Is Unexploded World War II Ammunition Abandoned Property? Ethics and the Law in Micronesia (Article) [2005] JSPL 18; (2005) 9(2) Journal of South Pacific Law

IS UNEXPLODED WORLD WAR II AMMUNITION ABANDONED PROPERTY?
ETHICS AND THE LAW IN MICRONESIA

DIRK H.R. SPENNEMANN*

ABSTRACT

During World War II the atolls and islands of Micronesia were the focus of military development, extensive fighting and bombardment. By the end of that war the islands were littered with unexpended Japanese ammunition and with US ordnance that had failed to explode on impact. This paper examines the legal and moral ownership of that ammunition, as it has a bearing on its management in the modern historic preservation context.

INTRODUCTION

The Pacific War (1941-1945) has seen the development of several permanent and temporary military bases on several islands and atolls in the central and western Pacific Ocean by both Japanese and Allied forces (Spennemann 1992a-b; Look and Spennemann 1993). Vast quantities of ammunition, ranging from cartridges for small arms to high explosive shells for large coastal defence and naval guns, as well as aerial bombs were moved to the bases and stored in concrete bunkers or open bomb dumps. Small quantities were stored in ammunition ready magazines at the gun emplacements, where they were needed. Some of the ammunition was used up by the Japanese defenders, but much remained unexpended as the guns for which it had been stored were destroyed and made inoperable by U.S. attacks (cf. USSBS 1947 and interviews therein).

In addition, enemy action delivered substantial quantities of ordnance on the Japanese bases. There is no authoritative table that compiles the total of the ammunition used by the US forces. We have some data compilations for the Marshall Islands. Table 1 compiles some of that information for the general bombardment, and Table 2 provides the data for the bombardment during the invasion of Kwajalein and Enewetok. It should be noted that the data presented there are near complete only for the atolls of Jaluit, Maleolap and Wotje. For the other islands and atolls, these figures are minimum figures only. Especially as far as the assault on Kwajalein and Enewetok are concerned, such data are incomplete.

Table 1. Tonnage of high explosive bombs, naval shells, napalm and rockets directed by U.S. Army, Navy and Marine units against targets in the Marshall Islands, February 1942-August 1945, ranked by tonnage delivered against targets. (Invasion bombardment excluded) (Compiled from: USSBS 1947; SCU 1945)

	7th AAF	USN carriers		USN land	Fourth Marine Air Wing			Naval
Atoll	Bombs	Bombs	Napalm	Bombs	Bombs	Napalm	Rockets	Gunfire	Total
Wotje	1236.10	166.10		213.10	1861.20	10.60	5.07	1016.53	4508.70
Mile	786.10	239.35		97.50	2236.41	150.27	3.81	453.00	3996.44
Maloelap	1128.00	227.77	29.00	219.00	1119.46	41.85	4.77	864.88	3634.73
Jaluit	1374.00	49.50		232.20	1425.38	54.20	7.32	6.00	3148.60
Enewetak	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Kwajalein	315.20	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Majuro	15.00								15.0
Rongelap	11.40								11.4
Aur	8.50								8.5
Arno	5.90								5.9
Likiep	3.00								3.0
Ujelang	3.00								3.0
Total	4922.5	682.72	29	761.8	6642.45	256.92	20.97	2340.41	15335.37

Table 2. Tonnage of high explosive bombs, naval shells, napalm and rockets directed by U.S. Army, Navy and Marine units against targets on Kwajalein and Enewetak, Marshall Islands, during the invasion of these islands. (Compiled from: Crowl and Love 1955; Heinl and Crown 1954; USMC nd)

	7th AAF	US Navy	US Navy	US Army
Atoll	Bombs	Bombs	Gunfire	Gunfire	Total
Kwajalein
Roi-	23	16 +	1434.5
Namur			1220.6
Kwajalein I.	15		2656.5	1847.4
Northern small islands			2677.4	43+
Southern small islands		33	3926.7	389.9+
Total		274.5
Enewetak
Parry		99	944.4	245
Engebi		?	1179.7
Enewetak I		?	204.6	—
Smaller islands			16.2
Total

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Figure 1. Japanese Weaponry lined up for removal after capitulation, Wake Island (Photo: US National Archives 80-G-346844)	Figure 2. Pre-invasion bombardment of Roi, Kwajalein Atoll (Photo: US National Archives 80-G-216620)
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Figure 3. US Artillery personnel land ammunition during the invasion of Kwajalein Island (Photo: Department of Defence Photo (Army) 324729)	Figure 4. US bomb storage dump on Kwajalein Island soon after invasion (Photo: US Navy Historical Centre K-14581)
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Figure 5. Impact of prolonged aerial bombardment on by-passed atolls. The northern tip of Emidj Islet, Jaluit Atoll. The photo at the left was taken in November 1943 prior to the commencement of long-distance bombardment, the photo on the right six months later in May 1944 (Photo: Heinl and Crown 1954, p.156)
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Figure 6. A 127mm dual purpose gun emplacement on Mile (Photo: Dirk HR Spennemann)	Figure 7. Unexpended 127mm ammunition with casing, shell and intact fuse (Photo: Dirk HR Spennemann)
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Figure 8. Several 127mm casings (shells removed) accumulated on Wotje (Photo: Dirk HR Spennemann)	Figure 9. Aerial bomb with fuse still intact at the south-western beach of Wotje (Photo: Dirk HR Spennemann)

