U.S. war veterans return to Saipan

Eighty-year-old Tom Iradi Sr. still vividly remembers the attack he led in commanding the Amtrac “Lulu Belle” on Yellow Beach, now the site of Pacific Islands Club.

Mr. Iradi, who was the amphibious tractor commander, was helping transport the marines of the 4th Marine Division into the battle on June 15, 1944. He thought he was going to die at that moment as the Japanese fired mortars for several hours.

In Tanapag village, Mr. Iradi’s men were the first to rescue the American soldiers who were already besieged by the Japanese. He later on found that about 300 American soldiers were rescued in that operation.

In his second trip to Saipan, Mr. Iradi brought with him four family members to witness the special ceremony given by the CNMI government to honor the American soldiers who risked their lives during the war.

“It was very emotional. I don’t care whether they were Japanese or Americans. It simply tore me apart,” Mr. Iradi, who now lives in New Jersey, says as he described the feeling when he first saw the different memorials on the island.

“I love it here, the people are so nice. The whole island should be a monument of peace for all the islands in the Pacific,” he says.

Today, Mr. Iradi is proud to show the photographs he has taken during the war which he has made into four books.

After 56 years, Ohio-based Bob Weaks, 78, was brought to Saipan by his son Gary who has always been fascinated by stories about the war as he grew up. All those three weeks that he was here, Mr. Weaks says he hated the island at that time because of the war. “But I love this island very much now. The people are very good and nice to us,” he says.

Laddie Vacek from Nebraska had another mission when he came to the island for the Veterans Day Celebration. He wanted to meet Martha Muna Mendiola, the young girl in the photograph which he took in July 1944 while they were helping take care of the wounded in the hospital.

Mr. Vacek says he could not believe it when he saw how the island has become so beautiful because the place was devastated during the war. “Now, it is a tropical paradise. It is just wonderful to be here,” he says.

On Saipan, Mr. Vacek finally met Ms. Muna, who has also considered him a long lost member of her family. “So many local people were killed and wounded during the war only because they were innocent bystanders. So many lives lost in the name of freedom,” says Mr. Vacek. (LFR)