World War II: Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.

Wake Island, also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located 592 miles to the southeast.