For more photos, click here.
On July 1, 2011, retired Marines Lieutenant Colonel Roy Elrod, 92, and Major Richard T. Spooner, 86, who returned to Saipan and Tinian for the first time since the 1944 battles, unveiled a monument on Tinian dedicated to the Second Marine Division which, with the Fourth Marine Division, fought the Battle of Tinian, which began July 24, 1944. Lieutenant Colonel Elrod, a member of the 2dMarDiv at Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Saipan, was wounded earlier on Saipan and evacuated. Nonetheless, he represented his division at the Tinian unveiling along with Maj Spooner, who as a 19-year-old private fought at Saipan and later Tinian 67 years ago.
The monument, along with a 4thMarDiv monument that was unveiled some years ago, is located at Tinian's historic North Field. After the battle, B-29 bombers launched from there to make air strikes against Japan, to include the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The keynote address was made by Colonel Robert Loynd, Officer in Charge, U.S. Marine Corps Activity Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The ceremony also included U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Paul J. Bushong, Commander, Joint Region Marianas; CNMI U.S. congressional delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan; Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz and local historian Don Farrell.
The photos and video were captured by Lieutenant Colonel Aisha Bakkar, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Marine Corps Activity Guam and CNMI.
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