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‘In Memoriam’ ceremony at AMP set this October
From left, 17th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council secretary Carmen C. Pangelinan, council chair Marian DLG Tudela, American Memorial Park superintendent Barbara Alberti, and council vice chair Antonia M. Tudela. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)6
The 17th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council, in cooperation with the American Memorial Park on Saipan, will be hosting an “In Memoriam” commemorative ceremony this October, in remembrance of nearly a thousand Chamorros and Carolinian civilians who lost their lives during the fierce Battle of Saipan nearly 80 years ago in 1944.
The 12th Saipan Municipal Council held its first In Memoriam ceremony in October 2014—10 years after the unveiling of the historic Marianas Memorial courtyard in 2004—and this became an annual event, but was postponed in 2018 due to Typhoon Yutu. The ceremony was again postponed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and only resumed in October 2022.
The unveiling of the memorial courtyard was first held on June 13, 2004, as organized by then-governor Juan N. Babauta, with many witnessing the unveiling of the first granite edifice of civilian Chamorro and Carolinian lives lost in the Battle of Saipan.
Together with then-Saipan mayor Juan B. Tudela, they were joined by then-bishop Thomas A. Camacho and Fr. Isaac Ayuyu for the Mass of remembrance, after which the governor attended the ceremony at Marianas Memorial along with then-Youth Congress Speaker Alvin “Champ” Fejeran, who recited the 933 names that are etched on the granite memorial markers.
Members of the veteran community, government officials, families, relatives, and friends joined the commemorative fellowship and remembrance at the memorial park that early Sunday morning nearly 20 years ago.
This year will see the return of the community with municipality council leadership as host of the In Memoriam in early October. (Saipan Tribune)
