State of Oregon Honors Wake Island Civilians

The Oregon Legislature has passed a resolution honoring the Oregon civilian contractors on Wake Island in World War II. I am proud to say that Oregon, my home state, is the first state to do so. Both the House and Senate passed the resolution unanimously, and we are very grateful to the sponsors and committees who paved the way. You can read HCR23 final in full here.

Representative Rick Lewis of Oregon House District 18 initiated the legislation earlier this year at the suggestion of Dick Tobiason, LTC US Army, retired, and chair of the Bend Heroes Foundation. Dick’s tireless dedication to honoring veterans and others who contributed to the national defense is well known in Oregon. I met Dick in 2020 as he worked toward the dedication of US 20 as the POW-MIA highway. Five years later, he and Lewis, both veterans, invited me to help build a state resolution honoring the Wake Islanders from Oregon. We edited the resolution many times over to ensure objective historical accuracy and legislative compliance, and I scoured my rosters for Wake contractors who qualified as Oregonians.

The Morrison-Knudsen roster has long served as the basis for the Wake Island contractors who were on the island as of December 8, 1941, though I found long ago that it contained inaccuracies which I cross-checked with other sources to compile (and continue to revise) the master roster available at this website. On the M-K roster “Home” appears to be where the individual was living at the time he signed up to work on Wake – in many cases a temporary work site. The state designation for military personnel in archival records is the location from which they enlisted, though it is not necessarily their home state, as Dick found when searching for Medal of Honor recipients. We have used several criteria to establish connection to a state, including birth and death records, census data, next-of-kin, and other documentation, to connect an individual to the state of Oregon. While some men had lifelong, strong ties to the state, others were split between prewar and postwar state affiliations, and many simply moved around a lot – especially in the prewar Depression years when jobs were hard to find. Whether with a strong cord or thin thread, I included them in the state list, especially those who died in the war and deserve the honor most. The list of 134 Wake WWII Oregonians includes thirty-one names of the war dead, including two killed in action, eleven among the 98 massacre victims on Wake, and eighteen who died as prisoners of war, and 103 Oregonian POWs who survived the war. (I am contacting families for whom I have information, but please email me at bonita.gilbert@gmail.com if you have additional or conflicting information as I can still amend the lists.)

In early March, Rep. Lewis, the chief co-sponsor of HCR 23, brought the resolution to his committee for a public hearing and work session where it was approved and released to the House floor. Lewis presented it to the House on March 13, 2025, in a heartfelt speech, after which all rose as two other co-sponsors read aloud the thirty-one names of the Wake civilian war dead from Oregon. The resolution passed unanimously. In April, it went to the senate committee that oversees veterans’ affairs for the same process, where it was amended slightly, rerouted to the House for concurrence, then released to the Senate floor for vote on April 21. Co-sponsor Senator Kim Thatcher introduced the resolution and read the names of the war dead, and HCR 23 passed the Senate unanimously. Our deep gratitude goes out to the sponsors, committees, and the full 83rd Oregon Legislature for recognizing and honoring the Wake Islanders.

We look forward to the inclusion of the names of the war dead within the WWII Memorial complex on the Oregon Capitol grounds and a public dedication ceremony perhaps as early as September. The Oregon Capitol Foundation is considering a freestanding monument with a plaque naming our 31 civilian war dead from Oregon. Separate legislation has ensured that the Wake Island contractors will be included in the World War II educational tool and the public will remember their contribution. I will announce upcoming developments and events as we move forward.