Tinian: Suicide Cliff, Waves, Bomb Site

[nydaimyo]

My grandfather was also a seebee here 60+ years ago. He showed me some pictures of the island including abandoned railroad track left behind from the japanese. Of course they were black and white, so this is great to see like this. I had always been curious about all the details. Wonderful!

[nydaimyo]

My grandfather was also a seebee here 60+ years ago. He showed me some pictures of the island including abandoned railroad track left behind from the japanese. Of course they were black and white, so this is great to see like this. I had always been curious about all the details. Wonderful!

[Islandgirl92900]

Thank you for sharing this interesting WW2 History video of Tinian. Its a beautiful tiny island despite the ugliness of what happened there during the war.

[BALANCE94015]

THANK YOU for the vid...am wondering if any huge prayer bell was every placed near suicide cliff or near a shinto shrine. the sound of the bell brings peace and calmness to the many lives lost there. if not, am wondering, how this can be done. any response is very much appreciated.

[sergio7382]

Thanks for posting this video.Some Korean were brought to Saipan and killed.There was a monument for these people just beside the suicide cliff,But it didn't say who kill them.I know they were brought there to work on some construction.Japanese killed them?

[jimeagle1]

There are monuments of various kinds... many in languages I don't read. This monument is probably Korean. Everyone on the island suffered losses from American shelling. Similarly, everyone suffered loses from Japanese occupation. Unfortunately, modern (and even 60-plus years ago) warfare doesn't protect 'non-combatants' even when an effort is made to 'minimize' civilian casualities.

[sergio7382]

Sorry, you said,"This is a Korean mark,possibly Chinese.I don't remember exactly."at 4:55.

Maybe I interpret it wrong.

[jimeagle1]

Ah yes. I did say something like that now that you point it out.

Various monuments are located on both islands from various sources. Some are general peace monuments. Some are memorials.

However your point is well taken. The primary sources are Korean and Japanese, not Chinese. Since my daughter (who was with me) works and lives in Korea and the characters indicted that not all monuments were Korean, our next guess was "Chinese", in the generic sense.

[sergio7382]

There is no Chinese on that island during WW2. Maybe some Taiwanese were recruited by Japan and went there,but we don't know how many of them.Taiwan had been dominated by Japan for 50 years.Taiwan government don't want to dig it out because they thought it was a shame.But, I think it's very important to find out the truth.The Taiwan-Japanese were our brothers.

[jimeagle1]

I'm not sure where you got the "chinese on that island" from. I don't recall saying anything about who was on either Saipan or Tinian at the time. However those who were not Japanese on both islands were usually not there voluntarily.

[webmassa512]

My father Louis DeRosa was stationed on Tinian during WWII. He was in the 20th AAF and a quartermaster. He told me a story growing up that at the end of the war, he was ordered to dump all the leftover materials including vehicles onto one end of the island. Did you ever see any debris dumped into the ocean? I have great photos of B-29 nose art and the Enola Gay that he took himself. I want to visit Tinian one day. Thank you for the video post!!

[jimeagle1]

You're welcome. My step father spent some time in Tinian during WWII also. His memories are of continuous rain and mud, I'm afraid, especially since I believe the end of the island he was on had mostly been reduced to bare earth... perhaps while building the airfield.

[morleygeorge]

My father(AAF)and father in law ( Seabees),same place, same time, same stories. Probably similar pictures. Sending the troops home was more important than material.