Editing History of Palau (section)

==World War II==
{{further|Pacific Islands home front during World War II}}
Life was especially hard for Palauans during World War II. By the late 1930s the Japanese military build-up was well underway and some restrictions were already being applied to Palauans. When the war began to turn against the Japanese in 1942, the restrictions on Palauans were increased and shortages became common. Palauans were forced into labor gangs to help build island defenses. The Japanese began to relocate large numbers of Palauans from the larger towns on Orcor and [[Bililiou|Beliliou]] to villages on [[Babeldaob]] Island. Palauan villages were expected to increase food production to help feed the large number of Japanese troops.

In 1944, American forces took the islands of Beliliou and Angaur in a bitter and bloody battle. Making use of the large number of natural openings in the coralline limestone formations, the Japanese had created a defensive fortress of interlocking tunnels, bunkers, and hardened gun positions where more than 10,000 defenders could safely wait out the naval bombardment. As the Americans made their way to the beaches, they were met with withering fire from numerous undamaged gun emplacements. It would take more than 66 days and cost the better part of one entire Marine [[Division (military)|division]] to secure the island. Key defensive positions had to be taken one at a time at appalling cost. Following the bloody experience on Beliliou, U.S. military planners were content to bypass the 30,000 or so Japanese troops remaining in Koror and Babeldaob. Aircraft based on Beliliou and Angaur conducted daily harassment raids over the northern islands.<ref name=":0" />

The final months of the war were grim. U.S. aircraft roamed over the skies looking for targets to bomb and strafe. The large garrison of Japanese soldiers ran out of food and became desperate. Informants remember the terror of aerial attacks and Japanese soldiers taking food supplies that were already short. Starvation and disease began to take a toll prior to the surrender and repatriation of Japanese forces.<ref name=":0" />

At the end of the Pacific War, less than five thousand Palauans were left alive with many Palauan families adopting Japanese children into their midst (those refused passage back to Japan, as they were too young to make the dangerous journey). All surviving Japanese were repatriated after the end of the war. There are still about 100 American servicemen listed as [[Missing In Action]] in Palau. Starting in 1993, a small group of American volunteers called The [[BentProp Project]] has searched the waters and jungles of Palau for information that could lead to the identification and recovery of these remains. The Palauan people, in recognition of the basic human hospitality that is unique to all people of the islands all over the planet, allowed the Japanese and US governments to search for their missing soldiers as well as bringing back their remains.