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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Enrolled
House Concurrent Resolution 23
Sponsored by Representatives LEWIS, HELFRICH, BOICE; Representatives BREESE-IVERSON,
DIEHL, EVANS, GRAYBER, SKARLATOS, Senators MANNING JR, MEEK, SMITH DB,
THATCHER
Whereas the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, which propelled
the United States into World War II, was followed five hours later and 2,000 miles to the west by
an attack on Wake Island; and
Whereas on Wake Island, civilian contractors were building a vital United States Navy (USN)
base and refueling facility that the Japanese also needed in order to expand their operations in the
Pacific Theater; and
Whereas Morrison-Knudsen Company, a member of the Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases
consortium, was employing more than 1,100 American civilians who were skilled in heavy con-
struction to build the naval base on Wake Island, including 134 civilians with Oregon connections;
and
Whereas many of the civilian contractors on Wake Island abandoned their tools and heavy
construction equipment to aid the United States Marine Corps detachment during the 16-day siege
and final battle against Japanese forces, during which 49 U.S. military personnel and 34 civilians
were killed, including two Oregonians; and
Whereas a USN task force was dispatched from Pearl Harbor to rescue and reinforce the em-
battled civilian and military personnel on Wake Island, but it was ordered to abort shortly after
Japanese forces landed on the island, leaving the Americans on their own and without hope of res-
cue; and
Whereas Japanese forces eventually captured Wake Island and took all surviving Americans as
prisoners of war (POWs), transporting more than 1,000 civilian and military POWs to Japan and
China, and forcing 98 POWs to remain on Wake Island and perform construction work for Japan,
now the enemy of the United States; and
Whereas 11 Oregonians were among the 98 civilian contractor POWs who were brutally exe-
cuted on Wake Island by the Japanese on October 7, 1943, nearly two years after their capture and
forced labor; and
Whereas 18 Oregon civilian contractors died as slave prisoners of war in Japanese POW camps
in China and Japan during the remaining years of the war; and
Whereas the Japanese forces on Wake Island surrendered to U.S. forces on September 4, 1945;
and
Whereas in 1981 the United States Department of Defense recognized the civilians who con-
tributed to the defense of Wake Island during World War II as eligible for military discharge, medals
and veterans’ benefits; and
Whereas 17 Oregon civilians were laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
(“Punchbowl”) in Hawaii, and 73 were laid to rest in Oregon or their ashes were scattered at sea;
and
Whereas 103 Oregonians who worked as Wake Island civilian contractors survived World War
II, but all have since passed away; and
Whereas Bonita Gilbert, daughter of Wake Island civilian POW and survivor Theodore B. Olson
of Portland, Oregon, is a graduate of the University of Oregon with B.A. and M.A. degrees in history
and the author of Building for War: The Epic Saga of the Civilian Contractors and Marines of Wake
Island in World War II ; and
Enrolled House Concurrent Resolution 23 (HCR 23-A) Page 1
Whereas Bonita Gilbert has visited Wake Island and interviewed Wake Island survivors and
families, and she is an authority on the history of Wake Island in World War II; and
Whereas although the World War II Memorial on the State Capitol grounds in Salem honors
Oregon’s nearly 4,000 veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice during the war, it does not honor
Oregon’s 31 civilians who made the same sacrifice during combat or as POWs while also serving
our nation; and
Whereas the “nonbattle losses” plaque at the World War II Memorial does not adequately de-
scribe the combat role Oregon’s civilians played during the Japanese capture of Wake Island and
their deaths at the hands of the enemy during the battle, from executions on Wake Island or in
Japanese POW camps; and
Whereas Oregon’s 31 World War II civilians who perished under combat and POW conditions
have few individuals left to honor them and no organization available to pursue their recognition,
and they are not honored elsewhere in Oregon, even nearly 80 years after World War II ended; and
Whereas in 2017, the Oregon State Capitol Foundation dedicated a memorial near the World
War II Memorial to the late and highly decorated Claire Maybelle Phillips, a civilian spy and
humanitarian from Oregon who worked behind enemy lines in the Japanese-occupied Philippines
during World War II, was sentenced to death by the Japanese occupiers and yet survived the war;
and
Whereas Bonita Gilbert and Bend Heroes Foundation Chairman Dick Tobiason, the sources of
the information in this resolution, have increased public awareness of the service and sacrifice of
otherwise unknown Oregon civilians; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
That we, the members of the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly, recognize and honor the sacri-
fice and faithful service to our country on Wake Island during World War II of Oregon’s 134 civil-
ians, 31 of whom lost their lives as a result of their service; and be it further
Resolved, That we thank Bonita Gilbert and Dick Tobiason for their research and diligence in
preserving the memory of these heroic civilians.
Adopted by House March 18, 2025
Readopted by House April 24, 2025
Timothy G. Sekerak, Chief Clerk of House
Julie Fahey, Speaker of House
Adopted by Senate April 21, 2025
Rob Wagner, President of Senate
Enrolled House Concurrent Resolution 23 (HCR 23-A) Page 2