Palauan Sharla Paules surveys the contaminated ground of her lush tropical home island of Peleliu, still littered with WWII munitions 80 years after its liberation from the Japanese.
She recalls as a child her grandmother warning the land was poisoned by unexploded bombs, disrupting almost every aspect of traditional life on the island. “They said after the war the soil was so contaminated they couldn’t even plant food,” said Paules, 49, who is part of a team clearing the island for the mine action group Norwegian People’s Aid.
Read more…
Source: Benar News
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- Micronesia: Palau is littered with WWII munitions 80 years after the war
January 8, 2025
Palauan Sharla Paules surveys the contaminated ground of her lush tropical home island of Peleliu, still littered with WWII munitions 80 years after its liberation from the Japanese. She recalls as a child her grandmother warning the land was poisoned by unexploded bombs, disrupting almost every aspect of traditional life on the island. “They said after ...
- Left of bang: Marine EOD unit trains on WWII ordnance in Pacific
September 2, 2020
For two months in 1944, Marines from the 1st Marine Division alongside soldiers from the Army’s 81st Infantry Division fought a bloody battle for the small coral island of Peleliu, Palau. Roughly 27,000 American troops dropped large amounts of explosives attempting to defeat the nearly 11,000 Japanese soldiers who turned the 5.4 square mile island into ...