Editing Palmyra Atoll (section)

=== U.S. Navy base and post-war (1939–1959) ===
[[File:Palmyra Island - NARA - 68155417.jpg|thumb|left|WW2 era photo looking across the atoll]]
Palmyra was turned into a military base in the Pacific at the start of World War Two after some legal questions were resolved. The island was fortified when it found itself on the front lines of the Pacific due to the losses of U.S. territories to the west. It was shelled once early in the war, but due to U.S. military success, it was later used for refueling and training. After WW2, it was returned to private ownership, and the naval base was mostly demolished.[[File:Grumman JRF Goose is hoisted aboard USS Long Island (ACV-1) off Palmyra Island, 19 April 1943 (80-G-66769).jpg|thumb|upright|Grumman JRF Goose is hoisted aboard USS Long Island (ACV-1) off Palmyra Island, 19 April 1943]]

====Background====
Several memoirs, reports, and unofficial documents in the decades since World War II have stated Palmyra was placed under naval jurisdiction in 1934 as part of [[Executive order (United States)|Executive Order]] 6935.<ref>{{cite web| title=Executive Order 6935 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6935|publisher=U.S. Government |date=December 29, 1934}}</ref> However, Palmyra is not mentioned in this order in any capacity. The first official mention of Palmyra under Naval Jurisdiction comes from a 1939 letter from the [[Homer Stille Cummings|U.S. Attorney General]], mentioned in a 1997 Insular Areas report, concluding "Palmyra was U.S. public land and that the Fullard-Leo claim was invalid. S. Rep. No. 83-886 at 37."<ref>{{cite web |title=US Insular Areas Report |url=http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/144 |publisher=U.S. Government |date=November 1, 1997 |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821090629/http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/144 |archive-date=August 21, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Soon after this determination, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]] issued [[Executive Order]] 8616, officially, "Placing Palmyra Island, Territory of Hawaii, Under the Control and Jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy".<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 8616 |url=http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/139 |publisher=U.S. Government |date=December 19, 1940 |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821084422/http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/139 |archive-date=August 21, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Starting in 1937, the Fullard-Leo family began attempts to lease Palmyra to the U.S. Navy. During negotiations, the government filed a [[quiet title]] action against the Fullard-Leos and [[Henry Ernest Cooper]]'s six surviving children, claiming property at Palmyra had never been privately owned under the Kingdom of Hawaii or later. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The Insular Areas report states, "While the suit was pending during World War II, the Navy occupied Palmyra and built a runway and several buildings." The Fullard-Leos and Coopers finally won their case in ''United States v. Fullard-Leo et al.'', 331 U.S. 256 (1947), which quieted good land title against the federal government in favor of private landowners. The opinion acknowledged certain of Henry Maui's and Joseph Clarke's interests (331 U.S. 256 at 278) but their heirs and their successor Mrs. Bella Jones were not made parties to the case.<ref>{{cite web|title = GAO/OGC-98-5 – U.S. Insular Areas: Application of the U.S. Constitution | date = November 7, 1997|url= http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-OGC-98-5/content-detail.html|publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=March 23, 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2007}}, descendants of Henry Cooper still owned two small Home islets in the southwestern tip that were not sold in 1922.<ref name="DOI OIA"/>

In July 1938, [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] [[Harold L. Ickes]] wrote a letter to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]], imploring him not to turn Palmyra over to the U.S. Navy for use as a military base. Quoting his letter, he writes,

<blockquote>...&nbsp;the Navy Department has plans for the acquisition and development of the island as an air base. Our representatives have studied conditions at Palmyra and other islands in the south Pacific, and they report that use of this small land area as an air base for Navy Department purposes would undoubtedly destroy much, if not all, that makes the island one of our most scientifically and scenically unique possessions.</blockquote>

The letter was unsuccessful, and plans for the base proceeded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/192 |title=MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT REGARDING PALMYRA ISLAND |last1=Ickes |first1=Harold |date=July 11, 1938 |publisher=Office of the Secretary of the Interior |access-date=December 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209152158/http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/192 |archive-date=December 9, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On February 14, 1941, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8682 to create naval defenses areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established the "Palmyra Island Naval Defensive Sea Area", encompassing the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three-mile marine boundaries surrounding the atoll. "Palmyra Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to airspace in the area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Palmyra Atoll unless authorized by the [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]].
The Navy took over the atoll for use as the [[Palmyra Atoll Airfield|Palmyra Island Naval Air Station]] on August 15, 1941. From November 1939 through 1947, the atoll had resident federal government representatives and island commanders. The atoll was [[Shelling of Johnston and Palmyra|shelled by a Japanese submarine]] in 1941, with no significant damage or injuries. The government made extensive alterations to the landforms. It blasted and dredged a ship channel from the open sea into the West Lagoon, which had been completely enclosed by islands and reefs and was non-navigable until the channel reached the lagoon on May 15, 1941. It joined islands with causeway roads, built new islands, and extended existing islands with dredged coral spoil, including the main runway on Cooper Island, an emergency landing strip called Sand Island joined by a causeway to Home Island and two artificial runway islands that were not completed. These alterations blocked the water flow through the atoll and are believed to have severely harmed the natural ecology of the lagoons.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Shoreline Changes and Sediment Redistribution at Palmyra Atoll (Equatorial Pacific Ocean): 1874–Present |last1=Collen |first1=J. D. |last2=Garton |first2=D. W. |last3=Gardner |first3=J. P. A. |date=2000 |journal=Journal of Coastal Research |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=711–722 |doi=10.2112/08-1007.1 |s2cid=129960273 }}</ref>

