![]() A larger strip was needed for large bombers that required the space available at Cape Sansapor. The area was limited but obviously a strip could be quickly constructed by bulldozing off the palm trees and leveling the coral. This island was a coconut grove on a coral reef. Part of the 1897th went to work with another Aviation Engineering Battalion to build the air strip on Middleburg Island. ![]() We quickly set up camp under trees that offered camouflage from air raids. Everyone had a clip in his rifle and a few hand grenades hung on his fatigues. Our memories of Maffin Bay were fresh in our mind. The LST was deadly quiet as we approached shore in the dim pre-dawn light. There was no preliminary bombardment because supposedly there was only empty jungle. July 30 at the crack of dawn we landed at Cape Sansapor. Initial unopposed landings were on Middleburg and Amsterdam on July 29. The air strips at Sansapor and Middleburg Island not only helped isolate the enemy at Manokwari where the Japs would die of starvation and disease but these strips provided air cover for the next advance to Morotai, one of the Halmahera islands. This advance bypassed 25000 Japs at Manokwari on the Vogelkop Peninsula. MacArthur, adhering to the principle of avoiding massed enemy concentrations where feasible, advanced to Cape Sansapor and Middleburg and Amsterdam islands 200 miles to the west of Biak and Noemfoor islands which had been subdued by July 22.
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