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More than 80 years after the guns fell silent across the Pacific, the people of Mili Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands are still living alongside the explosive remnants of the Second World War. In June / July 2026, Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, with funding from the United States Government through the U.S. Embassy in Kolonia, returned to Mili to help remove that danger, working alongside the local community and police to locate and destroy 127 items of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW).
Dangerous History Beneath Your Feet
Mili Atoll is a place of extraordinary natural beauty, but its landscape carries a difficult history.
Following WWI, the Marshall Islands came under Japanese administration. During the Second World War, Mili became a heavily fortified Japanese military base, with three airfield runways, coastal defense positions, anti-aircraft guns, radar and other military infrastructure.
From 1943 until the final months of the war, the atoll was repeatedly attacked by U.S. aircraft and naval forces. Mili became one of the most persistently bombarded islands of the Pacific campaign. The Japanese garrison was eventually isolated, and Mili was among the last Japanese positions in the Pacific to surrender, on 22 August 1945.
War Ended. Explosives Stayed.
Bombs, artillery projectiles, grenades, fuzes and other military ordnance remained scattered across islands, beaches and former defensive positions. Some became buried beneath sand and coral. Others disappeared beneath decades of tropical vegetation.
For generations of Marshallese families, that means history is not confined to memorials or photographs. It is quite literally beneath their feet.
A Threat Embedded in Everyday Life
In June and July 2026, local residents guided our team to places where suspicious items had been seen or remembered. Some were near former Japanese military positions; others buried along beaches or concealed beneath dense vegetation.
One projectile was found close to a family home. Residents also told the team about a previous tragedy in which a woman was killed after unexploded ordnance (UXO) buried beneath a cooking pit detonated.
This story captures the reality of ERW. A munition does not become safe simply because a conflict has ended. Decades underground, exposed to salt water, corrosion, weather and changing terrain, can make old ordnance increasingly unpredictable.
127 ERW Removed
Working closely with the Mili Police Chief, local leaders and residents, the GWHF team investigated reported locations and searched areas of known contamination.
Some items were buried several feet beneath beaches and covered by large pieces of coral and rock. Others lay in shallow reef areas or were concealed by vegetation.
The 127 explosive items recovered included Japanese artillery projectiles, a Japanese hand grenade, bombs and fuzes, as well as U.S. ordnance, including a 500-pound bomb. Together they weighed 7,214 pounds, or approx. 3.6 tons. All were safely destroyed in carefully controlled demolition operations.
The Community Is Part of the Solution
The people who live on Mili know their land. They know where unusual objects have been seen, where the coastline has changed and where previous generations warned children not to go.
That relationship between technical expertise and community knowledge proved essential throughout the mission.
Mili police officers also received training in basic UXO recognition, safe marking and GPS location reporting. Two GPS units were provided so future discoveries can be accurately recorded and communicated.
Removing the hazards we know about today matters. Helping local partners respond safely to the hazards discovered tomorrow matters just as much. Sustainable humanitarian mine action means leaving communities safer and more capable.
More Than an EOD Mission
Reaching Mili is itself a substantial undertaking. The atoll lies far from the logistical infrastructure that most of us take for granted. The Golden West team deployed prepared to operate self-sufficiently, bringing the food, water, medical capability, equipment and supplies required to sustain field operations in an isolated environment.
Mili had reportedly gone approximately eight months without a ship resupply. On the journey from Majuro, the vessel carried not only Golden West personnel and equipment, but also passengers and much-needed supplies for island residents, including food, fuel, water, building materials and other equipment. Humanitarian work never exists in isolation from the communities in which it takes place.
At the end of operations, residents held a thank-you gathering for the team, with speeches, singing and dancing. For Golden West, that relationship is as meaningful as any operational statistic.
Partnership Makes This Work Possible
The Mili operation was made possible through funding from the United States Government through the U.S. Embassy in Kolonia. Golden West is deeply grateful for that support and for the long-standing U.S. commitment to addressing the dangerous legacies of conflict across the Pacific.
We also extend our sincere thanks to the Government and people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands; the leaders, police and residents of Mili; Public Works personnel who supported transportation and logistics; and everyone who helped the team identify hazards, move equipment and operate safely.
The Work Is Not Finished
The 2026 mission made Mili significantly safer, but it did not make the problem disappear. During the deployment, the team received reports of additional suspected ordnance elsewhere across the atoll, including on Enejit Island, which the available mission time did not allow them to investigate. That is the reality throughout parts of the Pacific.
WWII’s explosive legacy remains. Changing tides uncover old ammunition, vegetation conceals former military sites, construction and erosion expose objects that may have remained untouched for decades. Each one represents a small piece of unfinished history.
Our work is not simply measured by the number of explosives destroyed. It is measured in the land communities can develop, children who understand what not to touch, police who know how to respond, and families who can live with one less hidden danger from a war that should have stopped threatening them generations ago.
Golden West Humanitarian Foundation. Saving lives through innovation.
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