World War II
On the morning of 7 August 1942 (same date as the US Landings on Guadacanal),
"..seven US planes bombed the island. The reason was due to an error namely that the Americans mistook Laulasi for the Japanese camp at Afufu in North Malaita. Which resulted in the killing 24 children, destroying the shell money industry and the incident still remains the subject of an unresolved compensation claim".
The British resident commissioner wrote in his diary:
"7 US planes bombed Laulasi village – 18 killed – most inexplicable as no enemy repeorted there"(Marchant 7 Aug 1942)
"The bombing of Laulasi island was the worst loss of civilian lives in the entire Solomon Islands conflict".
Read more about this topic: Laulasi Island
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
“He was ... a degenerate gambler. That is, a man who gambled simply to gamble and must lose. As a hero who goes to war must die. Show me a gambler and I’ll show you a loser, show me a hero and I’ll show you a corpse.”
—Mario Puzo (b. 1920)