Sister Tonie’s story
[Note: I first wrote about Sister Tonie of Maturana for Island Locator Magazine. Then I did a feature on her...
World War II
Prewar Saipan resident’s homecoming
A Saipan-born Japanese returns to Saipan year after year to pray for her father and many others who perished on...
WWII Marine veteran Fred Leroy DesRosier lived a life of service
A photograph of a Marine carrying a boy on his back struck Ed DesRosier when he visited the American Memorial...
Guy Gabaldon: Saipan’s Pied Piper
The surrender of 1,500 soldiers and civilians and soldiers on Saipan in 1944 was attributed to WWII veteran Guy Gabaldon,...
USMC Ret. Lt. General Lawrence Snowden: Freedom is never free
FREEDOM comes at a cost. So said U.S. Marine Corps Ret. Lt. General Lawrence Snowden in an interview with this...
‘We drank our tears’
Huddled together in a cramped cave during the Battle of Saipan, they wept to slake their thirst. In an interview...
WWII veteran-airman:
‘Do something for the country’
Before passing on in 2013, WWII veteran LeRoy Florence was able to make the long trip back to Saipan where...
WWII veteran Major Rick Spooner shares his war experience on Saipan
Major Rick Spooner, a WWII veteran, was among thousands who stormed the beaches of Saipan on June 15, 1944. Seventy...