Midway…Still Important

Delta 747 after landing at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

With news agencies reporting a Delta Airlines 747 making a landing at Midway today, we thought we’d share some info about this little-known, but very significant place!

Historic Canon & seabirds at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Midway, part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, is one of the world’s most spectacular wildlife experiences. Nearly three million birds call it home for much of each year, including the world’s largest population of Laysan Albatrosses, or “gooney birds”. Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles and spinner dolphins frequent Midway’s crystal blue lagoon.

Midway became an “overlay” refuge in 1988, while still under the primary jurisdiction of the Navy. With the closure of Naval Air Facility Midway Island in 1993, there began a transition from bullets to birds, a change in mission from national defense to wildlife conservation.

Midway is one of the most remote coral atolls on earth. Yet, it is much, much more!

• the last link in a global telegraph system, inaugurated by a message from President Teddy Roosevelt on the Fourth of July, 1903
• a landing site for Pan Am Clippers enroute across the Pacific Ocean in the late 1930s
• the focus of a 1942 battle that changed the tide of war in the Pacific
• from July 1942 to the end of hostilities, Midway served as a submarine base that aided in bringing the war to a close
• naval air facility that played a pivotal role in support of the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War

Midway after the June 4, 1942 attack by Japanese forces.

On September 13, 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated the lands and waters of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial, “so that the heroic courage and sacrifice of those who fought against overwhelming odds to win an incredible victory will never be forgotten.” This is the first National Memorial to be designated on a National Wildlife Refuge.

Numerous historic sites portraying man’s history on the islands since the early 1900’s are protected by the Fish and WIldlife Service, including several World War II defensive positions that were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

For more information about Midway Atoll, be sure to visit http://www.fws.gov/midway/