AN archaeological survey conducted in Lower Base revealed significant structures built by the Japanese at the former seaplane base long before invasion in 1944.
David G. DeFant, who formerly served as a director of historic preservation programs in the CNMI, Palau and American Samoa, and principal investigator and office manager for Southeastern Archaeological Research Inc. headquartered on Guam, described the surviving structures as “remarkable.”
During his presentation at the first Marianas History Conference, DeFant said, “The construction evidence on the ramps and all the other buildings and facilities is quite extraordinary. It’s very well engineered.”
The structures, he said, were in sharp contrast to those built by the Japanese shortly before the invasion which were done in haste.
It was the CNMI Historic Preservation Office that initially conducted an investigation in 1987 and its work resulted in the identification of 14 features comprising the former Japanese seaplane base.
In 2011, Micronesian Archaeological Services, or MARS, and ARCGEO Inc. undertook an archaeological survey and monitoring investigations that revealed previously undocumented features of the WWII Japanese seaplane base at Puntan Flores.
Some of the features identified include seaplane ramps, apron ways, air raid shelters, cisterns, fuel bunkers and drains in the vicinity of Commonwealth Utilities Corp. power plant facilities.
DeFant believed there could be more buried features of the former seaplane base, and efforts should be directed toward preserving the extant structures.
Marveling at these structures quality, Defant showed how, for example, the concrete drainages are well-built. “The drainage system was beautifully engineered, and still functioning today.”
Differentiating between structures built by the civilian Japanese, military Japanese, and the U.S. military wasn’t easy, he said underscoring the efforts invested in comparing concrete examples to definitively state whether the structure was Japanese or American.
Historical sources
DeFant acknowledged that his research was primarily derived from American military sources, which to his regret, has excluded to a very large degree, Japanese and indigenous perspectives and involvement in the site.
Reliance on military sources obtained from intelligence reports have muted Japanese and indigenous perspectives; however, DeFant was optimistic that such deficiencies could be remedied in future research undertaking.
Historical background
Construction work at Puntan Flores began long before WWII broke out, which in DeFant’s estimate, could be between 1934 and 1935.
He pointed out that there was a controversy surrounding this construction relating to the militarization of the island, the development of and improvements to the port and to As Lito airfield. Such controversy led Japan to leave the League of Nations and the Washington Treaty of Naval Limitations.
Japanese presence in Micronesia
The Japanese had already been trading in the region since the late 19th century, according to DeFant, citing that most traffic at the port of Saipan was Japanese by 1910.
By October 1914, the Japanese Imperial Navy occupied Saipan and began administering the islands previously under German control. Control transferred from military to civilian in 1922 under the League of Nations mandate.
“During the 1920s and 1930s, Saipan witnessed rapid development,” DeFant said, pointing out the surge in Japanese migration.
By 1938, 59,000 Japanese, mostly Okinawans, lived in the Northern Marianas,” a sharp contrast to the German period when there were only 200 foreigners on island, DeFant said.
Construction of the seaplane
Initially, the construction of the seaplane base “was basically civilian” even though there were also military engineers involved in the project. Just as the Japanese were building the seaplane on Saipan, construction of similar facilities on Yap and Palau were also underway.
By 1935, Puntan Flores seaplane base regularly welcomed to port Kawanishi seaplane operated by Dai Nippon Kokku, a Japanese airline, the plied the Saipan-Yokohama-Palau route, which DeFant said was purely civilian in nature. This service was not fully established until 1938.
The air service went from Yokohama to Saipan, then to Chuuk, Pohnpei, Jaluit and back again.
Based on his research, DeFant believed there was no indication that a military aircraft was based at Puntan Flores prior to approximately 1939.
“Prior to 1941, the base consisted of one seaplane ramp,” he said.
Between 1939 and 1940, the Japanese began a formal militarization of Japanese possessions in Micronesia, including the transfer of the Puntan Flores seaplane base to military control.
By 1941, Puntan Flores had 65 buildings including two seaplane ramps, steel hangars, shops, semi-underground ammunition magazines, barracks, warehouses and nine air raid shelters.
DeFant noted that compared to the civilian facilities created before the militarization, additional structures “didn’t put a lot of effort into the engineering.”
US military control
By 1944, the seaplane base came under U.S. military control, following the invasion of Saipan.
DeFant said the Americans significantly expanded the facility because of the larger aircraft in use. The Japanese fuel bunker was converted by the Americans into a communications tower.
Puntan Flores became Lower Base
By around 1949 or 1950, the base was formally closed. It was not until 1952 when the Naval Training Unit of the Central Intelligence Agency began using the facility.
DeFant explained that Puntan Flores acquired the name “Lower Base” because the CIA headquarters were on Capital Hill, otherwise referred to as the “Upper Base. The rest of the CIA facility, down at the Puntan Flores seaplane base, was called “Lower Base.”
DeFant recognized the significant role that the Puntan Flores seaplane base had played in the history of the islands and WWII and suggested further studies be conducted to identify extant prewar and WWII structures, and expressed his hope that the area will one day be nominated to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
More than the identification of the remaining structures, DeFant urged for efforts should be directed towards preserving the area, recognizing its potential for heritage tourism.
(Note this story appeared in Marianas Variety and in the earlier iteration of this website — which unfortunately lost its contents during maintenance work.)
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