The Wake Atoll 2013 Commemorative DXpedition team reports that preparations for its planned K9W operation this fall are “progressing nicely.” Most of the needed equipment is in hand and being checked out before shipment to staging areas in California and Hawaii. The operation will commemorate 98 US civilian contractors — “The Forgotten 98” — who died on the atoll during World War II in October 1943. “Our operation, observing the 70th anniversary of their deaths, will be dedicated to keeping their memory alive and honoring their sacrifice,” the team said this week in a news release. Wake ranks 14th in Club Log’s DXCC Most Wanted List. A contingent of 12 operators is being assembled with plans to operate five stations over a 14-day period on all modes, 160 through 6 meters. The team anticipates that the operation will start the last week of September or first week of October, depending on the military flight schedule into and out of Wake Atoll. — K9W Wake Atoll Management Team