{"id":409962,"date":"2024-06-07T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=409962"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Radewagen-commemorates-the-80th-anniversary-of-D-Day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Radewagen-commemorates-the-80th-anniversary-of-D-Day\/","title":{"rendered":"Radewagen commemorates the 80th anniversary of D-Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014<\/strong>Delegate Uifa\u2019atali Amata Radewagen (R-A. Samoa) is commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and honoring the heroic life and sacrifice of Henry Saaga, who took part in storming Omaha Beach.<\/p>\n

The D-Day \u201cOperation Overlord\u201d of June 6, 1944, was a tremendous risk by Allied leadership, and took remarkable bravery and loss of life to establish the beachheads, which led to subsequently liberating Europe from the control of Nazi Germany. The effort was strategically led from England by General Dwight Eisenhower, famously telling the troops: \u201cThe eyes of the world are upon you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radewagen said, \u201cLast year, I visited Normandy, including the landing sites, memorials and cemeteries from D-Day. As an American Samoan, the most special time was seeing Henry Saaga\u2019s heroic name enshrined on the Wall of the Missing at the beautiful memorial in France. Henry Saaga was eighteen years old in 1944, but he had answered the call to serve, and sacrificed all for country and the cause of freedom. He was among the brave forces that took the Normandy beaches, then one of the thousands who sacrificed all during the fighting in the hedgerows. God bless the memory of these brave troops who liberated Europe and give millions of people these generations of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Saaga\u2019s actions earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was a singer and musician who played multiple instruments, and a three-sport athlete. He and his family, part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had moved from American Samoa to Honolulu. The family was present during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and had performed music together the evening before. Henry Sa\u2019aga of Utulei Village and Uifa\u2019atali Peter T. Coleman of Pago Pago Village, also in Oahu at the time, knew each other and were both from Ma\u2019oputasi District.<\/p>\n

Despite his young age, then 15 and a high school sophomore, he enlisted in early 1942 in the Hawaii Territorial Guard. His family last saw him that Spring as he was sent to basic training. He was sent overseas in 1944, landed on Omaha Beach, and fought in the hedgerows. A July 1, 1944, report states the following: \u201cPvt. Saaga\u2026displayed extraordinary courage and bravery without respect for his own life when he vaulted an enemy occupied hedgerow to attack, alone, an enemy MG position whose fire was pinning the patrol down. As a result of his act, the patrol was able to move out and return to their own lines. When last heard of Pvt. Saaga was throwing hand grenades and firing his rifle. At this time Pvt. Saaga is still missing.\u201d (PR)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Delegate Uifa\u2019atali Amata Radewagen (R-A. Samoa) uses wet sand from the beach to highlight Henry Saaga \u2018s name on the Wall, the only permissible use for the protected sand.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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Henry Saaga\u2019s name enshrined on the Memorial.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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<\/p>\n

The Saaga family in 1941. A photo on file at the Wall of the Missing.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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<\/p>\n

World War II hero Henry Saaga was from American Samoa and lived in Hawaii. A recent photo of the pillars at the National World War II Memorial.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Delegate Uifa\u2019atali Amata Radewagen (R-A. Samoa) is commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409962","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}