Lost WWII Battlefield found

That's pretty cool. There is still a lot of WW2 relics sitting around on islands in the Pacific.

I remember driving around the island of Saipan and seeing tanks sitting in the ocean 100 yards off the beach, bunkers, and the blasts in the rock cliffs from the battleship gun fire. It was pretty cool.
 
I remember driving around the island of Saipan and seeing tanks sitting in the ocean 100 yards off the beach, bunkers, and the blasts in the rock cliffs from the battleship gun fire. It was pretty cool.

Did you go to Mabry Point, where the civilians threw their children off the cliffs before jumping themselves? The IJA told them the Americans would rape the women, torture the men and eat the babies. The civilians believed them.
 
Yeah we climbed up there, quite a ways up. I was wild to see some of the last stands and think about the fighting that went on there.

On a lighter note, probably one of the most beautiful places I have been.
 
It is nice to know that they didn't pillage the site for relics and the proper channels are going to taken to return the remains. Surely there are more just waiting for boots to step where brave men once left it all for those who couldn't. RIP[halfmast]

I am assuming that there are Americans there as well.
 
Did you go to Mabry Point, where the civilians threw their children off the cliffs before jumping themselves? The IJA told them the Americans would rape the women, torture the men and eat the babies. The civilians believed them.

There is some video on that - it seems to show up in just about documentary about the fighting in the islands - some of it is shown here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65EShYbK5ww

first time I remember seeing those clips was when I was a kid watching "World At War".
 
Recently watched a doc on the history channel about Tarawa island. An american who fought there visited the island trying to get the government there and the US gov to sanction it as a memorial site. Certain areas had tanks in the water, artillery shells in/on the sand, and .50 cals rusting in the shallows.

Unfortunately the beaches were littered with garbage, like a landfill.[sad]
 
first time I remember seeing those clips was when I was a kid watching "World At War".

I remember seeing some Marines talking about that - they tried to shoot the jumpers as they fell.

Being shot with a Garand was far quicker and more merciful than being splattered on the rocks - or drowning as the time came in and washed over those too crippled to move.
 
Recently watched a doc on the history channel about Tarawa island. An american who fought there visited the island trying to get the government there and the US gov to sanction it as a memorial site. Certain areas had tanks in the water, artillery shells in/on the sand, and .50 cals rusting in the shallows.

Unfortunately the beaches were littered with garbage, like a landfill.[sad]

Cool Tarawa battle video - in color - lots of "trash" on the beach then too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ce-hreP-w
 
And just yesterday, a NJ clam fishing boat brought up some canisters that "looked like big bullets" from the waters off New Bedford. When they got to the dock, one of the crew member became ill with respiratory distress and blisters on his skin. The boat and clams have been quarantined, and it's thought that the containers were WW I vintage filled with mustard agent.
 
That is incredible. Glad to see that they are being careful to return the remains of those fallen soldiers. What an incredible piece of history.
 
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