====Pacific war====
[[File:The Pacific Battlefield, 1941.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|In December 1941, Palmyra found itself on the front lines of the Pacific War]]
In December 1941, the Empire of Japan declared war on the United States and Great Britain. It launched attacks and invasions across Asia and the Pacific, plunging the United States into [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter 1: The Japanese Offensive in the Pacific |url=https://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/ch01.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918042521/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/ch01.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 18, 2008 |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=www.history. Army.mil}}</ref> In that context, the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] submarine ''[[Japanese submarine I-175|I-75]]'' bombarded the naval air station on December 24, 1941.<ref name=ijnsubsiteI175>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ijnsubsite.info/I-Sub%20Details/I-175.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316155404/http://www.ijnsubsite.info/I-Sub%20Details/I-175.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 16, 2016|title=I_175}}</ref><ref name=combinedfleetI175>{{cite web |url= http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-175.htm |title=IJN Submarine I-175: Tabular Record of Movement |first1=Bob |last1=Hackett |first2=Sander |last2=Kingsepp |work=combinedfleet.com |date=12 June 2010|access-date=6 May 2022}}</ref> Opening fire at 04:55 Greenwich [[Civil time|Civil Time]], the submarine fired twelve {{convert|120|mm|in|1|adj=on|sp=us}} rounds from the [[deck gun]], targeting the atoll's radio station, and hit the United States Army [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] [[dredge]] ''Sacramento'', which was [[anchor]]ed in the lagoon, with one shell.<ref name=combinedfleetI175/> A {{convert|5|in|mm|sigfig=3|adj=on}} [[coastal artillery]] [[Artillery battery|battery]] on the atoll returned fire, forcing ''I-75'' to submerge and withdraw.<ref name=combinedfleetI175/>

Although the U.S. lost control of the [[Philippines campaign (1941–1942)|Philippines]], [[Battle of Guam (1941)|Guam]], and [[Battle of Wake Island|Wake]], early in the war, the tide of the Pacific battle was slowly turned with such battles as the [[Battle of Midway]] and [[Guadalcanal campaign|Guadalcanal]]. By 1944, much of the Southwest Pacific was in Allied control, and a combination of island hopping and strategic bombing led to the Japanese surrender in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944 |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/pacific-strategy-1941-1944 |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref> During the war Palmyra base was used by the Navy for training and refueling.<ref>{{Cite web |title=US Navy facilities Palmyra Atoll 1944 - ScienceBase-Catalog |url=https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5925b294e4b0b7ff9fb3ca35 |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=www.sciencebase.gov |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0"/> The atoll was extensively developed which reduced the numbers of islets from 52 to 25.<ref name=":0"/>

In the lobby of the "Transient Hotel" (built by the [[Seabees]], and used by airmen on their way to the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific Theater]] front), a mural was hung depicting a quiet island scene. It was painted by [[Academy Award]]-nominated [[art director]] [[William Glasgow (art director)|William Glasgow]], who served in the Army from 1943 to 1945. However, it is unclear when he painted it and how it ended up on Palmyra.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/145|encyclopedia=76th Naval Construction Battalion Yearbook|year=1945|access-date=August 28, 2017|via=Palmyra Archive|page=4|author=76th Navy CMBU|title=Palmyra Island|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828192256/http://palmyraarchive.org/items/show/145|archive-date=August 28, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1947, the base was returned to private ownership after a court case with the Federal government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-12-18 |title=Discovering Palmyra: Westfield man creates archive on Pacific atoll, to visit for first time next month • Current Publishing |url=https://youarecurrent.com/2018/12/18/discovering-palmyra-westfield-man-creates-archive-on-pacific-atoll-to-visit-for-first-time-next-month/ |access-date=2023-12-03 |language=en-US}}</ref>

After World War II, much of the Naval Air Station was demolished, with some of the materials piled up and burned on the atoll, dumped into the lagoon, or, in the case of unexploded ordnance on some islets, left in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cerc.usgs.gov/Projects.aspx?ProjectId=98 |title=Palmyra Atoll: WWII Naval Air Station Contaminant Impacts on Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems within the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge |website=www.cerc.usgs.gov |publisher=[[U.S. Geological Survey]] |access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref> Compared to other bases little is known about the operations at Palmyra during WW2. However, it is known that the island was extensively modified.<ref name=":0" />{{further|Shelling of Johnston and Palmyra}}