Remembering history in its proper context

It is as inappropriate for the Mayor of Tinian to invite the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors to visit Tinian during the announced visit of Gen. Paul Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay, as it would have been for our governor, after learning of the proposed visit of Emperor Akihito, to invite the survivors of the Rape of Nanking to display poster-sized pictures of the Japanese slaughter of 360,000 innocent civilians and the brutal rape and murder of 80,000 women, while the Emperor was praying at Bonzai Cliff. (Those readers who would like to learn about the tragic events at Nanking may search for “The Japanese Occupation of Nanking” on your computer.)

Unless, of course, it is the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors’ intention to say, “See, see, this is the price we had to pay because our military and political leaders would not stop the pillaging, plundering, raping and murdering of millions of people in Korea, Manchuria, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and throughout the Pacific from 1931 to 1945.”

Then, they could turn to General Tibbets and the hundreds of veterans assembled at North Field and say, “Thank you for ending the war quickly, before more died. You may let your minds rest at ease, Americans, because we now recognize that it was necessary for our little cities that were harboring munitions factories to be scarified in order to save the millions of lives that would have been lost had the war continued. We know now that if our military and political leaders of the time had not surrendered, all the power of the allied forces would have fallen upon our nation and Japan would have been destroyed. Thank you for saving our nation.”

If the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors wish to visit the Marianas and talk about nuclear non-proliferation, which most of mankind believes in, better it is planned for next year, and planned specifically for that purpose.

It was just a year ago that I had the privilege to announce that the survivors of the USS Indianapolis decided to visit Tinian to meet General Tibbets and his surviving crew for the first time. There was talk of Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets IV, grandson of General Tibbets and the current commanding officer of the 509th Bomb Group, now flying B-2s, to fly over North Field while his grandfather sat in the stands below. As an historian and an American veteran, the image gave me goose bumps. To actually see it while the world observed on CNN would be a thrill, a once in a lifetime memory. Now, it appears it will not happen.

Congressman Ray Tebuteb is correct. Travel and transportation for our veterans, family and friends should have been coordinated through the governor’s office. And, it is unfortunate that at this late date the governor is being called upon to save the project. However, all of us want to see the celebration of the effort at Tinian in 1944 and ’45 to be successful. We want to say thank you to these heroes. Not only the men of the 20th Army Air Force, but also the Seabees who built their bases and the Navy personnel who delivered the men and the materiel they needed. They are heroes to all the American Marines, sailors and soldiers, and all the other men of all the allied nations, who were preparing for the invasion of Japan on November 15, 1945. They are also heroes to all the American, British and Australian prisoners of war who were dying daily in camps from Japan to Manchuria to China to the Philippines to Hong Kong and Singapore. And most of all, they are heroes to the thousands of Asians who were also dying every day in labor camps in all the Japanese occupied areas. We hope that the governor will be able to find a way to rescue the mayor from his financial dilemma and help make sure that this moment in history is not lost.

The missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 60 years ago on August 6 and 9, have been identified as the most significant events of the 20th Century. They mark a true turning point in history; the beginning of the nuclear age. All life on this little globe was forever different after those two days. Let us remember them properly, and within the context of history.

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Don A. Farrell is a Northern Marianas historian.