{"id":302924,"date":"2019-07-05T06:06:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=302924"},"modified":"2019-07-05T06:06:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T20:06:54","slug":"95-year-old-vet-awarded-wwii-medallion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/95-year-old-vet-awarded-wwii-medallion\/","title":{"rendered":"95-year-old vet awarded WWII medallion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
World War II veteran Burke Waldron is presented with a medallion for his service during the battles of Saipan and Tinian. He was also the honorary grand marshal in yesterday\u2019s Liberation Day parade.
(REICA RAMIREZ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burke Waldron, a 95-year-old Battle of Saipan veteran, was presented with a World War II medallion after the Liberation Day parade yesterday. He was also named the honorary grand marshal by the Liberation Day committee.<\/p>\n

The medallion consists of the World War II in the Pacific emblem and the official seals of the participating branches of service. The phrase, \u201cOur grateful islands remember,\u201d is also inscribed in the medallion. Government officials and dignitaries commended Waldron\u2019s service during the battles of Saipan and Tinian.<\/p>\n

The last time Waldron was on Saipan was in 1944. Seventy-five years later, he came back for the 75th anniversary of the battles of Saipan and Tinian. He vividly remembers the day he arrived on the shores of Garapan. He spent most of his time at the old lighthouse on Navy Hill because it was the base of their operations and communications.<\/p>\n

Since arriving last Monday, Waldron has visited the American Memorial Park and the lighthouse on Navy Hill. He said that visiting the lighthouse brought back many memories. \u201cIt was a different sight when I got up there, but I could see. I used to climb up at the very top [with my friends]. We would sit around, have our Bible studies, and pray together because it was just a special place for us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Although Waldron has traveled to many states to tell his stories of the war, he was so touched by the stories of civilians, such as David \u201cUncle Dave\u201d M. Sablan, who were caught in between the battles that took place in the Marianas.<\/p>\n

Waldron was amazed and grateful for being awarded and experiencing the Liberation Day parade. \u201cThis is the real spirit of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of those people had a love for America\u2026 They made a world for themselves here and they\u2019re all together, but, culturally, they\u2019re able to enjoy their own way of life in their traditions. I thought that was so fantastic. This is the melting pot of America,\u201d Waldron said when asked about his first experience at Saipan\u2019s Liberation Day parade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Burke Waldron, a 95-year-old Battle of Saipan veteran, was presented with a World War II…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":302925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[364],"class_list":["post-302924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-wwii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}