I've just been looking at Betio Atoll on Google Earth. It is a sea of buildings. The whole atoll is covered from tip to toe. It seems a little sad really.
Okinawa is totally built up too. These 'sacred' battlefields are nothing more than residential suburbs now.
All the heroism is far far away....... :OHNO:
Marines who had the ability to actually read ( yes, there were / are a finite few of us
....), are aware that in 1964 Sugarloaf was razed by a complete demolitions set works in order to clear the approaches for the new Helo runways into the bases. The US Army Corps of Engineers removed 28 feet from the top and leveled it completely. The dust and debris was collected and used for concrete revetment and runway pourings on Kadena in the mid 60s, and the now leveled top has a thriving subdivision on it.
Wake is probably one of the "best preserved", in that the beach bunkers created by the IJA troops are still there intact, the causeway still lies partially above and partially submerged between Wake and Wilkes Islets, and the POL storage still sits on the northern tip, with coralized concrete revetments that were built by Deveraux's men in Nov 41. ( the lagoon, however, has been hopelessly contaminated by these POLs.), and the Pan - Am Clipper dock is still there, maintained by the USAF, and used to tie up the kats the garrison guys use for "entertainment".
Most of the rest, for failure to recognize them of any "value" historically, are long since gone / abandoned. From Attu to the Rock, and from Midway to Corregidor. ( The 5" Howe Battery, along with the wreck of the S-9 are still on and just offshore of Grande Island, RP, however, in Subic Bay. I have a full panoramic photo spread of Battery 3 in 35mm negatives.)
just my $.02
Jon H