Tag: Saipan
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The Japanese governor of the Northern Marianas had been widowed so he took a special trip to Japan to find himself a new wife. He found a young woman he was smitten with in the American protestant church’s orphanage. Soon, a wedding was officiated and he planned to head back to Saipan with his new…
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IT took him 65 years to set foot again on the island of Saipan. Sylmar, California-resident John Fusano — whose family once had a canning of olive and olive oil business in the San Fernando Valley, the Cristo Fusano and Sons olive canning factory and oil mill — was overjoyed at having his wish come…
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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…
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STAFF Sergeant Raymond Hagley, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, left his family a legacy of rare color Kodachrome slides. Little did his son Greg know that he would be getting these rare WWII color photographs—about a dozen of them. His father Ray arrived on Saipan as part of the advanced deployment of the 73rd Bombardment Wing in the…
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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…
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A musician and former Los Angeles Times proofreader returned to Saipan on Feb. 4, 2014, and was honored for his service in the Battle of Saipan. Lloyd Coulson Glick served on the USS North Carolina that bombarded Saipan along with the Fifth Fleet during WWII. He arrived aboard the cruise ship Crystal Serenity that pulled…
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A former Imperial Army soldier has vowed to keep coming back to Saipan to pray for those who perished in the brutal Battle of Saipan. Private First Class Teruki Okazaki, a former Imperial Japanese Army heavy artillery unit soldier, came to Saipan in June 2014 to participate in the commemoration of the 70th year of…
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Huddled together in a cramped cave during the Battle of Saipan, they wept to slake their thirst. In an interview back in 2011, Tan Escolastica Tudela Cabrera said they were out of food and water inside the cave in 1944. For 19 days their family lived inside the cave as Saipan was in the midst…
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It was one dinner she couldn’t forget, and not because the meal itself was extraordinary. It was their last time to eat together as a family. Ten-year-old Kimiko Nishikawa could feel the seriousness of the situation. Although she could barely understand Japanese, she knew the anguished plea of her father for them to love one another, love others…
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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…