Clearing WWII's explosive legacy in the Pacific

Maybe the SDF could help.

Just try to wrap your mind around the sheer volume of raw materials and resources wasted, redirected all in the name of war. Imagine what COULD have been done productively with all those resources.

And now 70 years later many of those resources are still haunting and lurking.

Good on these people for going in and trying to clean up, and I do hope the nations responsible for the mess do a little more donating, if not sending people or forces to help with the removal and disposal.

Europe has been collecting for 70+ years. Unexploded ordnance is a casualty of all battlefields. Uncollected land mines are still a problem. War is a waste of life, effort and resources.

I agree 100% with Galt above.

The nations responsible have taken and continue to take responsibility...but the truth is that there is way too much stuff out there that nobody has any accurate information about. And this is also what makes me nervous about scattering radioactive waste around Japan to "share the burden" - in 100 years, nobody will have a clue what is where, any more than we know now where dangerous ordinance and other WWII problems lie in wait.

Worth watching the episode of 'The Pacific' that showcases Peleliu to get an idea of the horror of that conflict. Truly shocking.

fascinating story , thanks. in France & Belgium they still occasionally drag up some century old WW1 unexploded murder tools. maybe if countries couldn't buy new ones till they've delt with the old stuff it'd improve . this kind of story will last forever unfortunately.

A visit to the island while diving in Palau was a fantastic experience, and true the ordnance was visible everywhere. It really brought home the ingenuity of the Japanese in the time of war, walking the the maze of caves was amazing, good job we had a guide,you get a feel of how it took the Americans so long to take the island, and the only thing visible was the airstrip, Peleliu was also used to hide Japanese submarines. A more humorous add on, there was even a sunken bath in the Japanese military headquarters, something about the saying,"clean fight or fight clean"

With all the raging economic "success" that Abenomics has gifted us with - surely there are countless yen available to clean up the dangerous mess they left behind on foreign shores. Heck - it's only been 70 years ...

American torpedoes during the early part of WWII were notorious for impacting but not exploding. A perfectly aimed shot resulting in the torpedo striking perpendicular to the hull would crush the trigger before it could detonate the warhead. Early reports from submarine captains were disregarded as attempts to hide firing a badly-aimed shot, but by 1943 the complaints had risen to the point were the flaw was discovered. Two years of torpedoes not detonating and instead burying themselves in the mud (in the case of shallow water) or sinking to the bottom once the propellant was expended. The warheads are still there.

The following statement is posted on the CGD website (http://www.clearedground.org/projects_palau.aspx):

"Thanks to our supporters. Cleared Ground Demining would like to thank its donors for making our valuable work in Palau possible:

British Embassy, Manila

Federal Republic of Germany *

Italian Embassy, Manila

New Zealand Aid

United States of America, PMWRA"

NOTE: The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is involved with the clearance and safe disposal/destruction of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and excess conventional weapons and aging and surplus munitions.

*Germany was also involved in removing unexploded WWI ordinance from Palau.

The unexploded ordinance that is still being found in France from WWI and WWII is staggering. I can imagine the effects and ill effects from everything that was dumped on the islands. Sad what we as humans have done to our only planet. I hope that we can come together and clean up this mess.