The American troops, who were based in Vanuatu, (New Hebrides) during World War11, littered the tropical islands with what is known as the leftovers of ‘No Trade-Mark Coca Cola bottles.’ The well known artist, Faith Hodder, now has a ‘no trade mark’ coca cola corner in her tropical garden.

Santo, one of Vanuatu’s largest islands, housed around 100,000 American troops, with a further of the 25, 000 troops based on Efate. The task of the troops was to halt the advance of Japanese troops down through the South Pacific chain of the islands.

The remnant of a downed American World War11 plane has been mounted outside the Aero Club at Port Vila. Wallace Andre, a 74 year old witness explained, “Not long after the pilot had dropped wrapped lollies to some village children, the American aircraft dived into a tree. Neither pilot survived the accident.”

Coca Cola was a mainstay in the American troop’s diet, with several bottles per person, being consumed every day. Because of the difficulty in keeping up the supply to the troops, Coca Cola bottles were shipped out from America and filled in Vanuatu, from a temporary Coca Cola factor. Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Solomon US troops were supplied with their daily rations of soft drink. The majority of the bottles however, had no trademark. The South Pacific has been left with the unique phenomenon of thousands of remnants of broken Coca Cola bottles with no trade marks on them. The reason this happened is not totally clear.

Just as the Americans suddenly appeared on the tropical islands, so they left just as suddenly. There appears to have been some unsuccessful attempts to burn some of the thousands of Coca Cola bottles.

Vanuatu is the ‘Must See’ travel adventure destination of the South Pacific.

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