Not much is there that will pass for streets, but Google Map makes the attempt with 360 degree panoramic views in its "Street View" mode...
Sand Island...
Eastern Island...
The view looking west 77 years ago is seen in an excellent photo from Wikipedia...Keen observers may note that in the 1941 photo Henderson Field is located on Eastern Island, while today the facility is located on Sand Island to the west...Both airfields were named for USMC aviator, Major Lofton Henderson, for whom the other Henderson Field on Guadalcanal was also named...Major Henderson was KIA leading a squadron of Douglas SBD's on a glide-bombing attack against the JIN Hiryu, one of four JIN aircraft carriers sunk in the Battle of Midway...I have not researched it, but he may be the only person so honored by having three military airfields named for him...
The Sand Island location is now used by civilian aircraft, and the entire atoll is under the management of the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a national wildlife refuge...It is the home of the largest nesting site in the world for the albatross (or gooney bird)...The airfield has no tower, and during the albatross nesting season, November to June, flights are permitted to land and depart only at night when the birds are nested...About 50 people are permanent residents, and although living conditions may seem harsh to some who are more accustomed to modern living conveniences, they are certainly more amenable than those facing the military and civilian Midway population of late 1941...Today's observers might have called it downright primitive...
The elevation at Midway of about 18 feet would seem almost mountainous in comparison to another mid-ocean location which also had a strategic history in WWII...French Frigate Shoals is located approximately halfway between Pearl Harbor and Midway atoll, and is actually part of the Hawaiian chain of islands...A shoal (for those like me who didn't know until I looked it up) can be likened to a submerged sandbar, and to run across one in the middle of the Pacific with no other land in sight could be considered an anomaly...The mean elevation there is six feet above sea level, with La Pérouse Pinnacle projecting 120 feet out of the sea...
Running across it very nearly happened to the two frigates under the command of French naval officer Commodore Jean-François de La Pérouse, who was on a commissioned voyage to enrich the treasury of King Louis XVI, presumably so his mistress/wife/queen, Marie Antoinette, could eat more cake while the peasants starved...While underway the night of 11/6/1786 one of his crew sighted waves breaking in their path indicating a submerged danger, and shouted the warning...Being French, La Pérouse's first instinct was to surrender to this unknown hidden danger, and he ordered an immediate turn for both ships, missing what turned out to be a large crescent-shaped reef near the surface...No mention is made in current historical accounts of whether La Pérouse flew the French tricolor or the standard white French battle flag...
The next morning, they returned to map the hazard, and found that what the lookout saw was waves breaking against the only point above water, later named La Pérouse Pinnacle, the only remnant of the volcanic action that formed the shoal area millions of years ago...The common name for the reef became known as French Frigate Shoals, and was later used as a refueling stop for the two Japanese seaplanes which took part in the second bombing of Pearl Harbor 3/4/1942...They embarked their mission from Wotje Atoll in the Marshalls, and flew to French Frigate Shoals to be refueled from a Japanese submarine...Another JIN sub, I-23, was intended to stand off as a lookout for the mission, but it was never heard from after 2/24/42, presumably sunk from unknown causes...
The mission was largely a failure, as little damage resulted from the bombing, mostly shattered windows at Theodore Roosevelt High School from the impact of the bombs dropped near it...However, the alarm was raised among US Navy planners when it was realized that the Japanese "Emily" flying boats had to have been refueled somewhere, and the only logical place was the uninhabited French Frigate Shoals...A construction mission was immediately launched by the USN to dredge and build up the area into a usable island to be manned as a submarine refueling and reprovisioning point...Future plans by the Japanese to repeat its use to refuel seaplanes were shelved when a Japanese submarine reconned the area and found the American military presence...
Eventually enough island space was built to accommodate a 3,000 foot landing strip on Tern Island for emergency landings by Navy aircraft, known today as French Frigate Shoals Airport...It was large enough in 2009 to land and depart a USCG C-130 to evacuate the Coast Guard unit operating a LORAN station on East Island, the second largest artificial island constructed there...Like Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals is today managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a nesting refuge for tropical birds...Last month, October 2018, Hurricane Walaka blew East Island into non-existence...
