OtherUS Marine Base Midway Islands
Covers should be listed in chronological order. Use the postmark date or best guess.
HISTORICAL NOTE
In early 1939, surveys of the defense requirements of Midway, Wake and Johnston Islands were undertaken by the US Navy. These surveys led to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Harold W. Stark, directing in December 1939 that a US Marine detachment be established as a garrison on Midway as soon as practicable. On 31 May 1940, the Commandant of the Fourteenth Naval District (Hawaii), Rear Admiral Claude Bloch, ordered to Midway an advance reconnaissance party of two Marine officers, eight enlisted Marines, and two US Navy hospital corpsmen. Their primary tasks on arrival were to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the ground on both islands; to propose defensive plans and dispositions for a Marine defense battalion; and to carry out the exacting surveys required for accurate artillery fire. The senior officer of this advance party was Captain Samuel G. Taxis, then commanding the 5-inch seacoast gun batteries of the 3rd Defense Battalion.
In mid-July 1940, Captain Taxis and his party were relieved by Captain Kenneth W. Benner who commanded the 3-inch anti-aircraft gun batteries of the 3rd Defense Battalion. The tasks assigned to Captain Benner and his small party included surveys related to the anti-aircraft defense of Midway. After these preliminary surveys had been completed, an advance echelon of the 3rd Defense Battalion sailed for Midway on 23 September 1940. The Midway Detachment, Fleet Marine Force, was commanded by Major C. Roberts and comprised nine officers, 168 enlisted men, and equipment that included one 5-inch battery (two guns). The Midway Detachment was landed on Midway by barges on 29 September 1940, and immediately set to work establishing a camp and setting up the atoll's defenses.
In early August 1941, an advance detail of the Marine 6th Defense Battalion arrived on Midway to prepare for the relief of the 3rd Defense Battalion. This relief was effected on 11 September 1941, when the main body of the 6th Defense Battalion arrived on Midway. The Marine Corps concept of rounded defense of advanced bases required ground forces to be supported by Marine air units. A major step towards achieving that air support had occurred on 1 August 1941 when the Naval Air Station, Midway, was commissioned under the command of Commander Cyril T. Simard. Simard was a veteran naval aviator who would later play a key role in the defense of Midway against the Japanese attack on 4 June 1942. As soon as the airfield on Eastern Island was completed, Marine Air Group 21 would be transferred from Ewa Field on Oahu to Midway. On 19 November 1941, a Marine aviation advance detail arrived on Eastern Island to prepare the airfield for use by Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241).
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MIDWAY ATOLL
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N/A |
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1942-03-22 |
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Marine's mail |
Censored. From the Greg Ciesielski collection.
3rd Defense Battalion FMF, MIDWAY ATOLL
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N/A |
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1940-12-10 |
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Collectors request |
From the Greg Ciesielski collection.
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N/A |
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1941-08-12 |
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Collectors request |
Patriotic Cachet by Jacques Minkus. From the Greg Ciesielski collection.
MIDWAY ATOLL Covers
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1940-12-10 |
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Marine's mail |
Cachet by E. H. P.
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N/A |
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1941-08-12 |
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Marine's mail |
Patriotic Cachet by Jacques Minkus
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1942-03-22 |
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Marine's mail |
Censored. Patriotic Cachet by Jacques Minkus
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