_Wrecked Grumman F4F-3s from VMF-211 near the airstrip on Wake (photographed after the Japanese took the island). The Wildcat in the foreground, 211-F-ll, was flown on 11 December by Capt Elrod in the attack that sank the Japanese destroyer_ Kisaragi. _Having suffered such damage as to make it unserviceable, 211-F-ll was ultimately cannibalized for spares._] The Japanese force, meanwhile, “... humbled by sizeable casualties,” withdrew to the Marshalls, having requested aircraft carrier reinforcement. Hundreds of miles away, at Pearl Harbor, elements of the 4th Defense Battalion received orders to begin preparing for an operation, the destination of which was closely held. The Marines of the battalion fervently desired to assist their comrades on Wake Island and many of them probably concluded, “We’re headed for Wake!” [Sidebar (page 10): [Illustration] The Defense Battalion’s 5-Inch Guns In the photo above, a 5-inch/51 seacoast gun of Battery A, 1st Defense Battalion, rests at the Marine Corps Base, San Diego, on 21 October 1940, prior to its being deployed “beyond the seas.” Private Edward F. Eaton, standing beside it, serves as a yardstick to give the viewer an idea of the size of the gun that could hurl a 50-pound shell at 3,150 feet per second up to a range of 17,100 yards. These guns gave a good account of themselves at Wake Island, particularly in discouraging Admiral Kajioka’s attempted landing in December 1941. ] [Sidebar (page 13): [Illustration] Captain Henry T. Elrod (seen at right in the fall of 1941), VMF-211’s executive officer, distinguished himself both in the air and in the ground fighting at Wake, with deeds which earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor. Born in Georgia in 1905, Elrod attended the University of Georgia and Yale University. Enlisting in the Corps in 1927, he received his commission in 1931. Elrod is the only Marine hero from Wake who has had a warship--a guided missile frigate--named in his honor. ] ‘_Still No Help_’ Well before dawn on 12 December, unsynchronized engines heralded the approach of a Japanese flying boat. Captains Freuler and Tharin scrambled their planes to intercept it. The enemy plane--a Kawanishi H6K Type 97 reconnaissance flying boat (Mavis) from the _Yokohama Air Group_ dropped its bombs on the edge of the lagoon and then sought cover in the overcast and rain squalls. Tharin, although untrained in night aerial combat techniques, chased and “splashed” it. None of its nine-man crew survived.