Gilbert Islands

The Yorktown Diary of Ed Reynolds

By Pat Reynolds

Suppose you found a magic door that opened onto some of the most crucial battles fought in the Pacific during World War II? Read more

Gilbert Islands

Last of the Gilbert Islands Coastwatchers

By Bruce M. Petty & Peter McQuarrie

The coastwatching system that operated throughout the South Pacific islands during World War II was introduced to gather and report early information about the movement of enemy ships and aircraft. Read more

Gilbert Islands

Battle of Makin: Amphibious Assault on the Gilbert Islands

By Patrick J. Chaisson

Makin should have been a pushover. On November 20, 1943, a force of 3,500 highly trained American soldiers invaded this Central Pacific atoll located 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii in the Gilbert Islands. Read more

Gilbert Islands

Terrible Tide at Tarawa: Interview with Stan Bowen

By John Wukovits

Stan Bowen spent the entire war in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s mate, first in the operation at Tarawa, then Saipan and Tinian. Read more

Gilbert Islands

Island-Hopping at Tarawa

By John Walker

Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, commander of the elite Japanese garrison entrenched on tiny Betio Island in the central Pacific Ocean, boasted in mid-1943 that his heavily fortified island redoubt could hold out “against a million Americans for a thousand years.” Read more