1) Yesterday we saw the Christmas Miracle of George Washington's victory at Trenton & what it meant for Patriots & America.

2) Today I have a slightly different Christmas story for you.

3) It was mid-December, but warm, so much so that Marines could walk around in their short-sleeved khakis.

4) Everyone knew what was coming. A Japanese invasion force, perhaps the one that just hit Pearl Harbor four days earlier, was steaming toward little Wake Island.

5) At three in the morning on December 11, lookouts spotted the ships on the southern horizon, "like black ghosts."

6) They all knew this was coming because for days they had been bombed by Japanese aircraft.

7) Only four of the defenders' Wildcat fighter planes remained.

7) Many Marines had been killed or wounded, but the hospital didn't save the injured from further bombing.

8) Perhaps overconfident after their shocking success in Hawaii four days earlier, the Japanese came in in a firing line.

9) One destroyer after another began firing at Wake. But the gunners at Wake, prepared better than those in Hawaii, took a heavy toll, sinking two of the destroyers and badly damaging others.

10) As the enemy pulled away, the men cheered, only to be scolded by Sgt. Henry Bedell: "What do you think this is, a ball game?"

He knew next time the enemy would begin with cruisers, whose guns would allow them to fire out of the range of the island's smaller guns.

11) The Americans had sunk two & damaged 13 other Japanese ships. In the long run, it meant nothing. It was the only instance in all of World War II where shore batteries had turned back an invader, even temporarily.

And it meant nothing.

12) Everyone on Wake Island & everyone in Washington knew without quick relief, Wake would fall.

13) Admiral Husband Kimmel had just been sacked for his failures at Pearl Harbor. A truly great commander, Adm. Chester Nimitz, was named as his replacement as head of CINCPAC.

14) But Nimitz wasn't there. He was still flying in from the mainland. Instead, Vice Adm. William Pye was in charge. A supremely cautious man, Pye was already getting reports that the 3 American carrier squadrons at sea were having supreme difficulty refueling in heavy seas.

15) Talk about luck: On their voyage to strike Pearl Harbor, the "Kido Butai" (Strike Force) had encountered very favorable oceans that permitted easy refueling.

Not so now.

16) While Americans at home heard reports about the "Pacific Alamo" & the heroism of the defenders, in reality the situation was grim.

17) The Japanese landing forces went ashore on Dec. 23.

18) Pye met with his staff and asked for recommendations.

19) Some urged the three separate carrier task forces to converge & launch their planes at maximum range---but the carriers would need to be refueled, or be sitting ducks themselves.

2) Those favoring attack pointed to the need for a morale victory & restoration of confidence.

21) But others recognized that so far at sea, the American carriers had NOT easily refueled anywhere; that it took hours in good water to refuel a carrier; & at least SIX Japanese carriers still lurked somewhere.

No one, not even the magician Layton, knew where.

22) Given those realities, and the fact that the Japanese were already ashore on Wake, Pye recalled the fleet on Dec. 22 (Hawaii).

23) Anger & resentment greeted the order. Some on "Saratoga" urged mutiny, to steam ahead anyway. Fighter jocks on the Sara threatened to hop . . .

23) contd . . . into their planes & fly to Wake's rescue anyway. Rear Adm. Jake Fitch actually retreated to his cabin so as not to hear any mutinous talk & be forced to report the men.

24) For many in Hawaii, word of the retreat marked the single worst day of the war.

25) First Pearl, now Wake. Veteran officers were in a dazed stupor. Word came on Dec. 23 that the island had fallen. Only one man escaped in a civilian Clipper plane. He left, under orders (he was the only radio tech available) on Dec. 8, much like James Allen, a courier . . .

25) contd . . . who left the Alamo on March 3, 1836 (the Alamo fell three days later).

26) Nimitz finally arrived on December 24.

27) His first words were "What news of Wake?"

28) Initially viewed as "too kindly" & "too fatherly," Nimitz knew that Wake's sacrifice . . .

28) contd . . .would not be the first. The was not going to be won in a single battle, but a long-term war of attrition that the Americans would surely win.

29) He wanted to make sure that any American who lost his life did so only after every other alternative was exhausted.

30) To do that, both he and Gen. Douglas MacArthur would employ America's vast industrial & technological superiority to overwhelm & pulverize the enemy before sending in the troops.

31) Thus, the real "Christmas miracle" of Wake was not that the island was saved. It couldn't be. In long wars, there will be battles where the outcomes will not be pleasant or desirable.

32) No, the real Christmas Miracle of Wake was that with Nimitz in charge, the USA would bring the suffering of our enemies to a maximum while conserving American life as much as possible.

33) A casualty report in 1946 showed that of all the commanders in Europe & Pacific . . .

22) contd . . . no general---not Patton nor MacArthur---was as good at conserving American lives as Nimitz, who had the lowest casualty ratio of killed-to-deployed in the entire war.

This despite Iwo Jima & Okinawa, to name a couple.

34) Wake bought time for an amazing leader to do to the Pacific Fleet what Sam Houston did with the Texans: prepare them to be winners.