Ponam Island

About

Ponam Island is located off the north coast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The Ponam language is spoken on the island. The Ponam Airfield was built by the US Navy 78th Naval Construction Battalion "Seabees" between June and August 1944. As half of the work area was swamp, coral was blasted and dredged from the ocean bed and used as landfill. During the Admiralty Islands campaign, it was used as a fighter base to provide repair and overhaul facilities for carrier aircraft, as part of Manus Naval Base. The USO entertainer Bob Hope stopped at Ponam Airfield in 1944 with an unscheduled show with troops from surrounding bases.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.