Morotai Island

Morotai Island or in indonesia Pulau Morotai is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's
Maluku Islands. It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands.Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to
the north of Halmahera. It has an area of some 2,476 square kilometres, stretching 80 kilometres north-
south and no more than 42 kilometres wide. The island's largest town is Daruba, on the islands south
coast. Almost all of Morotai's numerous villages are coastal settlements; a paved road linking those on the
east coast starts from Daruba and will eventually reach Berebere, the principal town on Morotai's east
coast, 68 kilometres from Daruba. Between Halmahera and the islets and reefs of the west coast of Morotai
is the Morotai Strait, which is about 10 kilometres wide.
The Empire of Japan invaded Morotai early in 1942 as part of its Dutch East Indies Campaign. US forces
and their allies launched the Battle of Morotai in 1944; bombing the island in August and invading it in
September. Imperial Japanese forces on Morotai held out until 1945 but failed to expel the Allied invaders.
In the latter part of 1944, 61,000 personnel landed on Morotai. Two thirds of them were engineers, who
rapidly established facilities including harbors and two airstrip plus extensive fuel stores.
The formal surrender of the Second Japanese Army took place at Morotai on 9 September 1945.
The last Japanese holdout from the war, Private Teruo Nakamura, was discovered by the Indonesian Air
Force on Morotai, and surrendered to a search patrol on December 18, 1974.