Most of this ammunition was either expended during military action or was removed after the war. Whilst most of the bombs and shells exploded as intended, some did not. An US intelligence report following the capture of Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, by US forces indicates that approximately 50% of the naval shells failed to detonate on impact, an observation reinforced by a statement by the commander of the Japanese garrison made after surrender of Taroa and Maloelap Atoll (Kamada 1947). Upon impact several of these were buried into the soft sand.

Ordnance Removal

In the closing months of 1945 the US forces removed all remaining and easily accessible Japanese ordnance from the ammunition dumps on Wotje, Mile, Taroa and Jaluit. Most of these dumps were still substantial at the time of surrender. (USSBS 1947). Although the US apparently took great care of the removal of Japanese ordinance from the major stores, there is still a fair amount of ordinance lying about which is definitely of Japanese origin. The information about previous ordnance removal operations, concerning themselves with scattered ammunition, however, is very limited. Two years after the war, the US Army sent an ordnance removal team to the islands formerly held by Japanese garrison troops. This team, consisting of one ensign, two qualified enlisted men and a local interpreter, worked on Wotje, Jaluit, Taroa, Maloelap, and Mile (Richard 1957: 1124). Mile was not visited until spring 1947, and Wotje was not visited until much later, when the vegetation had largely recovered and a great deal of ammunition may have become hidden under scrub.

Example: Mile Atoll

The situation on Mile may serve as an example: despite the two previous missions, Mile Island as well as Bikenen Island, Mile Atoll, were uninhabited in early 1952, as the ammunition scattered on the island posed to great a danger to human life (DA MI 1952). Following reports of unexploded ammunition, a third ordnance removal mission was ordered by the U.S. Navy in 1954, covering Taroa, Maloelap Atoll, and Mile Island, Mile Atoll (CUSPF 1954). An assessment of the situation on Mile Atoll in 1955 revealed that most of the islands need clearing of unexploded ordnance and replanting, since people are still unable to return there for settlement and live on other islands of Mile Atoll (Majo 1955). Following further reports of unexploded ammunition, a yet another ordnance removal mission was dispatched in September 1958 from the U.S. Navy Station Kwajalein to ‘sanitize’ Wotje and Mile (EODO 1958). Yet another major ordnance removal mission took place in early 1969, covering Wotje (completed 13 April 1969), Jaluit [Akmann, Bok-en and Bijet Islands] (1 May 1969), Mile [Mile and Tokowa Islands] (16 May 1969) and Maloelap [Taroa, Ollot and Tian Islands] (1 June 1969) (CNOSC 1969a). On Mile 613 “known” pieces” (as shown to the team by some islanders and the Peace Corps volunteers) and 2594 other pieces of ordnance were destroyed during the 1969 mission. The co-operation with the locals during this removal mission was not the best, it appears.
During a survey of Mile Island the EOD team found 11 1/25 55-gallon drums of picric acid, some of which already in a crystallised form. On returning the following day in order to remove and destroy these drums, only ten drums were present. The missing 1½ drums could not be located and none of the locals would be of assistance. The report mentions that bomb fishing was of great importance to the locals and that they would not volunteer the whereabouts of unexploded ordnance (CNOSC 1969b). Despite initial clean up and a number of subsequent ordnance removal missions there is still an abundance of ammunition located on the islands. Some unexpended ammunition still remains in place today next to the guns for which it was intended (figure 1–2) (cf. Spennemann et al 1990); while unexploded ordnance can be found on the island and along their shores (figure 4).
Scrap metal drives of the 1970s (Look and Spennemann 1993) as well as the utilisation of explosives for bomb fishing (Hezel and Graham 1997) have further scattered the ordnance by removing the copper-alloy casings (figure 3) and scattering the shells. Thus much of the ammunition is found during normal vegetation clearing in the course of agriculture/gardening and during heritage conservation management actions (cf. Look and Spennemann 1993; Spennemann 1998a).
The question arises, who owns the unexploded ammunition. By extension, and more importantly, we need to clarify the question as to who is legally and morally responsible for its safe disposal. The rest of this paper will highlight some of those issues.

POLITICO-LEGAL BACKGROUND

Regarded as moveable cultural resources dating to World War II are all impermanent alterations to the landscape, such as aircraft, trucks, bombs and guns and parts thereof (but not the gun emplacements).