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WWII veterans visit Saipan
When Bill Thompson first arrived on Saipan’s beaches more than 70 years ago, he was being shot at.
For a more relaxing stay on the island, he joined other World War II veterans on their tour of Saipan yesterday—enjoying local barbecue and music at the Carolinian Utt in the afternoon.
Their tour, dubbed “The Greatest Generation,” were made up of 24 veterans, 17 of whom served on Saipan and Tinian during the war.
Bill Thompson, World War II survivor and veteran, was wounded three times during the Battle of Saipan. He served as a sergeant in the 4th Marine Division. (Dennis B. Chan)
Thompson first landed on island during the Battle of Saipan “on June 15th, 1944, on Red Beach C,” he said in an interview, pointing out into the nearby lagoon across the pavilion.
“I got wounded on the first day, in my face,” he said. “In the second day, I got wounded in my leg.” And on his eighth day, he was wounded again.
“I got taken out” and was sent back to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, he said.
Thompson, a sergeant of the 4th Marine Division, 3rd Battalion, Company M, called his return to Saipan—for the first time after seven decades—a “wonderful” experience so far.
“It’s great, wonderful—but sad in some ways. I saw a lot of people killed out here.”
Since the war, Thompson has gone on to father six kids and build high-rise buildings in New York as a civil engineer. He was 18 when he fought on Saipan.
“Saipan’s got so beautiful now. It’s not torn up with shells. Now it’s such a beautiful place.”
Another Battle of Saipan veteran, Bud Hampton, remembers being shot at during his time here in 1944.
“I remember I got shot at a bit. I remember…I talked to civilians in caves to get them out” because they had medical problems or needed water, he said.
B-29 bombardier Gene Friley said he was stationed at one end of Saipan during the war, about 4 miles away from Tinian.
“The Enola Gay flew right over my head,” he said.
Yesterday was Friley’s first time back to the island since then. He said Saipan “feels warm, very pleasant.”
“I had a swim in the ocean… I’ve spent three months in Guam before—but this island has got to be the most beautiful island in the area,” he said.
Pacific Development Inc.’s Gordiano Marciano gave many thanks to the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Division of Parks and Recreation, and Northern Marianas Athletics, for the barbecue, and PDI guides, for their help with the tour.
