Japanese Missions against Howland Island and Kamakaiwi Airfield
December 8 - ?, 1941

December 8, 1941
(IJN) Fourteen twin-engined bombers bomb Howland Island and damaged the three airstrips. Killed on the ground are two colonists: Richard "Dicky" Kanani Whaley, and Joseph Kealoha Keliʻhananui. The raid came one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and damaged the three airstrips of Kamakaiwi Field.

December 10, 1941
(IJN) A Japanese submarine shelled what was left of the colony's few buildings into ruins.

December 1941
A single bomber returned twice during the following weeks and dropped more bombs on the rubble of tiny Itascatown.