Hell Wouldn't Stop: An Oral History of the Battle of Wake Island

by Chet Cunningham, Kathleen Lake (Designed by)

This gritty oral chronicle records with poignant and often disturbing immediacy both the bloody sixteen-day Battle of Wake Island and the forty-four months of hell that followed it. One of the first military engagements in World War II, the battle for this tiny, strategically located atoll in the Pacific began on December 8, 1941, just five hours after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It ended on December 23, when the marines—despite diminished forces, incapacitated fighter planes, and no communications—strove to stem an overwhelming Japanese invasion until their commanding officers ordered them to surrender. No sooner had the surviving marines—the author’s eighteen-year-old brother among them—laid down their arms than they were stripped and bound. For two days they sat naked in the hot sun; at night they shivered in the cold. For the next three weeks they slogged in the ruins of their bombed-out camp. They were then jammed into the hold of the ship that would take them to prison camps in China and Japan, where they would endure the cruelest indignities and grimmest tortures until their liberation in August 1945. Hell Wouldn’t Stop tells their often horrific, frequently heroic, and unforgettable if long-forgotten World War II story.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, War, Military Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

aka Jess Cody, Cathy Cunningham, Lionel Derrick (with Mark Roberts 2), Keith Douglass (with William H Keith), J.D. Bondie, Chad Calhoun, G.A. Carrington, Kit Dalton, Dirk Fletcher, Don Pendleton

Since his first novel was published in 1968 Chet Cunningham has written and had published nearly 300 works of fiction and 15 non fiction books. He is equally adept on horseback, in the techno-thriller arena, or recounting military history. His output includes 125 westerns and 50 men's action/adventure novels.

Reviews

[David Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the battle of Wake Island and the 44 months the survivors spent in POW camps as told by the marines and sailors and airmen. The little "connective tissue" in the book is provided by Chet Cunningham, who embarked on the project to learn what happened to his brother. Each entry is from a few sentences to a few pages. Some of the stories are as simple as "I don't like to think about it". Many of the contributors have multiple stories. Most are from correspondence between Cunningham and the survivors and some was written in the months after the events. All stories are in the first person.

Because it is a collection of stories from many people, there is necessarily a lot of repetition for the combat. Everybody went through the same events - the bombing, the first invasion attempt, the surrender. But each tells the common events from a slightly different perspective.

I would have liked to have "heard" from some of the civilians who were there. I'm sure their stories were no less interesting. The only significant mention of the civilians, other than a few who manned gun crews, was the murder of the 98. Obviously none of them could tell their stories, but there were a thousand others.

Recommended.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book HAD to be written. Want to know what a POW from Wake Island went through? They fought a brave fight on Wake then surrendered - then became a POW. This book was basically written by the POW's and a sad one at that.
A must read for those that want or need to know about the POW's that were under the control by the Japanese during WW11.

[Cary Kostka · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hell Wouldn’t Stop” is the most unique book I have read on the subject of WWII POW’s in the Pacific Theater. It places the reader right into the events of the Wake Island invasion by the Japanese by its interview based format. Although much of what each man said was repetitive, the ability to see how each veteran’s personality and overall outlook affected their feelings and remembrances was fantastic. Overall, the interview structure and timelines were well thought out.

I do wish that some of the civilian contractors had been interviewed. I would be greatly interested in seeing the invasion and POW experience from the perspective of non-military personnel.

This is a book that anyone learning about aspects of military history should read. The hardships these men had to endure without any end is sight puts a person’s day to day problems in perspective, and sheds light on the importance of supporting our veterans regardless of status...these men (and now many women) deserve more support. This book outlines just why that is.

[Mell Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely different look at what the POWs went through in WWII

[Steve Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unsparing collection of accounts from the survivors of the battle for Wake Island. This stands alongside other books I've read outlining the savage brutality of the Japanese military in World War Two.

Dr. Guy Klenhofer, PhD included a piece near the end of the book that is extremely powerful.