During WWII, the U.S. built a military base in this Ecuadorian island group to protect the Panama Canal
The mobility given to the fleet by the Panama Canal is too obvious to require ... 
Army garrison had been given the mission of protecting the Canal against ... 
During 1939 plans and measures for reinforcing the defenses ... Proposals that 
the United States acquire Cocos Island and the Galapagos group had... [DOC] [TLE] Study of the U. S. Air Forces' Galapagos Islands Base [PAR] Continued occupation of the Galapagos Island by the U. S. Military and Naval 
forces ... with Ecuador for permanent operational control of the Galapagos group.