Micronesia (Marshall Islands)
Palmyra Atoll
Palmyra Atoll is located about one thousand miles south of Honolulu and about 350 miles north of the equator. Palmyra is formed by about 50 islets covered with dense vegetation, coconut trees, and balsa-like trees up to 30 meters tall. 

Today Palmyra atoll is officially uninhabited, although often yaghts visit the atoll. Much of the road and many causeways built during World War II are unserviceable and overgrown.

Named for the ship that discovered her in the early nineteenth century which in turn had been named Palmyra for the glittering city of ancient Syria, PALMYRA ATOLL is the jewel of the Line Islands. His Royal Highness King Kamehameha I, The Unifier, considered Palmyra as part of his far-flung empire.

IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED that any visit to the atoll be approved by the owner or the owner's representative. This notice on this page is not an invitation of any kind for anyone to visit the almost pristine atoll.

History

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Palmyra, 900 miles southeast of Johnston, also figured in the early development of a safe plane route to the southern theater of war. But before the atoll faded from the action reports it too got a taste of the gunfire of a Japanese submarine. At dawn on 24 December an enemy raider surfaced 3,000 yards south of the main island and began firing on the dredge Sacramento which was anchored in the lagoon and clearly visible between two of Palmyra's numerous tiny islets. Only one hit was registered before the fire of the 5-inch battery drove the submarine under. Damage to the dredge was minor and no one was injured.

Colonel Pickett's command at Pearl Harbor had organized strong reinforcements for Palmyra and these arrived before the end of December. Lieutenant Colonel Bert A. Bone, Commanding Officer of the 1st Defense Battalion, arrived with the additional men, guns, and equipment to assume command of the defense force. On 2 March the official designation of the Marine garrison on Palmyra was changed to 1st Defense Battalion and former 1st Battalion men at other bases were absorbed by local commands. The Marine Detachment at Johnston became a separate unit.

After these submarine attacks of December, Palmyra and Johnston drop from the pages of an operational history. The atolls had served their purpose well; they guarded a vulnerable flank of the Hawaiian Islands at a time when such protection was a necessity. While the scene of active fighting shifted westward the garrisons remained alert, and when conditions permitted it many of the men who had served out the first hectic days of the war on these lonely specks in the ocean moved on to the beachheads of the South and Central Pacific.