Saipan: Oral Histories of the Pacific War

by Bruce M. Petty

The battle for Saipan was one of the bloodiest fought in the Pacific during World War II, and was a turning point on the road to Japan's defeat. Visible reminders of the 1944 devastation still exist: human skeletal remains are still found on the jungle floor and in caves throughout the island. Emotional reminders exist as well, for both the combatants and the civilians who survived the battle. In this work, the survivors--including Pacific Islanders on whose land the Americans and Japanese fought their war--have the opportunity to tell their stories in their own words. The author begins with a history of the Mariana Islands and other parts of Micronesia and arranges the oral histories by location: Saipan, Yap and Tinian, Rota, Palau Islands, and Guam in the first half, and by branch of service in the second half.

Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated that Mr. Petty dedicated the first half of this volume to interviews with civilian natives on Saipan and other islands, and I was surprised in finding this to be stronger and more affecting than the second half, which was dedicated to interviews with US Armed Forced personnel. Maybe I've just read too much WWII history from the perspective of the Allied combatants by this point, but it was refreshing to me to both get more of a history on the island natives and to get a better understanding of what they went through as displaced persons. Overall a great book that did a little more than I expected with the interview format.