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Or FDR who put our troops out there without sufficient fortifications or troops to hold the island in the first place. Just because the Marines will fight heroically in hopeless situations doesn't mean we should put them into hopeless situations in the first place.

The US was in no position to do that after Pearl Harbor. The Marines' and sailors' defense of Wake and their subsequent imprisonment wasn't theater. Easy to talk 60 years later.

Philippines, we actually had a shot at holding those, so a fight was called for.

We had no shot of holding the Phillipines at the time either for the same reason. By your reasoning they were 'wasted' as well; more 60 year hindsight.

hopeless situations in the first place.

Egypt's embassy isn't anywhere as hopeless as the Western Pacific was at the start of WWII. The Marines are doing the duty that is assigned to them, neither politics or theater is part of that duty.

The US was in no position to do that after Pearl Harbor. The Marines' and sailors' defense of Wake and their subsequent imprisonment wasn't theater. Easy to talk 60 years later.

Going to my point about forethought. The Navy had been asking to fortify the island bases in the Pacific for several years before the war broke out. Instead FDR sent the Marines on Wake six obsolete 5" guns stripped from old battleships that had been scrapped. No proper gun directors, a handful of aircraft, insufficient anti-aircraft guns of an obsolete type, no concrete to build proper bunkers. They didn't even have enough barbed wire to close off the beaches. Worst of due to concerns about money the defenders were provided with no facilities for underground fuel or water storage. It wasn't a matter of doing that after Pearl Harbor it should have been done in 1938 when it became obvious that the Japanese were becoming aggressive.

Even after Pearl Harbor the Marines could still have been saved. After the defenders held off the first invasion attempt there was still time to send in reinforcements. They had lost their fuel supply due to it being stored above ground. And their meager supply of aircraft had been destroyed. Fletcher could have flown in more aircraft and rushed fast fleet oilers in with more aviation fuel. He had an entire Marine squadron on his carriers for just that purpose. Conversely the docks on Wake were still serviceable and Fletcher could have used one of his transports or a couple of destroyers to pull out the garrison. At a minimum he could have launched air strikes from his two carriers against the Japanese invasion forces. But he did neither and instead steamed in circles waiting for orders from politicians to cover his butt while men died. He left the guys on Wake Island in a hopeless situation that they need never have been in. At a minimum he should have evacuated the civilian contractors, all of whom were later executed by the Japanese.

And it isn't 60 years of hindsight. I didn't come up with the name Fueling Frank Fletcher. His own men did after his performance at Wake. Halsey pitched a fit over what we saw as his fellow carrier commanders inaction. That is well documented history not Monday morning quarterbacking.