HI SR172

Designates March 10 as Enewetak Atoll (Marshall Islands) Liberation Day to honor the people of Enewetak Atoll and their descendants in Hawaii.

Recognizes March 10, 1944, as the date Enewetak residents emerged from bomb shelters following the Battle of Eniwetok (February 17-23, 1944), when the United States captured the atoll from Japanese control.

Acknowledges that the United States conducted 42 of 67 total nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946-1958 at Enewetak Atoll, with combined power equivalent to 1.6 Hiroshima bombs daily for 12 years.

Notes that Enewetak residents face ongoing challenges including displaced communities unable to return to contaminated ancestral lands, premature resettlement on contaminated lands, and health issues related to radiation exposure.

Directs transmission of certified copies to the Governor, Mayor of Hawaii County, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Mayor of Enewetak Atoll, and the Marshall Islands Consul General in Honolulu.