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Show Kahoolawe Ranks Most Bombarded Island In Pacific 'Ask any veteran of the Pacific warfare which bastion was the "most shot at island" during World War II and he'll probably answer Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Tarawa Tara-wa or one of the other Japanese strongholds. But that dubious distinction belongs be-longs to the small, desolate, insignificant, insig-nificant, waterless, uninhabited island is-land of Kahoolawe in the Hawaiian chain. Former smugglers' haven, the island, only eight miles by five and of rugged terrain, has been reduced re-duced to a mass of rubble by countless shells and bombs. The explanation is that naval and marine forces used Kahoolawe, uninhabited un-inhabited and commercially worthless, worth-less, as a testing ground for theories of naval gunfire support of landing forces. More than 800 ships, ranging from small amphibious craft to battle-wagons, battle-wagons, poured thousands upon thousands of rounds into Kahoo-lawe's Kahoo-lawe's barren sides. The tiny island took a greater shelling than either Iwo Jima or Okinawa, where naval gunfire reached its peak in the Pacific. |