NO 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 the 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, soldiers at Bikini, however; wireless manned the ammunition stores. American bombing and however, shelling. station operators also These men were all killed by Little damage was done to Bikini, and the Bikini people were much better off than Marshallese in areas such as Jaluit, where heavy fighting occurred. Gid There were only six Japanese the other Marshallese, Enewetak and Kwajalein, 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 hardships were alleviated when the American armed forces serious captured the Marshall Islands early in 1944. The hardships of the Bikini people were yet to come however. 1013942