The company contracted to build the base was Morrison-Knudsen Co. (acquired by Washington Group International) which, together with seven other companies, built many of the U.S. naval bases throughout the Pacific Ocean. During the construction several military personnel were already deployed. Nearly a year later the Battle of Wake Island began. After pioneering air service into Wake Island in 1935, Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) continued to serve the airfield for many years. In 1950, Wake Island was a stop on Pan Am's round the world service between San Francisco and New York City with the airline operating double-decker Boeing 377 Stratocruiser propliners into the airfield. Westbound Pan Am flights continued on to Guam, Tokyo and other destinations in Asia before proceeding to Europe and New York City while eastbound flights operated a Henderson Field (Midway Atoll)-Honolulu-San Francisco routing. By 1969, Wake Island was a scheduled stop on a round trip transpacific flight operated by Pan Am between San Francisco and Saigon in the former country of South Vietnam. This passenger service was operated twice a week with a Boeing 707 intercontinental jetliner. These flights also served Honolulu and Guam nonstop from Wake Island. At the same time, Pan Am was operating daily all cargo flights into Wake Island with a Boeing 707 jet freighter. Depending on the day of the week, this all cargo service was flown into Wake Island on a westbound route that included New York City, Los Angeles, Travis Air Force Base in northern California (which was a flag stop for military cargo and mail), San Francisco and Honolulu. Continuing all cargo service was operated by the Pan Am 707 jet freighter westbound to Guam, Tokyo, Saigon and Hong Kong. Pan Am subsequently discontinued all flights into Wake Island by the early 1970s thus ending many years of passenger and cargo air service. Wake Island was one of the smallest destinations, population-wise, ever to receive scheduled Pan Am jet service. Japan Airlines (JAL) used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6 prop aircraft in the mid-1950s. The Wake Island technical stop on this route disappeared with the introduction of Douglas DC-8 jetliners by JAL. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, which subsequently became British Airways) also used Wake Island as a refueling stop. During the late 1950s, BOAC operated Bristol Britannia turboprop aircraft on their twice a week westbound service between the U.K. and Asia via the U.S.