Forgive me if this is not the right place to post these photos. I've come from here, which does not allow for posting of photos, but was asked by several readers to post some pictures of Wake Island.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/933853/
Since this is a tropical island, I'll start off with a couple of local plant life. First a plumeria.
Most of the island work force are Thai men, some of whom I would call 'Master' gardeners. They take whatever container they can find. I asked one what they did for dirt since there is nothing but volcanic matter and sand there and he told me they used kitchen scraps mixed with a little potting soil they order. Basically good gardening principles of composted matter.
This was outside one of the Thai workers rooms.
The Air Force and US contractors have houses available. This is outside one of them.
Super Typhoon Ioke did a lot of damage to the island in Aug 06. I took this photo in May 07 before some of the debris had been cleared and before some of the foliage had returned to the trees.
These next few are on the ocean side of the island which sustained a lot of wind and high water, but fortunately there wasn't much damage to occupied housing here. This road is the site of the old post-WW-II housing and school area but the buildings were long gone.
That last photo had portions of a concrete seawall that used to be 'at sea'. This is one of the sections with me in it for scale. That's a lot of power from the storm to wash it inland and toss it around like it did.
About a half mile away was the Dispensary which was heavily damaged by Ioke.
One of the barracks that was heavily damaged. This one wasn't the worst, but still had much damage to the interior.
The bar is still open (Drifter's Reef)! In fact it was probably one of the first things (besides the airfield) to get back up and running. The roof still leaked in places and they were still making repairs a year after the storm.
This is a shot looking from Wake Island toward Wilkes Island across the lagoon . This bridge burned 2-3 years ago so the only way to go is to swim or take a kayak. During low tide you can almost walk across.
The Thai's had built a temple on Wilkes. Prior to the storm it was a very pretty, serene place respected by all island visitors. This is what was left of some very heavy concrete pillars. Interesting that one of the Thai workers cast this concrete. Made his own forms and concrete mix and constructed many articles such as tables, columns, etc. Stunning work.
Another example of his concrete work.
Wake Island was eventually occupied by the Japanese during WW-II. There were 98 civilian contract workers there who were captured as POWs, worked hard, and eventually shot or hanged when food ran short and the Japanese were losing support. The '98 Rock' shows one of those who attempted to memorialize their situation. This is now a well-marked memorial on the island and all the POW names are on a bronze plaque near this rock.
This was the Japanese command center when they occupied the island. It is just next to the burned out bridge on the Wake Island side. Many of the old bunkers and gun positions are still intact on the island. Most are home to the hermit crab.
The POWs were instrumental in constructing these aircraft revetments which are now designated as historical sites.
This old rusty 50-caliber (I think) gun is on the far west end of Wilkes Island.
Finally a photo of the Marine Memorial. This is located near the airfield terminal in an area which did not sustain much damage from the storm.
Semper Fi, and 'Hooooah!!' and many thanks to all those to have served our country and who are currently keeping us free.
That's all for today folks. Thanks for viewing.
I'm glad you put these pictures here. I didn't even know there was a history forum. Impossible to watch them all!
It's very new. If you go to the DG Home Page, there are 2-3 'today in gardening history' facts posted almost each day. I'm no big history buff, but it's been interesting to read. That's sort of what triggered this whole Wake Island discussion because there was an item about Peale (the naturalist) and Wilkes landing on Wake Island.
Thanks so much OutsidePlaying for your pics and commentary. It is a very interesting island and I'm glad I now know more about it.
Thanks for posting these. It wasn't as bad as I had thought that it might be.
It was pretty bad to some buildings and not so bad to others. The problem is that there was no money to even do preventive repairs so a lot of the buildings will be eventually torn down and probably not rebuilt. There were many other buildings I didn't show that had bad roof damage which caused more interior damage and then got moldy. Yuck!
They evacuated all the personnel before it hit. Afterward they sent in some evaluation teams but it was more like 8-10 weeks before any work crews and the staff personnel were allowed back on to even assess the repairs. The bowling alley/rec center was beyond repair. They did the best they could, including cleaning up the debris, and of course by the time I got there the trees and plants were beginning to show signs of life again. It was sad to see Wilkes Island too because no work has been done over there. It's a real mess of downed trees, and the 'beach cottages' people had worked on were badly damaged.
Glad you all have enjoyed the photos.
I grew up with hurricanes on the gulf coast and made it thru Iniki ok in Hawaii, but Katrina and Rita changed the way that I view the damage they can cause.
It is a shame that the powers that be are not rebuilding/cleaning up Wake.
I gratefully have never witnessed a hurricane. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into posting all the pictures and history.
Robin
JuneyBug, I know what you mean. Having seen it before the typhoon, it was just awful to go there and see all the damage.
I also have never seen hurricane damage, but I've seen and known several near and dear to us who have had tornado damage and it isn't pretty. The main difference is that the hurricanes or typhoons are usually followed with water surge which causes almost as much if not more damage than the winds. Iniki is a great example of that. I also saw Kauai just a few months after Iniki and was amazed at the amount of garbage that caused.
I knew enough to not live near the coast, so the cleanup from Iniki only took a day for my house/yard. Seeing miles of debris and NO houses/villages/towns along the Gulf coast re-arranged my thinking on what "bad" is, and what heavy wind/rain/surge damage really is. I expected Wake to not have trees or buildings, so I was real happy to see that it was a storm that could be recovered from. (If the powers that be would be so inclined)
Isn't it just telling about the human spirit that the gardens were recreated ASAP?!
Juney, I totally agree. It just amazed me that the guys that work there made lemons out of lemonade and brought their plants back to life. Especially with the materials (or lack of) that they have to work with out there. I do wish someone would see the light and get thing on Wake at least partially like they were. Oh, the stories I have heard and could tell in that regard....
These pictures are fascinating. Thanks for posting them. I think it's amusing that the bar was such a high priority.
I wasn't too surprised, as there wasn't much else to do there. It was really more like a 'rec center' with pool tables, dart boards, and a good card game now and then. I just realized I must have been spaced out when I wrote 'make lemons out of lemonade'. I think I must have meant to say took lemons and made lemonade....Ya'll know what I meant!
You know, that went right over my head. I guess I just assumed you were making the conventional remark, but now that you point it out, it really does sound funny. Such ingenuity! Such a rare talent.
The Thai worker's concrete work is so impressive.
I should have said 'made margarita's!! LOL!
Oh, no. Now you've made me thirsty and it's my bedtime.
I just found this thread. Thank you for posting your pictures, OutsidePlaying. I found it very interesting. I remember hearing an account of the civilians that were killed there on the History Channel I believe. Thanks for the enlightening glimpse of this island.
Dyane
Good Morning,
Outside playing are you still here? There must be new things happening now right? Do you have updates?
Robin
Hello, Dyane and Robin.
No, I have no new updates on the island. It's still in caretaker status with a few Air Force folks there as far as I know. I'll ask around and see if anyone has heard differently.
Dyane, yes, there was a documentary on the History Channel fairly recently. I can't remember the title but they had interviews with a lot of the Marines who were on the island during WW-II.
Absolutely stunning photos! Thank you for posting them!!
