Page "Jarvis Island" Paragraph 14

At the beginning of World War II, an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine surfaced off the west coast of the Island.

Believing that it was a U. S. Navy submarine which had come to fetch them, the four young colonists rushed down the steep western beach in front of tiny Millersville towards the shore.

The submarine answered their waves with fire from its deck gun, but no one was hurt in the attack.

On 7 February 1942, the USCGC Taney evacuated the colonists, then shelled and burned the dwellings.

The roughly cleared landing area on the island's northeast end was later shelled by the Japanese, leaving crater holes.