WWII bombs still kill Solomon Islanders
Documentary premieres in Petaluma on Sept. 15
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Auckland, New Zealand (Nine Islands Media)– In 2021, Maeverlyn Pitanoe was preparing food for a church fundraiser in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, a Pacific nation southwest of Hawai’i, when a World War II bomb buried beneath the ground exploded. Two young men were killed. Pitanoe, a mother of two, was seriously injured and spent 53 days in hospital.
Her story is at the center of the award-winning documentary "The War Below:
Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands," which will make its North American premiere in California on Sept. 15.
Hundreds of thousands of bombs were dropped and millions of rounds of ammunition fired across the Solomon Islands during World War II.
More than 80 years later, unexploded bombs, shells, grenades and other munitions remain across the country.
A conservative estimate puts the toll at about 20 people killed or injured by
unexploded ordnance, or UXOs, each year. Explosions happen during everyday activities including cooking, gardening, clearing land and building homes.
More than 50,000 explosive items have been destroyed since 2011, but clearance
organization The HALO Trust says that is only a fraction of the contamination. A recent HALO review found 80 percent of recovered ordnance was of U.S. origin and 17 percent Japanese.
Solomon Islands has no dedicated support system for UXO survivors, no
dedicated burns unit, and survivors receive no compensation or financial assistance, organized counseling or long-term rehabilitation.
Pitanoe says her family, church and community carried the burden of
her recovery and living costs. She continues to live with chronic pain, trauma and the financial consequences of her injuries.
“More than 80 years after the war ended, Solomon Islanders should not still
be paying the price for a war that was not of our making,” Pitanoe said.
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U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal on Aug. 7, 1942, beginning a six-month campaign that became a turning point in the war against Japan.
About 1,600 U.S. Marines and soldiers were killed ashore, while about 5,000 U.S. sailors died in the surrounding waters.
Solomon Islanders were not bystanders in the war fought across their homeland.
They served as scouts, coastwatchers, guides, carriers and laborers, rescued Allied servicemen and provided intelligence and support to U.S. and
allied forces.
The U.S. State Department describes the United States as having fought “in tandem with Solomon Islanders” during the war.
When American and Japanese forces moved on, huge quantities of bombs, shells, ammunition and other weapons were abandoned or dumped across
the islands and surrounding seas. More than eight decades later, the contamination remains widespread.
“In America, Guadalcanal is remembered for the sacrifice of the people who fought there. Solomon Islanders also sacrificed and helped the allies win that
campaign," said director Tuki Laumea, a Sāmoan filmmaker and co-founder of New Zealand-based Nine Islands Media." "More than 80 years later, their families should not still be living with the bombs that were left behind.”
During filming, Pitanoe founded Bomb Free Solomon Islands, giving UXO survivors and affected families an organized voice and creating the country’s
only survivor-led charity focused on survivor support, risk education and advocacy.
The campaign around the film has also raised money for survivors and Bomb Free Solomon Islands, while survivor assistance, risk education and long-term UXO clearance have gained increasing public and diplomatic attention.
In 2026, Pitanoe and Solomon Islands journalist Dorothy Wickham traveled to New Zealand for screenings and high-level meetings with government,
diplomatic, humanitarian and Pacific representatives. Survivor-led advocacy has continued to call for greater international action on UXO clearance and support for affected communities.
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Against that backdrop, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau
announced the State Department would provide US$6 million in new funding to expand its unexploded ordnance removal program in the Solomon Islands.
The premiere is being presented by Fiji Runway as part of its Pacific Film
Screening Series, with diplomatic representatives, World War II veterans’ organizations, universities and colleges, Pacific Island community groups, foundations and regional media among those invited.
“Sometimes it takes a film to make an issue real to us, and because we have a personal connection to The War Below and its filmmakers, we feel strongly that other women, Islanders and global citizens should see it too,” said Donnalesi Vaubula, Brand Partnerships Manager at Fiji Runway.
Laumea and Executive Producer Cleo Fraser plan to travel from Aotearoa
New Zealand to attend and speak with guests.
The War Below was filmed entirely in the Solomon Islands and grew out of the reporting by Solomon Islands journalist and producer Elizabeth Osifelo and the widely respected journalist Dorothy Wickham.
It was made by Nine Islands Media and Solomon Islands Local Media Agency,
directed by Tuki Laumea and produced by Laumea, Osifelo and Māori journalist and producer Cleo Fraser.
Nine Islands Media is a Māori-Pacific-owned production company working
across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.
The documentary was funded by New Zealand On Air through the Aotearoa New Zealand Pacific Regional Media Fund, in collaboration with Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited.
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