NORTH FIELD, Tinian\u2014Tinian Mayor Francisco Borja wants this site declared a national treasure owing to its great significance, being the place used to launch the nuclear offensive that was seen to end World War II.<\/p>\n
In his remarks during Wednesday\u2019s 60th anniversary of the liberation of Tinian, Borja said it was \u201cunfortunate that many Americans do not truly understand the global significance of the heroic acts our veterans performed 60 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is ironic in fact, he said, that many Americans \u201cdo not even know where Tinian is located or that the island even exists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd at times, we even feel as if the U.S government has forgotten about this airfield and the extraordinary role it played during the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then said, \u201cI believe that this airfield should be protected and officially recognized as a national treasure for all Americans to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said he hopes that the U.S. government would restore the airfield \u201cto properly memorialize each and every veteran that served during World War II.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Wednesday ceremony, the mayor\u2019s office unveiled the two bomb pits that were used to launch the historic flights that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945.<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s office, in coordination with the Historic Preservation Office, also unveiled a Peace Monument, USS Indianapolis Monument, and Enola Gay Crew Monument.<\/p>\n
The ceremony was attended by top CNMI officials headed by Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Senate President Joaquin Adriano, and House Speaker Benigno Fitial, as well as U.S. military and federal officials, including U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Arthur Johnson and Department of the Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen. <\/p>\n
In his remarks, Borja told the veterans, \u201cYou will be forever remembered by the people of Tinian and will always have a special place in our island\u2019s history. You have served your country proud and the people of Tinian salute you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The visiting veterans were led by Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets, navigator Theodore Van Kirk, and weaponeer Morris Jeppson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tinian Mayor Francisco Borja wants this site declared a national treasure owing to its great significance, being the place used to launch the nuclear offensive that was seen to end World War II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81996","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\/81996","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=81996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}