A US military aircraft just returned to a WWII airstrip that was once the site of a bloody battle in the Pacific

The Peleliu airstrip, also known as the Sledge runway, was the scene of the 1944 Battle of Peleliu, in which 8,000 Marines and soldiers were wounded, and about 1,800 service members were killed; the Imperial Japanese forces suffered an estimated 10,900 casualties.

Marine Corps Engineer Detachment Palau 24.1 has made efforts to restore the strip since then. The runway was named for Eugene Sledge, an enlisted Marine veteran whose memoir of the desperate Peleliu battle formed a basis for the HBO miniseries “The Pacific.”

The aircraft’s touchdown on the Peleliu airstrip epitomizes the US military’s expanding footprint as it recognizes more bases may be needed to counter China’s military build-up.

Peleliu, an island of Micronesia that belongs to the nation of Palau, is part of the jurisdictions the US military is trying to gain exclusive access to. The island in the southern Philippine Sea may hold renewed strategic value in the face of China’s growing missile arsenal.

In March, President Joe Biden renewed compacts and secured $7.1 billion dollars for Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.

This would allow the US to gain access to resources like air, land, and sea territory. Palau citizens would also be permitted to work, study, join the US military, and receive access to veteran healthcare.

The US has been scouring the region for other historic airfields that can be rebuilt. Last year, the US checked up on the island of Tinian, a piece of US territory belonging to Guam, where another airfield was heavily used during WWII.

In April of this year, it was announced that an airfield construction project would be completed in Tinian and is expected to be finished within five years.

US forces have been trying to compete with China’s growing military presence, which is capable of striking American bases using long-range missiles it has developed in recent years.