evidence: This unincorporated US territory is a strategically important island atoll in the Western Pacific Ocean that was claimed by the United States on January 17th, 1899. The island is unintegrated and set apart from other islands in the Pacific by a distance of 592 miles from its nearest neighbor, the Utirik Atoll, which is part of the Marshall Islands. Wake Island is actually composed of three islets. Namely, these are Wake, Wilkes, and Peale. These three islets are positioned around a lagoon. The atoll has a less than three square mile land area, and its location is in the central Pacific. The island was named after Captain Samuel Wake of the British Merchantmen who visited the island in 1796. [...] The United States has not incorporated and organized Wake Island, and as such many governmental services are lacking. Conservation efforts by wildlife personnel is virtually nil, and the parrotfish and wrasse populations have declined considerably here, both of which have been listed as "vulnerable" species. Once a thriving population, the Wake Rails that were once found living on the island is now extinct due to hunting for food by the Japanese during World War II. The island was the scene of a battle between Japanese soldiers and American soldiers in the Second World War after the Japanese made two attacks on the island. On December 23rd, 1941, they occupied the island and held US soldiers prisoners until their surrender in 1945 to the US forces. Today, the Marshall Islands still has an ongoing disputed claim to Wake Island.