In 2015 a set of stamps commemorating the Dunkirk Little Ships evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 was released by the Republic of Palau, comprising about 100 islands and islets at the western end of the Caroline Islands chain in the western Pacific Ocean.

The 16 stamps each depict members of the ADLS fleet, including ‘Cachalot’.

In 1940, Allied troops advanced through Belgium to attack German forces, who had already invaded and passed through the Netherlands. In the Battle of Arras, Germany was able to reach the French coast, which cut off more than 300,000 Allied troops near Dunkirk from supporting French forces in the south. Germany decided to postpone advancing on the entrapped forces at Dunkirk for three days while they reorganized their defenses. In this short window of opportunity, the Allies were able to evacuate 338,226 troops by sea. If not for the retreat, it is likely that Great Britain would have fallen to the German Army.

Palau is about 800 miles east southeast of the Philippine Islands. These islands were part of the Spanish Caroline Islands until 1899, when they were sold to Germany, which issued stamps for use there. The Caroline Islands were seized by the Japanese during World War I and administered by them under a 1919 mandate of the League of Nations. Invaded and conquered by United States forces in 1944, the islands were made part of the United Nations-mandated U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific in 1947. Palau became a republic in 1981 and began to issue its own stamps in 1983, although its mail continues to be handled by the U.S. Postal Service.