In December 1941, Captain Henry Elrod was a newly arrived Marine Corps fighter pilot on Wake Island. When the Japanese attacked the isolated Pacific atoll just hours after the raid on Pearl Harbor, Elrod and the other Marine aviators of VMF-211 took to the skies in their F4F Wildcats to defend the base.
In the days to come, Elrod, a 36-year-old native of Turner County, Georgia, proved an exceptional and fearless pilot. At one point, he took on twenty-two Japanese planes on his own, and later sank a Japanese destroyer, an extraordinary feat for a fighter pilot. Far outnumbered, the Marine fighter squadron was eventually whittled down by their Japanese foes, and when Elrod no longer had an operable plane to fly, he and the remaining squadron personnel reported to the beach defenses as infantrymen. On the day Japanese assault forces invaded and captured the atoll, Elrod was killed protecting fellow Marines. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his incredible bravery throughout the siege.
