The Greatest Act of Political and Economic Spite in History

About this episode

This episode explores the creation of Million Dollar Point, a site of abandoned WWII military equipment in Vanuatu, as an act of political and economic spite by the U.S. military.

Nations can often be petty and spiteful when it comes to post-war relations, but rarely, if ever, in history did one nation get more petty with not an enemy, but their former ally than when the U.S. military created what is known today as "Million Dollar Point" out of sheer spite. 1,750 kilometres or 1,090 miles off the coast of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean lies the island nation of Vanuatu. Just off the southeast coast of the island, on the outskirts of the main settlement of Luganville, lies a truly remarkable sight: a giant underwater junkyard containing thousands upon thousands of pieces of WWII American military equipment, from tanks, artillery pieces, and bulldozers down to rifles, pistols, food tins and Coca-Cola bottles- all slowly rusting away on the ocean floor. Known as “Million Dollar Point”, every year this submerged museum of wartime logistics attracts hundreds of curious snorkelers and scuba divers from around the world. But what is all this abandoned equipment doing here? Are these the remains of an epic naval battle? A tragic shipwreck? Some gigantic whoopsie-doodle? Nope! The origins of Million Dollar Point are far, far sillier - and pettier - than that…

Topics covered

• political spite
• economic history
• post-war relations
• Vanuatu
• WWII artifacts
• marine archaeology

Keywords

• Million Dollar Point
• Vanuatu
• WWII
• political spite
• marine archaeology
• Luganville
• U.S. military

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U.S. military

Books & works: Million Dollar Point

Places: Vanuatu, South Pacific Ocean, Luganville

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