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Saipan is such a beautiful place it is hard to imagine that a
terrible BATTLE
FOR SAIPAN took place here over 50 years ago but the remnants of this battle
can still be seen today . The picture on the left shows the famous Flame
Trees of Saipan in full bloom covering a Japanese concrete pill box.
The undeveloped areas of Saipan still have the tools of
war. The picture on the right show s the front of what is called the Last
Command Post. It was here the Japanese commander of Saipan, Vice
Admiral Chuichi Nagumo committed suicide when all hope of being able to stop the American
assault was lost. Of note It was Admiral Nagumo that lead the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor
which brought the United States into WWII.
 The waters that
surround Saipan are considered one of the best in the world for
scuba diving
because of the pristine clear water and abundant coral and marine life as shown
in the Picture on the left.
B ut even the
waters still hold the relics of the battle that took place here.
The picture on the right shows a
Sherman Tank
protruding from the beautiful lagoon of Saipan, Its gun is still pointing towards
the beach it was trying to reach during
The Invasion of
Saipan when it was knocked out by Japanese shell fire.
 After
the guns fell silent and the Islands of Saipan and Tinian were secured the Navy
and Army construction crews came in and built massive airfields on both
Saipan and Tinian which is about a mile from Saipan From these runways a
constant stream of
Boeing B29
Superfortress flew to Japan to destroy their war making ability.
As you can see in the picture on the left the runways on the Island of Tinian
can still be seen. It was from these very same runways a B29 named The
Enola Gay took off on August 6th and dropped the first Atomic Bomb on
the Japanese city of Hiroshirna.
Three days later a second B29 named
Bock's Car dropped
the second and last atomic bomb ever to be used in war on the
Japanese city of Nagasaki. Within days Japan surrendered and the war was
over.
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