Saipan - WWII history photos

YES....I still have photos to DUMP from our trip.
Maybe I took too many (is that possible?)

We had a great time.

Did I say that?

Maybe a time or two.

Like Guam, Saipan is rich with WWII history.
Isaac loves that!
Unlike Guam - Saipan was under Japanese rule when the war started.
The Japanese had sugar cane and coffee industry making huge profits in Saipan.
That all changed quickly after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December of 1941.
The island became a strategic location in the Pacific.

Japanese cemetary

Veterans' Memorial

Beach head where the Marines landed

Tank on top of a beach-head bunker

in front of the WWII Museum - on TOP of the world!  :)

Isaac - so excited!
He knows, rust and all - what kind of tank it is
If it's American or Japanese
what kind of shells it uses....
he is a little walking history book!

The hardest part of our tour of the island for me was the trip to Banzi Cliffs.

During the days of battle - the Americans backed the Japanese toward the north tip of the island.

The Japanese soldiers had been taught to never surrender.

As they retreated themselves into a "no way out" situation,

they convinced other Japanese on the island to not surrender.

Here, not only soldiers, 

but women and children jumped to their deaths

into the sea.

The area is lined with several memorials