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BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA 
The Japanese military is still expanding in the Pacific. One of their main objectives was to cut off the US-Australia line. After wresting Rabaul from the Australians, they landed at Lae and Salamaua on 8 March. USS Lexington & USS Yorktown perform a strike on the landing force.
After the strike, the Lexington steamed to Pearl Harbor for a brief refit, but Yorktown stayed deployed near the Coral Sea. Admi Nimitz wants all his Pacific carriers to steam to the area, but the Hornet and Enterprise were still returning from the Doolittle Raid.
Wake Island - Pacific Theater 1941
An 80th-anniversary social media experience from the #USMCMuseum.
An 80th-anniversary social media experience from the #USMCMuseum.
West of the int’l dateline on 8 Dec 1941, Japanese bombs were falling on three US bases across the Pacific Ocean. Guam would be the first American territory to fall to the Japanese on 10 December. The defenders of Wake Island, however, would hold out for another 2 weeks.
Wake had become a US possession in 1899 and was strategically located halfway between Honolulu and Manila. By 1936, it had become a stopover point for Pan Am airlines’ flying boat Clipper service. However, it was not until 1941 that the Navy began defensive improvements.
