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Tanki Maraka: the US Radar Base 50 Miles from Venezuela (Ad-free)

Just as today, the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao had oil refining infrastructure back in World Wa rTwo. After some German naval action in the Caribbean early in the war, the Dutch government invited US forces to move onto the islands as security. This became part of US Caribbean Command, and from 1942 until 1947 the US had, among other things, a radar installation on Bonaire at Tanki Maraka. I had a chance to visit a few years ago while scuba diving on the island as part of what is now my second channel (@DeepDiveWithIan). With the US threatening war with Venezuela now, it seems rather topical, so I figured I'd do something with the video... If you are on Bonaire, it's an interesting site to see - you can find more information here: https://infobonaire.com/about-bonaire/history/bonaire-museums/tanki-maraka-heritage-park/ The best firearms reference books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons http://www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.forgottenweapons.com

Comments

Mustafa's Fleas

An interesting peek into one of those "backwater" assignments suffered(?) by those that volunteered and were drafted into that, which is today known as the 2nd great unpleasantness of the 20th century.

Jonathan Limebrook

Baseball court? Come on, Ian, are you a red-blooded American or not?

Squid556

Neat bit of lesser known history

Bruce Brodnax

Geez, who got the Caribbean Command billets? Purely politicos' sons? I knew we had naval patrols [esp. around Martinique, since Vichy was compelled to offer support to German u-boaten...] in Carib, but actual Army installations? Totally fresh news to me! Thanks Ian...

JFLGA

When my wife and I visited Aruba in 2004, we were told that most of the aviation fuel used by the allied forces in the ETO came from the refinery on Aruba. Perhaps the locals were exagerating a bit?