A US Marine Corps aircraft has landed on a rebuilt runway on a World War II-era Japanese airfield on the Pacific island of Peleliu, site of one of the Marines’ bloodiest battles of the war and now a possible US basing option in a strategy to counter China. The KC-130 Hercules transport aircraft touched down on the 6,000-foot runway on June 22 in what a Marine Corps press release called “a significant and triumphant return to this iconic World War II site.” Marine engineers had been working on rebuilding the runway for months, clearing brush, removing trees and ensuring no unexploded ordnance remained from the World War II battle on the island, which is part of the island country of Palau. More than 1,500 US troops and nearly 11,000 Japanese were killed on Peleliu between August and November of 1944, according to the US Naval History and Heritage Command, which…
