Now we are anchored over a shallow reef in the lee of the island, not far from where my troopship had been off-loading replacements in September 1944.

I was a 20 year old US Navy hospital corpsman, serving with the 1st Marine Division as a first aid man. Everything across the land had been burned, bombed and wrecked as the bloody battle swept across this 10 square mile coral island. Our battalion aid station was set up in a badly damaged concrete building that had been a communication centre for the Japanese military. From there we could see our planes drop napalm canisters on the ridge and the occasional torching of the enemy caves with flame throwers. The hope was, by conquering Peleliu we would protect General McArthur's flank when he invaded the Philippines a month later.

My mind kept drifting back and forth in time as I sat on the side of the dive boat staring down into the inviting water. Our plan today was to snorkel along the Peleliu Wall and then go for a tour of the battlefield. We wouldn't have time for a dive, besides we had had such superb dives over the past few days at Blue Corner, the Ngemelis Wall, Siaes Tunnel, Turtle Reef and Ulong Channel. There were eleven of us, from BC, Seattle and Denver including Nancy Harris of Seattle, Paul Beckmann from Vancouver and his wife Elizabeth.

As we tumbled over the side into the warm, clear water, the golden coloured reef sparkled under the brilliant sunshine. It was great fun slowly snorkelling around, seeing so many Indo Pacific fishes that had been familiar to me for so many years while I was director of the Vancouver Public Aquarium. There were the colourful moorish idols, butterfly fish, tangs and wrasse, and their strangely shaped puffers, trumpet fish and triggerfish. We were near the edge of the reef and the precipitous drop off into purple blackness. Some of the world's prettiest fish, slender, graceful fusiliers, glided into our view­along the reef edge. We noticed triggerfish everywhere. Flocks of small bluish-black triggerfish (Odonus viger). There were also clown triggerfish, a species treasured by aquarists, and the beautiful pinktail triggerfish that we see off Maui in Hawaii. In fact we counted seven species of triggers, more than I had ever seen before in one place.

Peleliu Wall is really one of the great dive sites with an incredible drop-off, starting in nine or 10 feet and going straight down 800 or 900 feet. It is known for its sea turtles, grey reef sharks and for the beauty and colour of its reef fishes. A swift current picked us up and swept us along until we were totally disoriented, finally carrying us up and out over a sandy bottom 20 feet below the surface. It was an exciting ride but I was surprised we had not seen any war wreckage.

The 1st Marine Division, perhaps 1,800 men, had come ashore here in frontal assault against a heavily entrenched and fortified Japanese garrison. Perhaps the wreckage is in very deep water at the base of the drop-off. Or has all washed away after so many years.

After snorkelling we cruised into a quiet cove and tied up alongside a new wharf at the old Camp Beck Dock where there is still much rusty wreckage from the war. It was extremely hot and humid. Nevertheless it is a pretty spot where you can picnic in the shade of the ironwood trees and explore between dives. The whole area is being cleaned up and improved for visitors. The government of Palau provides and maintains many picnic sites throughout the islands, a service partly funded by a $15 fee that is charged all tourists diving and snorkelling in Palau.

After lunch, my old friend Tangi Hesus picked us up in an old bus and drove us around the island. We stopped near Orange Beach landing site (colour codes were used to designate specific landing sites) where the monument to the US Army 81st Infantry Wildcat Division (that replaced the Marines) stands in a grassy area surrounded by forest. This area was once totally defoliated. Tangie told us that 1,300 Marines had been temporarily buried there from

The Marine Corps memorial is located near Bloody Nose Ridge, overlooking the deadly Horseshoe area where many men died. The plaque reads "In memory of the Marines who gave their lives in the seizure of Peleliu and Ngesebus Island from the Japanese during the period 15 September through October­Your comrade in Arms, 1st Marine Division, United States Marine Corps."

At another location, not far from Bloody Nose Ridge, is a beautiful Japanese shrine and memorial where Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. World War II Pacific Fleet Commander in Chief, is quoted on a plaque as saying "Tourists from every country who visit this island should be told how courageous and patriotic were the Japanese soldiers who all died defending this island."

Fortunately the government of Imperial Japan relocated the Peleliu civilians to other islands before the invasion so, although they may have suffered from bombing they did not experience the onslaught.

The present population of Peleliu is about 600. Tangie Hesus lives in the village of Klouklubed where his aunt runs the Mayumi Inn. Nearby is the school where his battle museum occupies one of the rooms. There are rusting weapons, helmets and other artifacts that have been collected from all over the island. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the battle, Tangie met many of the veteran survivors. They have given him old letters, clippings, maps and articles that are now on display. Tangie says the museum will be moved one of these days into one of the old bombed-out WW II Japanese buildings when it is restored. I looked at this building. It may have been our battalion station during and after the battle, but after so many years, it is hard to tell for sure.

The coral reefs of Palau are currently suffering from overheating brought about by the warm El Nino ocean conditions of 1998. The extreme temperatures bleached and killed much of the reef-forming corals. When I was there in 1988 there were great table corals and huge thickets of stag horn corals. These have now been reduced to rubble. This means the fishes dependent on them­such as many species of anthias, butterflyfish and damselfish­are rare or gone. Among the Rock Islands near Koror, however, we did find healthy patches of coral. I suppose if the high temperatures do not recur corals will regenerate.

Modern Palau is a republic with a total population of 17,225 people, most of whom live in Koror, the capitol. Peleliu is one of Palau's 16 states. In accordance with the compact between the US and Palau, Palau receives US$450 million in exchange for the US having access to one third of Palau for military purposes.

Times have definitely changed. Japan has become the economical powerhouse of the tropical Pacific and hundreds of friendly young Japanese tourists explore Palau's many islands and snorkel and dive off its reefs. Where Imperial Japanese navy float planes once used concrete ramps on Arakebesang Island near Koror, there now stands the elegant and beautiful Japanese-owned Palau Pacific Resort, sister hotel to the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, BC.

The Japanese government has funded the new Palau International Coral Reef Center which includes an aquarium with inside and outside displays. Emphasis is on coral ecology and conservation. It is located in Koror next to the Marina Hotel and Fish N Fins dive center. We were shown through the buildings by the resident aquarist from Japan Keiichiro Teshima and the local senior aquarist Kambes Akesolei, before they were opened to the public. The graphic interpretations are pictorial and excellent. They take up the geological history of the islands, the impact of lower sea levels during glacial periods, the nature of coral, the symbiotic relationship created by algae in coral tissue and fisheries and tourist values of coral reefs. Most particularly they include a discussion of the oceanography, the flow into the Palau area of waters of the southern branch of the North Pacific Equatorial Current and the destructive impact of El Nino conditions. Surface temperatures normally range from 27° to 30°C throughout the year but after El Nino they may exceed 30° which is lethal to coral.

Dr Bruce Carlson, director of the Waikiki Aquarium and chairman of the Coral Reef Center's Advisory Board told me he noticed the deadly effect of El Nino's elevated temperature first in the Solomon Islands in 1997, then the following year in Palau. He said it would be necessary to chill the water in the Coral Center's display tanks to prevent lethal overheating.

The laboratories in the Palau International Coral Reef Center will be open and available to scientists from around the world who may wish to study coral biology. Palau survived the terrible destruction of WWII. Now Let us hope the magnificent coral reefs of these beautiful islands can survive the effects of global warming and El Nino.

For further information about Dr Murray Newman and his expeditions to the Arctic as well as the Tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, his book Life in a Fishbowl­Confessions of an Aquarium Director, is available at the Vancouver Public Aquarium and through this magazine.