Battle of Tarawa Tour

Those of you who know John are already aware that he's a history buff. Especially war history. He loves the stuff.

So, for his birthday treat, I booked us on the WWII Betio Battlefield Tour by Molly's Tours.

Molly has a few odds and ends in her front yard!

Molly picked us up at the wharf in the bus, and took us back to her house to watch a dvd on the Battle. The Battle of Tarawa was one of the bloodiest battles in US Marine Corps history. After the video, we jumped on the bus and walked to the various war remains that lay scattered across the islet. Although we'd seen many of the sites on our own previous explorations, Molly's descriptions and additional information added to our knowledge and made the tour interesting!

Remains of an American Tank

An unexpected surprise was walking through various villages on our way to the beach relics and buried bunkers. We was how the locals are living in very cramped quarters. We talked to a couple of men who were digging a new well, and had come across machine gun parts, and ammunitions. In some cases, we saw bunkers, gun mounts, and search light bases in yards and between homes.

Tank track buried in the sand