>In the 1940's, the uninhabited Midway Atoll was developed as a boat plane hub for Pan Am and their trans-Pacific service.
There was a USN (radio tower) and USMC (protection of radio and bird life from poachers) presence on Midway before Pan Am. As far back as 1903. It wasn't totally "uninhabited", although it has no indigenous population.
The Pan AM route through Midway for the Martin M-130s wasn't developed in the 1940s. It was setup in 1935 and abandoned within days or weeks of the IJN attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Midway Atoll became part of the "Midway Island Naval Defensive Sea Area" early in 1941 and was the scene of one of the most important battles of the Pacific in WWII in June 1942.
Better__Off_Dead t1_j2fgf2r wrote
Reply to comment by popejubal in [OC] Around 30% of countries spend more than 2% of GDP on their military by IndeterminateYogurt
In 2020 it was $2,187 per capita on the military, but they spent $11,945 per capita on healthcare.
As far as % of GDP, in 2020 it was 3.7% on military and 16.8% on healthcare.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175077/healthcare-military-percent-gdp-select-countries-worldwide/