Locals who still remember World War II would tell visitors that
back in 1944-145 Morotai was a hive of military activities with
tens of sorties roaring daily from aircrafts taking off and
landing at airstrips along Daruba Bay,endless stamping of
thousands of military boots marching across the island, and navy
ships anchoring daily carrying supplies and reinforcement. For
Morotai back then, was the strategic base of the Allied Forces
from which they attacked posts in the Philippines and Borneo in
their fight against Japanese forces during World War II. On 15
September 1944, Allied Forces from the USA and Australia under
leadership of Supreme Commander for the West Pacific, General
Douglas MacArthur, landed on Morotai’s south west corner, where
some time before, the Japanese had constructed an airstrip but
abandoned it in favor of the island of Halmahera to its south.
In Morotai the Japanese command left only some 500 soldiers to
guard the island. With such overwhelming odds, the advancing
Allied Forces were no