Tag: Marines
-
It was his son’s curiosity that whetted his appetite to gather more details about what had happened to them on Saipan, those weeks they faced their fears as they claimed the island from Japanese military stranglehold. Mark Leary Matthews was in his 30s when he asked his father, WWII veteran Carl Matthews, how come they…
-
The surrender of 1,500 soldiers and civilians and soldiers on Saipan in 1944 was attributed to WWII veteran Guy Gabaldon, who convinced hundreds to lay down their arms and capitulate to the Americans. Guy, the “Pied Piper of Saipan,” was recommended for a Medal of Honor. He received a Navy Cross. He was 17 when…
-
A photograph of a Marine carrying a boy on his back struck Ed DesRosier when he visited the American Memorial Park on Saipan in January 2013. The enlarged photograph was captioned, “Unidentified Yank Marine cares for orphaned child.” Ed had seen small copies of this photograph many times among his father’s belongings. The Marine carrying…
-
THE smell of death was everywhere as bodies littered the beaches of Saipan on June 15, 1944. Major Richard T. Spooner remembers full well the day the Americans stormed the beaches of Saipan and how they tried to pierce the Japanese staunch defense of the island-garrison. “It was a different campaign,” he said. In an…
-
FREEDOM comes at a cost. So said U.S. Marine Corps Ret. Lt. General Lawrence Snowden in an interview with this reporter at the VFW Saipan Post in March 2012 following his trip to Iwo Jima. He said the young generation should look at Iwo Jima, Korean War, war in Afghanistan and recognize that freedom costs…