Wyatt Olson

Wyatt Olson

Wyatt Olson is based in the Honolulu bureau, where he has reported on military and security issues in the Indo-Pacific since 2014. He was Stars and Stripes’ roving Pacific reporter from 2011-2013 while based in Tokyo. He was a freelance writer and journalism teacher in China from 2006-2009.

@WyattWOlson

olson.wyatt@stripes.com

Natalie Rauch points to the name of her father, Col. Warren Anderson, etched in the marble at the Courts of the Missing in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on June 11, 2024.

Daughters of missing Vietnam War pilots lead charge to update MIA monument

The daughters of two Air Force pilots who went missing during the Vietnam War are spearheading an effort to properly update and designate the status of names on the Courts of the Missing monument in Honolulu.

Marine Corps Lt. Joel Hunter shows reporters a 3D printer being used in the Rim of the Pacific exercise to manufacture metal parts during a demonstration at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on July 2, 2024.

RIMPAC exercise tests bounds of 3D printing of crucial parts in real time

Cmdr. Yvonne van Beusekom, commander of the Royal Netherland Navy frigate HNLMS Tromp, stands beside a 127-mm cannon on the ship’s bow while talking with reporters on June 28, 2024, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

It’s called Rim of the Pacific, but ships of the Atlantic want in

Vice Adm. John Wade, commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet and head of the Rim of the Pacific exercise, speaks with reporters June 27, 2024, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Rear Adm. Kazushi Yokota of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, right, is the exercise’s vice commander.

Ship-sinking and ‘experimentation’ ahead as RIMPAC kicks off in Hawaii

A Navy contractor collects water samples Jan. 31, 2024, as part of the Navy’s long-term monitoring program at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

Government attorneys urge judge to award minimal damages to Red Hill plaintiffs

The U.S. government is urging a judge to award only a fraction of the $7 million sought by 17 plaintiffs seeking compensation for a 2021 Navy fuel spill in Hawaii that contaminated their drinking water.

Nikki Stratton, granddaughter of Donald Stratton, who was one of the few remaining survivors of the sinking of the USS Arizona when he died in 2020, delivers remarks during a Pearl Harbor Day ceremony at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2023.

Granddaughter of USS Arizona survivor to speak at December ceremony

The granddaughter of a sailor who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor will deliver the keynote speech at this year’s commemoration in December.

Red arrows indicate damage on a SRTV-SXV Tactical Vehicle that rolled over Feb. 17, 2023, in the Northern Mariana Islands and severely injured two airmen.

Airmen suffered paralysis, amputation in 2023 vehicle rollover on Pacific island

Two airmen permanently injured last year in a tactical vehicle rollover in the Northern Mariana Islands were driving too fast and not wearing seat belts, the Air Force said in a recently released report.

The decommissioned former USS Rodney M. Davis is hit and sunk during the Rim of the Pacific exercise in waters near Hawaii, July 12, 2022.

RIMPAC to feature largest-ever disaster-relief drills, possible ship sinking

This summer’s Rim of the Pacific will include the maritime exercise’s largest-ever humanitarian aid and disaster relief drills and the sinking of a decommissioned U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship.

Staff members of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense, tour proposed sites on Guam for a planned integrated missile defense system for the island, Aug. 9, 2023.

Guam’s acting governor seeks more time to review missile test plan

Guam’s acting governor has asked for a two-month extension for a comment period on the military’s plan for live-fire missile defense tests for the island over the next decade.

Philippines soldiers with the 7th Infantry Division scan the horizon for enemy forces during an air assault maneuver as part of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center-Exportable exercise on Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, on June 1, 2024.

US Army brings its premier training center to Philippines for first time

U.S. Army Pacific exported its premier wargaming technology, the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, to the Philippines this month for the first time for exercises to help soldiers hone their combat skills.

Members of Taiwan’s 564th Armored Brigade hold a flag after demonstrating their ability to repel an airborne attack near Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in January 2023.

State Department approves sale of spare F-16 parts to Taiwan for $80 million

The State Department has approved an $80 million sale of parts for F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced. The sale would also include engineering, technical and logistics support services by U.S. government personnel and contractors.

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, right, poses beside Brig. Gen. Michael Cruz, adjutant general of the Guam National Guard, center, and Lt. Col. Jonathan Stafford, commander of Task Force Talon, during a visit to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, site, on Guam, May 9, 2024.

Military plans up to 20 missile tests for Guam defense system over next decade

The U.S. military plans to conduct up to two live-fire missile defense tests each year over the next decade from Guam as it develops an integrated defense system for the strategically important island.

Pearl Harbor attack survivor Herbert Elfring poses during the annual ceremony at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii, Dec. 7, 2022.

One of Pearl Harbor attack’s last remaining survivors dies at age 102

Herbert Elfring, one of the Pearl Harbor attack’s last remaining survivors, died Saturday in Michigan at age 102. There are fewer than two dozen known surviving veterans of Japan’s surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

Army Pvt. 1st Class Luther Bagley holds his son Nathan Bagley while posing beside his wife Eleanor in this photo taken during World War II before he shipped out to Burma where he joined Merrill’s Marauders.

Remains of Merrill’s Marauder identified 80 years after death in Burma

On the morning of May 14, Nathan “Woody” Bagley received a call that left the 80-year-old speechless. The remains of his father, missing since 1944 when he was killed in Burma while serving in the famed Merrill’s Marauders, had been found and identified.

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