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In a new, no-holds-barred book, , Japan-based journalist Jon Mitchell records chemical, nuclear and biological poisoning and pollution across South East Asia and parts of the Pacific by the U.S. and Japanese militaries.

Mitchell’s book is a reminder to all residents of Hawaii, the home of the and the Pacific, of the military poisoning and pollution that has been happening in our region for decades.

In fact, just last week we were told in Civil Beat of the U.S. military dumping over 630,000 pounds of nitrate compounds into the ocean off Oahu in 2019.

Our government’s documentation of military pollution in Hawaii is extensive.

According to the 2007 Congressional Research report, “” the U.S. military dumped tens of thousands of bombs, some filled with deadly chemicals, in the ocean waters off Oahu from 1944 to 1978, bombs that could still accidentally be dredged up.

In 1944, and approximately 16,000 M47A2 100-pound mustard bombs were dumped about five miles off Pearl Harbor.

From October 17 to November 2, 1945, chloride bombs, 125 M78 500-pound cyanogen chloride bombs, 14,956 M70 114-pound mustard bombs and 30,917 4.2-inch mortar mustard shells were dumped off Waianae.

From 1964-1978, including clothing, tools and other materials contaminated from radioactive nuclear refueling of nuclear submarines at Pearl Harbor, were dumped 55 miles off Oahu.

During this period, was discharged into Pearl Harbor.

Other radioactive materials were a radioactive heavy metal that was used in aiming rounds for the Davy Crockett, a 1960s nuclear weapon.

The rounds were fired at Schofield Barracks Army base on Oahu and at the Pohakuloa Military Training Area on Hawaii island.

In 1994, two DU rounds were  while the ship was in Pearl Harbor and went up into the Koolau mountains above the Honolulu suburb of Aiea. They were never recovered.

In the 1960s, in the , the U.S. military sprayed chemical agents on ships and their crews to determine how quickly the poisons could be detected and how rapidly they would disperse, as well as to test the effectiveness of protective gear and decontamination procedures.

In 1964,  was conducted off the coast of Hawaii. The USS George Eastman, a Navy cargo ship, was sprayed with nerve agent sarin gas that went into the ventilation system while the crew wore various levels of protective gear.

Additionally, in 1965 and 1966, the U.S. military  to simulate a biological attack. In 1969, a U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom jet southwest of Oahu, sprayed five Navy tugboats using two germs.

In 1967, the Army detonated 155-mm artillery shells and 115-mm rocket warheads filled with  on Hawaii island. Fifty-three years later, hunters are hesitant to go into that part of the forest reserve.

In one of the most destructive periods of U.S. military history in Hawaii, from 1941 to 1990, a huge quantity of artillery, bombs, missiles and torpedoes was fired into the island of Kahoolawe, including  intended to simulate nuclear blasts on ships.

�ճ���� used non-violent direct action, lawsuits and political pressure to end the bombing in 1990 and secure the return of the island to the State of Hawaii as a  in 2003.

After $400 million spent on clean-up, Kahoolawe is still widely contaminated with unexploded ordnance buried in the ground and in nearshore waters.

Of greatest concern today in Hawaii are the U.S. military’s into the hillside of Red Hill above Pearl Harbor that together hold 250 million gallons of jet fuel.

The ancient leaking jet fuel tanks are only 100 feet above the drinking water aquifer of Honolulu and have been  for decades.