World War II Facilities at Midway, Military fortification complex in Midway Atoll, United States.

The World War II Facilities at Midway are a National Historic Landmark District on Sand Island, one of two main islands of Midway Atoll. The Navy fortified both islands: Eastern Island held three runways in a triangular layout and six coastal and dual-purpose batteries with 3-, 5- and 7-inch guns, while Sand Island, one mile wide and two long, carried seven batteries but no runways until after the war. The surviving elements, all on Sand Island, include three ammunition magazines of Battery A (S-7113, S-7119, S-7121), one and a half emplacements of 3d Battalion Battery D, two magazines S-7124 and S-7125, a concrete pillbox near S-7125, two emplacements of the 3-inch naval battery and magazine S-6194.

The base was developed in the 1930s after the United States recognized the value of its position in the Pacific. In June 1942, forces based here stopped a Japanese advance during a naval battle that shifted the course of the Pacific War.

The gun positions and bunkers on Sand Island show how every corner of the atoll was organized around a single defensive purpose. Walking among the remains gives a direct sense of how troops lived and worked in a remote outpost with no nearby land for support.

The area is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is not open to the general public. Anyone hoping to visit should contact the relevant authority well in advance, as access is generally limited to authorized personnel and researchers.

Eastern Island, where one of the three runways sits, is today largely uninhabited and taken over by nesting seabirds that use the old military structures as shelter. The same ground that once supported aircraft now hosts one of the largest Laysan albatross colonies on the planet.