Wake Island (1942)
Director: John Farrow
Summary[]
December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines try to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.
Trivia[]
Wake Island was the first movie made about America in World War Two.
The Wake Island defenders were forced to surrender and spent the remainder of the war in captivity. They did not die fighting to the last man as the movie portrayed.
Some of the characters of the film were based on real people involved in the real battle:
- Maj. Geoffrey Caton (played by Brian Donlevy) was based off of Maj. James Devereux.
- Lt. Bruce Cameron (played by MacDonald Carey) was based off of Capt. Henry Elrod.
- Shad McClosky (played by Albert Dekker) was based off of Nathaniel "Dan" Teters.
- Cmdr. Roberts (played by Walter Abel) was based off of Cmdr. Winfield Cunningham.
- Capt. Pete Lewis (played by Rod Cameron) was based off of Maj. Walter L. J. Bayler.
- Capt. Bill Patrick (played by Damian O'Flynn) was based off of Maj. Paul Putnam.
Male Deaths[]
- Walter Abel [Cmdr. Roberts]
- Frank Albertson [Johnny Rudd]
- Hugh Beaumont [Captain]
- William Bendix [Pvt. Aloysius K. 'Smacksie' Randall]
- James Brown [Wounded Marine First Lieutenant]
- MacDonald Carey [Lt. Bruce Cameron]
- Don Castle [Pvt. Cunkle]
- Jack Chapin [Squeaky Simpkins]
- Dane Clark ['Sparks' (radioman #1)]
- Russ Clark [Sergeant Major]
- Angelo Cruz [Rodrigo]
- Albert Dekker [Shad McClosky]
- Brian Donlevy [Maj. Geoffrey Caton]
- Lester Dorr [Marine in Trench]
- Frank Faylen [Marine Finding Skipper's Litter]
- Edmund Glover [Gun Captain]
- Bill Goodwin [Sgt. Higbee]
- Fred Graham [First Civilian]
- Earle 'Tex' Harris [Tex Hannigan]
- Jerry Jerome [Private/First Lookout]
- Marvin Jones [Tommy]
- Mike Lally [Marine Captain]
- George Magrill [Second Civilian]
- Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart [Talker]
- James Millican [Radio Operator]
- Dick Morris [Mechanic]
- Jack Mulhall [Dr. Parkman]
- Damian O'Flynn [Capt. Bill Patrick]
- Robert Preston [Pvt. Joe Doyle]
- Mike Ragan [First Lieutenant]
- Mikhail Rasumny [Ivan Probenzky]
- Joey Ray [Marine]
- Keith Richards [Sparks Wilcox]
- Rudy Robles [Triunfo]
- Jack Shea [Marine in Chow]
- John Sheehan [Pete Hogan]
- Phillip Terry [Pvt. 'Cookie' Warren]
- Philip Van Zandt [Cpl. Gus Goebbels]
- Billy Wilkerson [Marine Lieutenant]
Female Deaths[]
- Barbara Britton [Sally Cameron]