MARCUS ISLAND – Post World War II History

View from US Navy landing ship of the southern coast of Marcus Island, late 1945.
Naval Air Base Marcus Island, shortly after the end of WW2. Unidentified person standing in front of Base Ops to the right of the building. This was located at the approximate site of the current USCG station.
Marcus Island, C46 refueling, post WW2. Unidentifed man.
C46 on Marcus Island being refueled. Post WW2.
C46 landing on Marcus Island, probable late 1945.

Article in the newspapers about Marcus Island

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Roster of the last US Navy men on Marcus Island 1947. (US Archives)

1950s

Mr Sakagami’s May 1952 report on Marcus Island

Pacific Science Volume 15, Number 1, 1961, Sakagami SF. 1961. An ecological perspective of Marcus Island, with special reference to land animals. Pac Sci 15(1): 82-104.

1960s

C130s on the ramp at Tachikawa AB, Japan during the 1960s (Mike Skidmore photo)

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C130 637855 lands at Tachikawa AB, Japan during the 1960s. Japanese protestors can be seen in the foreground (Mike Skidmore photo)

C130 637878 sits on the ramp at Tachikawa AB, Japan The Tachikawa C130s made weekly supply flights to the USCG on Marcus Island during the 1960s (Mike Skidmore poto)

1970s

DC-7/C54 leaves Tachikawa AB, Japan (Mike Skidmore photo)

Civil Air Transport (CAT), one of the airlines used by the CIA, flew several scheduled flights from Tachikawa AB, Japan. (Mike Skidmore photo)

A C-124 lands at Tachikawa AB, Japan, a major airlift hub in the 1960s (Mike Skidmore photo)

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Major rare earth discovery in Japan could change resources landscape
The submarine channel through the reef can been seen on the west side of Marcus island in this picture. Cut during WW2 for the Japanese supply submarines.

1980s

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A former bunker on the south coast of Marcus Island

Japanese tankette rusting in the bushes, Marcus Island, Japan. While the island was attacked from the air, it was never assaulted directly; this tank never fired a shot in anger.
A Japanese tank from WW2 sits on Marcus Island still today (copyright Michael Stanley, used by permission)

An exterior view of a Japanese pillbox weapon port, Marcus Island, Japan.
Japanese pillbox from WW2 (copyright Michael Stanley, used by permission)
A pillbox's gunport view across the lagoon and coral reef beyond; Marcus Island, Japan.
View from a WW2 Japanese pillbox on Marcus Island (copyright Michael Stanley, used by permission)

1990s

2000s

Suomi NPP image of Noru
Typhoon Noru near Minami Torishima 24 July 2017
Marcus Island Minami Tori Shima Islands JG8NQJ/JD1

Marcus Island today, looking north west ( PHOTO: https://ridgelineimages.com/musings/superlative-tokyo-biggest-and-best/)

Minami-Tori-Shima area rare earths deposits

  • In 2012, Japanese scientists discovered about 6.8 million tons of rare earth elements (“REEs”) near the island, enough to supply Japan’s current consumption for over 200 years. At that time, around 90% of the world’s production of REE comes from China, and Japan imports 60% of that.
  • In 2013, the location of deposits was confirmed to be approximately 250 km south of island itself, in the sea-bottom sediments under 5600 to 5800 m of water. The rare-earth elements unusually high concentration of 0.66 % was also confirmed.
  • In 2014, the Japanese government has assigned a task of developing a necessary rare earths mining technology to a company Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.
Image

Marcus Island Japanese C130 lands
Runway 23 at Minami Torishima Island

Bibliography

https://www.loran-history.info/marcus/marcus.htm

forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=209730#p1892949

//www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/cataam/Leeker/history/Japan.pdf

//aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Jul.45.html

Title:Report on a Trip to Marcus Island with Notes on the Birds
Authors:Kuroda, Nagahisa
Date Issued:Jan 1954
Publisher:University of Hawai’i Press
Citation:Kuroda N. 1954. Report on a trip to Marcus Island with notes on the birds. Pac Sci 8(1): 84-93
URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10125/9117
ISSN:0030-8870
Appears in Collections:Pacific Science Volume 8, Number 1, 1954

An Ecological Perspective of Marcus Island, with Special Reference to Land Animals

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vol15n1-82-104.pdf10.55 MBAdobe PDF View/Open

Item Summary

Title:An Ecological Perspective of Marcus Island, with Special Reference to Land Animals
Authors:Sakagami, Shoichi F.
Date Issued:Jan 1961
Publisher:University of Hawai’i Press
Citation:Sakagami SF. 1961. An ecological perspective of Marcus Island, with special reference to land animals. Pac Sci 15(1): 82-104.
URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10125/7864
ISSN:0030-8870
Appears in Collections:Pacific Science Volume 15, Number 1, 1961

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