History of Betio

class="apple-converted-space"> Hawkins Field. The airstrip no longer exists, but its effect can be seen in the stunted growth of palms along its length. Many bunkers remain, as well as the remains of military equipment.

It was also the scene of a massacre by beheading of New Zealand and Fijian military and civilian coast watchers by Japanese forces prior to the US landings. The massacre was in retaliation to an American air raid.

After the massacre, seamen who were housed on the island escaped in a small, open launch, towing two lifeboats They sailed to Nonouti, in the Southern Gilberts, where they were met by the Degei, commanded by Captain Jack Webster in which they returned from Nonouti to Fiji. News of the massacre was covered up by British authorities at the time to the extent that New Zealand and Fijian governments were prevented from informing the families of the men killed of their deaths. However, persistent rumours eventually reached the families, and it is believed that the shooting of Japanese prisoners held in a New Zealand