* DOB ARCHIVES The small Bikini community had developed a close in-group feeling during the years of relative isolation prior to the coming of the white man and found satisfaction and security in their closely knit personal relationships and communal life. World War II and tne Bikini People The Bikini people were directly affected by World War II in that three of their young men who had been attending the Japanese government school on Jaluit Atoll were drafted as laborers and sent to Enewetak Atoll. They were later killed there in the American bombing and bombardment of that huge and important Japanese military base. There were only six Japanese soldiers at Bikini, however; wireless station operators also manned the ammunition stores. These men were all killed by American bombing ard shelling. however, Little damage was done to Bikini, and the Bikini people were much better off than Marshallese in areas such as Jaluit, Enewetak and Kwajalein, where heavy fighting occurred. Gid the other Marshallese, The Bikini people suffered as from the cut-off of supply lines from Japan with the resultant cessation of imports of necessary consumer goods and exportation of copra. Communications were re- stored and wartime nardships were alleviated when the American armed forces captured the Marshall serlous hardships of the Bikini Islands early in 1944. The people were yet to come however.