-- FROM PARTICIPANTS IN THE WAKE ISLAND CAMPAIGN

 (Ranks Given Are Those Held in December 1941)

        "This is the most interesting account of the Wake Island saga written to date.  Urwin's account is of the individual actions and dilemmas, the uncertainties of battle, the fog of war, under which each individual determines his own conduct and in fact, the outcome of battle. . . .  I recommend the book as a must read for those who would understand why the Marine esprit de corps is such a very special thing.  Urwin shows how Marine training and culture has put the emphasis on 'us,' not on 'me.'  I recommend . . . Facing Fearful Odds for the reading list of all Marines.  The message is of even greater import to civilians."

1st Lt. Woodrow M. Kessler, USMC
Commander, Battery B, Wake Island Detachment,
First Defense Battalion

"Last week I received my copy of 'Facing Fearful Odds.'  It is so interesting, informative and well written that I haven't been able to put it down but for a few minutes at a time.  To me, the depth of your research to produce this fine, detailed history is astounding! . . . .  Thanks for writing 'our' book."

Pfc. Jack E. Davis, USMC
Battery G, Wake Island Detachment, First Defense Battalion

Cpl. Ralph J. Holewinski, Battery I, First Defense Battalion, stands third from left in this group of Marine machine gunners at San Diego, California, sometime in 1940.  As a member of the Wake Island Detachment, this young Leatherneck turned into an artilleryman before dawn on 23 December  1941 and helped fire a damaged three-inch antiaircraft gun at a converted destroyer full of Japanese landing troops that ran itself aground on the atoll's southern shore.  (Courtesy Ralph J. Holewinski)

"It is marvelous. . . .  I read and enjoyed every word.  To me it read like a classic."

       Pfc. Joseph E. Borne, USMC
        Battery G, Wake Island Detachment, First Defense Battalion

"I am so glad that you took it upon yourself to write the book and tell it in much more true form than it had never been told before."

Yeoman 3C Glenn E. Tripp, USN
Office Secretary (Personal Yeoman) to Comdr. Winfield S. Cunningham,
Island Commander, Naval Air Station Wake Island

"You have done an outstanding job.  It ain't a job, it is a splendid work."

Storekeeper 3C C. A. Wilkinson, USN
USS Tangier (Wake Relief Force)

"I must tell you that no one, I mean no one, has ever described [the experiences] that we had during the construction of the military project on Wake Island as well as you have done."

        Max A. Boesiger
        Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases
        (Civilian Construction Worker)

"He [Urwin] talks about the people who were there.  He takes care of the little guy."

        Pfc. LeRoy Schneider, USMC
        Wake Island Detachment, First Defense Battalion

S2C Julian K. Sandvold, a sailor assigned to Wake's naval air station, was caught at the airfield by Japanese bombers on 8 December  1941.  Wounded in the right leg and left arm, Seaman Sandvold spent much of the siege convalescing in the command post of Comdr. Winfield S. Cunningham, the commander of the atoll's American garrison.  (Courtesy Julian K. Sandvold)