Lat 6° 58' 60S Long 155° 52' 60E  Ballale Island is a small island south of Bougainville and north of Shortland. There are several different spellings for this island.  The proper spelling is 'Ballalae'. Americans referred to the island as 'Ballale', while the British colonial spelling and on charts until 1956 were Ballalai or Balalai.

Prewar History
Uninhabited as long as local people could remember, Sam Atkinson aquired the island as free-hold owner in 1900. He built a thriving copra plantation that operated until early 1942 when the family was evacuated and plantation disbanded.

Ballale Island (also known as Ballalae or Ballalai) in the Shortland Islands, was considered sacu-sacu (haunted) by the local people, as war parties stopped there to feast and a strange blue light was observed over the isand in folklore. The place was always avoided, and no villagers lived there.

It was not until the first European settler, Sam Atkinson purchased the island, as free-hold owner in 1900. He established a productive copra plantation on the island. His wife, Edith McDonald ran the plantation until 1942. When the war aproached, she remained in the area, finally being evacuated prior to the arrival of the Japanese. Her family's island would never be the same.

Wartime History
The Japanese Navy 18th Construction Battalion arrived on the island on November 3, 1942 to begin building an airstrip with a contingent of 370 people, augmented later by 517 British POWs and local laborers.

Ballale Airfield (Ballale, Ballalai)
Spans the length of the island, built by the Japanese, netralized from the air.

The island was bypassed by the Allies. After the war, the Australian Army 7th Infantry Battalion, including Lt. General V. A. H. Sturdee (1st Army) and Brigadier A.W. Potts (23 Infantry Brigade) toured the island on November 10, 1945. Australians immediately located the grave of 57 POWs buried in shallow trenches. An atrocities commission was carried out on the island, that led to the discovery of a mass grave of 436 bodies were exhumed with artifacts identifying them as British artillerymen. The remains were re-interred in individual graves at Bomama War Cemetery near Port Moresby. The remainder of the 517 British POWs have never been found.

F4U-1A Corsair Bureau Number 17127
MIA over Ballale, September 16, 1943