be confusing and sometimes even somewhat subjective; but the 200 number of "permanent" contractors sounds reasonable based on other sources. Rlquall 20:46, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

See the anonymous comment at the beginning of the article as you edit it (something that would have been better put here in Talk), which claims that this is an unattributed plagiarism of the CIA Fact Book. That might mean that the CIA published those figures in 2004, identifying them "as of October 2001" because that was the latest statistics they had available. Gene Nygaard 14:47, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

pronounciation

is it pronounced wae k (as in "wake up") or wah ke (as in "wah-wah pedal" and "Kenny")? Just wondering... WB 07:55, May 21, 2005 (UTC)

I took it for granted it was the former... Since the article says name is English, after "Captain William Wake", not Polynesian, that seems a safe assumption. But this William Wake is probably not the Archbishop William Wake the link takes you to...

—wwoods 08:27, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

I've always heard it pronounced with a long a, as waek, like the English word, I'm sure it's the way to do it, given the above. Wyss 03:26, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

relief force

The article says the Saratoga relief force never made contact with enemy forces, and that they turned back. My sources at the History Channel say it was the decision of Admiral Pie? (Not sure on name) to order the task force to turn back when the message "issue in doubt" was radioed from Wake.

The relief force turned back for fear of loss of the precious carriers, on orders from CinCPac, Adm William S. Pye. (I AM sure of the name...) It was not in response to "issue in doubt"; Pye waffled and had as much as decided before this was recieved. Also, though, the names of the Japanese and American commanders would be appreciated. (I want to say the U.S. was Col Cunningham, but I haven't read Wake Island recently...) --squadfifteen

Battle Info

The battle section is getting too long again - this is the reason I created the Battle of Wake Island article. One day, the battle info will make this article too long, and it also demans the subject by treating it as just an interesting part of Wake Island history instead of an important World War II battle which deserves separate treatment. Please, please stop putting stuff here when you see an interesting tidbit on the History Channel, and put it in the battle article instead. This article should only contain a brief summary of the battle. --Jpbrenna 10:29, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

I rewrote some of the battle section to remove non-objective wording and to remove the connotation that the civilian losses were secondary to the military losses, which in my view is wrong. Civilians don't sign up to fight, so the civilians should get listed with as much importance as the military personnel. Hue White 15:56, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Typhoon/Hurricane Ioke

Should we add info about Typhoon/Hurricane Ioke? It has it's crosshairs to Wake. And around 200 of it's residents were planned to be evacuated. --IrfanFaiz 11:49, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't those kind of updates be more appropriate for wikinews:main page? — MrDolomite | Talk 15:38, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

It is over Wake right now, just add that it struck Wake. --IrfanFaiz 12:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Commander?

It's been a while for me but I thought I recalled that a Major P. S. Devereaux, USMC, also had been in command of Wake. Struck me as odd because Winfield Scott Cunningham was also a "Three Name Person". I'll dig more, maybe they were in command at different times. — MrDolomite | Talk 15:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Apparently Major James P.S. Devereaux was the commander of the Marine battalion. [1]

—wwoods 17:57, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Aha, he was a "Four Name Person", I was googling him incorrectly. Thx for the info. Now we just have to decide what, if anything, to do with it. :) — MrDolomite | Talk 23:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Orothographic Projection

The projection is on American Samoa and not on Wake Island. Therefore, I shall delete it.

PC game appearence

Should it be mentioned that Wake makes an appearence in the game, Battlefield 2? I didn't know that Wake was an actual island and just assumed it was a fictional location until I saw a program on the History Channel. And, more importantly, BF2 is where I first heard of Wake Island.PowderedToastMan 20:35, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

I have added some video game information into the article. HonJarder 05:08, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

I removed this information. This is not notable. --Henry W. Schmitt 16:53, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure, Battlefield 2 is a multi-million selling military video game. I think a brief one line mention of its inclusion would be appropriate. I haven't added the information, just stating my opinion. Kristmace 01:09, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

there are tons of games made about WWII, I did control f for 'game' on that page and nothing came up except a footnote with the word in it, but not about video games. -Henry W. Schmitt 05:20, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Henry W schmitt is being very unreasonable. Wikipedia is a people's encyclopedia. It should contain reference to the game battlefield 2 because it was one of the bestest selling games ever. 77.248.188.153 (talk) 04:52, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Locator map

This article needs a locator showing the position of the territory in the world. -- Beland 01:06, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

But it needs one that's correct, not the old orthographic one pointing to American Samoa. Deleted again; leave it out this time, or get the right one. Note that Wake is north of the equator! KarlM 08:56, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

American Claim to Wake Island

Was Wake Island claimed Jan. 17, 1899 by Taussig or July 4, 1898 by Greene? It was not claimed under the Guano Islands Act. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.140.246.114 (talk) 14:04, 9 April 2007 (UTC).

Even more conflict on the date. It was noted the island was "taken" Jan. 17, 1900 in the wikipedia article for 1900. Also it was interesting that the reason for the US claim on the island was to establish a communications link between Hawaii and Manila. I see no reference to this in the main article. --Trode (talk) 21:30, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Airstrip illustrations

The airstrip as illustrated here would seem not to be accurate. It depicts a 1.5km northwest/southeast runway which no longer exists as such and has been built over with base facilities, as can be confirmed via Google Earth. The only functional runway would seem to be the 3km one in the east/west direction. I see that the CIA world factbook still has the old runway configuration, and that is likely the source of the image in question. Airfield info for PWAK can be found here. Fehrgo 01:40, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I uploaded an image found on WikiTravel which seems to reflect the airstrip more accurately and added it to the article. Vires et Honestas 02:24, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Ah, thanks, I did a new one but noticed yours is already up there, which has more info on it anyway :) Fehrgo 17:01, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I noticed there wasn't an article about the airbase (Wake Island Airfield), so I'm currently writing one. I'm not currently daring enough on adding a wikilink on this page, so if anyone with more balls wants to do it, be my guest. (btw thanks for the info on PWAK, Fehrgo!). Btw, can I use that image for my article? D4RK-L3G10N (talk) 01:05, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Modern Wake Island

Is Wake island a destination people can visit or is it off limits due to its military status by the US?? Cheers (Murchy 00:58, 16 September 2007 (UTC))

Extra Space

Fix the extra space at the top between the start of lead and disambig statement.68.148.164.166 (talk) 04:49, 22 January 2008 (UTC)