Just wanted to add my two cents worth about Marcus Island. I was stationed there in 1967 and 1968. There had been a palm tree just before I arrived, but due to the overzealousness of a first class cook and the cooking sherry (actually I think it was beer) it got chopped down. It was a lonesome place alright. The Air Force did not care much about flying in there with our supplies so sometimes we would go a month without seeing anyone seems like they got as far as Japan and then broke down. Sounded suspicious to me but what could I prove.
We had a crew of 23 or so, about a half dozen civilian weathermen, and one lab dog. We would do a lot of exploring in the bunkers we called them (underground cement rooms), snorkeled within the reef and fished for sharks in the shark alley. The Japanese had blasted an entry for their boats and of course sharks would come in every once in a while. Biggest one we ever caught was about 5 feet.
The southern part of the island was a nesting area for birds. There would be thousands of them at times. It seemed most of our time was spent in the water trying to spear fish and look for clawless lobsters. Moray eels were pretty plentiful. It was always a little unnerving to come face to face with one when looking around under the coral reefs. I got sicker than a dog one time eating snails (once again it might have been the beer). We were on the honor system. It cost us ten cents a can and cigarettes were five dollars a carton. We had to settle up when we got paid, took quite a chunk out of some of the guys check.
We made a salt water “pond” and stocked it with groupers and puff fish. It was one of the biggest sports to catch lizards and flip them into the water and watch the fish come up and suck them in. If they made it to the edge and got away they were home free unless we caught them again some other time. We figured they deserved the pardon.
I guess it was about two or three months before my tour was up that the Japanese came on board. We all kept pretty much to ourselves. You got pretty used to the crew and any new faces would give one an uneasy feeling. It was that way when the Air Force came in, at least for me. I remember coming into the recreation room and a couple of them would be playing pool or reading a magazine. It was all I could do to make it through the room without hugging the wall.
There is a lot more I could tell but I just wanted to mostly send this to the man that started me thinking. I thought he might enjoy hearing another “Coastie’s” story.