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NMI Museum launches WWII exhibit
Northern Marianas Humanities Council program officer Farah Younis, left, delivers a speech for the audience with researcher Alexander Astroth, right, during the opening of 75th Anniversaries of the Battle of Saipan and Tinian Multimedia Exhibit at the NMI Museum of History and Culture yesterday. (Marc Venus)
The NMI Museum of History and Culture unveiled Tuesday a multimedia exhibit that celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian.
The exhibition—a collaboration between the Northern Marianas Humanities Council and researcher Alexander Astroth—shows previously classified World War II pictures and footage from combat cameramen who took photographs and collected footage on the battlefields. The pictures were in laboratories in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland and were kept in boxes that were marked “secrets.” After the ’80s, the military was required to hand over the images and footage to the National Archives and Research Administration or NARA.
“Over time, Astroth was able to get a hold of the images and was contacting people through email in the Marianas and it happened to be brought to me from Don Farrell, so it just happened to come to the council,” Humanities Council program officer Farah Younis said.
“This event is in honor our families who perished in the war,” said Peter Camacho, who is chairman of the 75th Anniversaries of the Battle of Saipan and Tinian Committee.
Starting today, the NMI Museum of History and Culture will be displaying the photographs, while the American Memorial Park will have the footage and the documentaries of elders telling their World War II stories.
The council acknowledged the work of Astroth, the professors at the University of Guam, Carlos Madrid, David Atienza, Boyd Dixon, Mike Carson, and Don Farrell on the exhibit.
The battles of Saipan and Tinian occurred in 1944.
