Redmond resident Nathan Maris will compete at the national level of the National History Day competition June 14-19 at the University of Maryland.

He passed both regional and state competitions to take second place in the junior individual documentary category.

His documentary, “The Battle of Wake Island: Conflict and Compromise of the Marine Credo” is about the Battle of Wake Island in World War II, where about 1,600 Americans faced 8,000 Japanese troops. The attack began on the same day as the bombing of Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) and lasted until Dec. 23.

Maris interviewed a Wake Island survivor from Cheney and a University of Washington history professor. The focus of his documentary was how the Marines’ credo or code of honor was compromised during the battle, because the commanders voluntarily surrendered to the Japanese. It covers the battle as well as the three-and-a-half-year incarceration in Japanese POW camps.

Maris is an eighth grade student at the International Community School in Kirkland, a Choice school in the Lake Washington School District.