Located 30 minutes by boat from Jabor,
Jaluit Atoll.
History
Occupied by 2,2000 Japanese for the duration of the war,
this island was subjected 6.2 million
pounds of bombs, dropped over twenty months by American aircraft, aftther
Kwajalein and Majuro were occupied. Attacking the island was considered
a milk run for American crews practicing bombing techniques until the
end of the war. Despite the tonage of bombs dropped, of the 837 Japanese
killed during the war, only 381 were due to bombing,
the rest were starvation and disease. During the war, the garrison mannaged
to fish, raise pigs and cultivate gardens. Prior to surrender, the Japanese commander, Rear-Admiral Nisuke Masuda
asked the local chief's premission to allow his men to remain on the
island after the war (they declined). When the garrison of 2,000 surrendered,
Masuda
committed
suicide
on
September
2,
1945
before his
scheduled
trial appearance for ordering the deaths of three US aviators captured
in 1943. In his suicide note, he admitted to the acts.
Today
Since the war, the island has reverted, and is one of the best preserved
wartime locations in the Marshall Islands. There is no electricity
on the island, but it is possible to walk around the island in
a day.