VMFA-211 to Japan

A fabulous photograph in the news caught my attention last week: two F-35Bs in flight over Wake Island. These were two of the VMFA-211 “Wake Island Avengers” deployed to Iwakuni, Japan, from their base at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona, on May 10, 2025.  The F-35B Lightening II squadron, comprised of state-of-the-art supersonic stealth fighters, joins Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1^st Marine Aircraft Wing, in Japan to support flight operations in the Indo Pacific region. The U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, dating to 1960 when it replaced a similar postwar agreement, obligates American forces to operate in readiness to defend its ally.

VMFA-211 continues to honor its heritage to the VMF-211 that so valiantly defended Wake Island in December 1941. I wrote about the Yuma-based Harrier squadron back in 2013 after it had undergone a devastating attack at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan: Wake Avengers. I recapped the role of VMF-211 in the December 1941 siege in that post and again in a review of William Ramsey’s Wake Island Wildcat three months ago.

The Marine fighter squadron is not alone in honoring its Wake Island heritage: for decades young Marine recruits have learned the story of the Marine defense of Wake on the ground and in the air to study and inspire them as they go forward. The recent formation and training of the Marine littoral battalions, components of the 12^th Marine Littoral Regiment that traces its roots to the First Defense Battalion on Wake Island (see Wake Island in Indo-Pacific Strategy ) reinforces that connection.

My recent work with the Oregon legislature to honor the Wake Island civilian contractors, many of whom volunteered to aid the defense in 1941, does not in any way dilute the valiant and heroic actions of the 524 military personnel on the island: 449 Marines, 69 Navy, and 6 U.S. Army Air Force, all of whom gave their all in the long fight. I am currently researching the pre-WWII status of Guam for another project and am stunned anew at how quickly that island fell to the Japanese, surrendering on December 10, 1941. Guam’s proximity to Japan precluded construction of fortifications or defenses, and the Piti Naval Yard and nearby Marine barracks had only token forces. Meanwhile to the east 1,500 miles, Wake Island’s defenders faced a similar attack with the strength, determination, and courage to hold out sixteen days and inspire generations to come.