Abstract
The Historic Preservation Assessment of the Mili Atoll Uprising and Massacre evaluates the Jelbon Island site of the Mili Atoll Uprising and Massacre of March 1945 in the Marshall Islands for eligibility for the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The site of evaluation, located on Jelbon Island at the most southeast corner of Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands, was the final stronghold of a Korean and Marshallese uprising against the Japanese garrison stationed on the atoll during World War II. Over the course of several weeks in March of 1945, Marshallese residents and Korean laborers retaliated against the Japanese soldiers in response to months of brutal treatment dealt by Japanese soldiers. The Japanese garrison eventually cornered the uprising to Jelbon Island where it massacred 80 Marshallese residents and 170 Korean laborers. Analyzing documents stored in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Archives of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), this evaluation demonstrates the historic significance of the Mili Atoll uprising and massacre by linking the events of this uprising and massacre to the eventual establishment of postwar U.S. sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Marshall Islands. This evaluation includes a discussion on the history and politics of historic preservation in the Marshall Islands and the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI).