American Memorial Park

Yesterday the plan was to swim out to some American tankers that didn't make it to shore during WWII and see American Memorial Park.  Sadly, it started to storm.  Lightening even, which is quite odd here. So, sadly, we had to skip swimming to the tanks and just go to the park.

The Battle of Saipan was a very bloody with over 27,000 human lives lost in the battle and another additional 5,000 to suicide off the cliffs. (This number may actually be higher--I may only be remembering casualties to the Japanese military and not including US and civilian.)

The American Memorial Park museum begins with a film sharing information about Saipan prior to the war as well as actually footage from WWII. (This is Ben, MaKenzie, and Perry watching the film. It is actually very dark in the theatre.)

The worst part of the film is near the end when they show civilians flinging themselves off cliffs--or even throwing their children off the cliffs first.  I think that they should leave this part out.

After the video you can go through the museum which focuses mostly on Saipan during the war.   Perry liked this part better than the video.

I had one picture of Perry that I had planned on getting, but I'm pretty sure that I set off an alarm when I placed Perry in the exhibit.  I think that signs should say more than "Don't touch the exhibit."  Perhaps, adding "or you will set off an alarm" would be a lot better for those trying to break the rules.