The commercial bookselling site, Amazon, has asked Truckman to create an author page to further advance sales of his growing list of publications...It can be found here for those who wish to purchase from Amazon...However it should be noted again that Amazon still sells the Truckman Publications at full retail price, rather than the discounted prices found on Truckman's own sales site...It may also be noted that the so-called "free shipping" enjoyed by Amazon buyers is more than absorbed by the exorbitant extra profit generated by Amazon's higher prices...For those unaware of the publication process, when a Truckman Publishing book is ordered through Amazon, it is then ordered by Amazon from Truckman's sales site...Their claim that the book is "ready to ship" in 1-2 days is misleading, as it is not printed until ordered...Printing takes 5-7 days under normal circumstances, after which it is shipped...
In addition periodic discounts can be found from the printer, Lulu.com, which, unlike other promotions from other sellers, can be added to the already discounted price offered by Truckman Publishing...Sometimes these discounts can include shipping, and buyers are encouraged to look for these bargains, and add the appropriate discount code to an order...These discount offers are not passed on by Amazon...It might be further noted that in Truckman's experience "express shipping" is seldom any faster than the "standard shipping" through the US Postal Service, the bulk of which transit is accomplished by Federal Express anyway...Amazon also does not offer the far less profitable paperback editions available from Truckman...We wish Jeff Bezos continued success in his Amazon business, but want cost-conscious readers to always be aware of the otherwise hidden costs, and the available bargains offered to those who make the effort to look...
In other business decisions, the fine and well intentioned Facebook group, USS APc-1 WWII, dedicated to preserving the memory of the brave veterans of service aboard the US Navy's Small Coastal Transports during the Pacific War, will now continue to preserve the memories of those troubled times without the direct contributions of Truckman...The narrow-minded petty decision of Mark Zuckerberg to stifle the posts offered by Truckman to this worthy group through his still unexplained deletions of Truckman's posts has brought Truckman to the reluctant choice of resigning from Facebook...USS APc-1 WWII's administrator, Neal Ash, continues his efforts to bring awareness of this "forgotten fleet" to the public, and any new information gleaned from the research of Truckman's hardworking staff will continue to be passed along to Neal, who will certainly post these items for his Facebook readers...A link to the Facebook group will continue to be available to readers here as the "Applecart Link" button under the banner at the top of each page on this blog...
Added in edit: It should be said here in the interest of transparency that Truckman does indeed receive a royalty payment on each copy of his books which are sold, whether that sale takes place on his own site or the various reseller sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ingram or any of the other book sales outlets...However the amounts of those royalties vary greatly...The amount received by Truckman when a reader purchases from the resellers is approximately one-third of the amount received when the reader purchases from Truckman's site at a reduced price...A simple math equation should reveal where the most profit lies, the author who researched and wrote the book and sells for less, or the book outlet which sells the same product for more money...
It should be noted that for maximum enjoyment by Truckman's readers, he voluntarily accepts no commercialization attempts on his many blogsites...Readers interested in only fact and truth will not be victimized by obnoxious advertising, nor by annoying pop-ups demanding the reader turn off his adblocking software in order to continue reading...It is a sad fact of the journalistic world that crass commercialism has become the guiding light for almost all blogs, historical websites and news sources...Truckman will resist to the end any attempt to insert ads on his websites which attempt to draw hard-earned assets from the pockets of his loyal readers...
It is true that the mighty dollar-worshiping Google may attempt to place advertising on Truckman sites, but this is not done with the cooperation nor collaboration with Truckman...We have taken every step possible to deny the presence of advertising on these sites, and will continue to do so...Truckman encourages his readers to install adblocking software, available at little or no cost as browser extensions on almost any modern web browser...These extensions infuriate commercial websites interested in bilking rather than informing the public, and they will employ many clever devices to defeat them...Some websites will block viewers altogether who do not submit to the distraction of commercial advertising...Truckman's answer to this is to merely avoid those websites, and seek out other sources for the desired information...
Readers here visit because they have come to trust Truckman as a source of unbiased truth which cannot be bought with money...The only redirects here will lead to other activities brought to you by Truckman, such as his video channel, photo and satire blogs, and publishing site...Yes, there are books for sale on the Truckman Publishing site where proceeds are used to further research into future books...Any reader here who finds that either Google or an internet provider or even an unscrupulous hacker has placed advertising on these websites operated by Truckman Industries is encouraged to report it using the email address provided in the sidebar...These sites are wholly financed by Truckman, and the readers may be confident that the only requirement to join this group is to merely read and absorb the truth...
You're welcome...
