Posted on 05/28/2016 10:01:11 PM PDT by rey
At last, Marine private and son of Healdsburg John Saini is coming home.
Born to an Alexander Valley grape-growing family in 1923, Saini (sigh-EE-knee) was 20 when he died early on in World War II’s deadly, three-day Battle of Tarawa. He was buried on the Pacific atoll along with more than 1,000 other Marines and sailors and more than 5,000 Japanese and Korean soldiers.
Informed of his death, his shattered immigrant parents in Healdsburg, Mike and Mary Saini, awaited word of where he was interred and how they might return his earthly remains to Sonoma County for proper, Catholic burial. It never came.
Shortly after the war, the U.S. disinterred many of the Marines buried in battlefield cemeteries on Tarawa, but Saini’s grave was one that couldn’t be found.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressdemocrat.com ...
I’ve been to Tarawa. I’ve been trying to go to all the islands that can be visited in the Pacific where major battles were fought.
Guam, Tinian, Saipan, Chuk (Truk, Tarawa)
RIP.
He’s been home for some time.
Tarawa was a three-day meatgrinder, with many fine young men killed just wading ashore from landing craft hung up on the coral rimming the island.
It was a deadly SNAFU.
Wow, what a neat project to see history and show your respects
I’ve been reading a lot the past few years re the War in the Pacific . . .I would like to do as you have done one day
I imagine that as bad as the war in Europe must have been, it was nothing compared to fighting in the Pacific, with the unbearable heat, the jungle, and all the deadly critters that were around, much less the Japs themselves.
“Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.”
—NED DOLAN
I forgot I’ve also been to Singapore, Nanking, Shanghai and lived in Hong Kong. So it isn’t just the US battlefields I’ve been to.
You can’t get to Iwo Jima or Midway or Wake without a special permit that I can’t get.
Since I live on Guam and Tinian and Saipan are near by they were easy. Some of the others were a bit tougher. Chuk and Kwajalein Atoll are pretty easy to get to from here as is Tarawa.
Many of those islands are rather ugly now but you can still see the burned out tanks and artillery pieces.
The War in the Pacific museum on Guam is a great stop.
The late William Manchester was a Marine in the Pacific. He said it was a war unlike any other fought by the US. He said he, and all the Marines with him hated the Japanese. They’d fight while shaking with malaria and when they could barely stand from dysentery. He also said the Japanese hated them in equal measure.
A war where quarter was neither asked or given. A fight to the death. A fight until the last man standing was was the winner.
VIDEO: War In The Pacific (1941/1945) 3/8 - Tarawa 20th November 1943
“I’ve been to Tarawa. I’ve been trying to go to all the islands that can be visited in the Pacific where major battles were fought.”
When you go to those places, please know you are going for the rest of us who can’t. Thank you for doing that.
I will certainly rember you.
I so wanted to take my Dad back to Saipan before he died. Wanted to locate spots of his photos where he stood. Google Earth not much help with vegetation grown back.
I bought a DVD that begins with the landings and carries through the land battles and ends with an honors ceremony for the troops of both sides. Iwo Jima is an enormous cemetery and and allows visits only once a year. I don't know anything about permits but visitors are restricted to relatives of those interred on the island.
Regards,
GtG
The Koreans were slave laborers, not soldiers. Some of them actually survived the battle.
“I don’t know anything about permits but visitors are restricted to relatives of those interred on the island.”
Yeah, exactly. There is only a weather station on Wake and Midway. You have be part of a USGS team to go to either of them.
I had a great uncle who was at Iwo Jima but survived. He was awarded a Sliver Star for valor at (I think) Kawajelien. He died after the war was over when he fell off a gangway into the harbor as he was boarding a ship to be taken home. He had his (pack and gear on). What a shame, he went through most of the major battles only to drown in an accident
Anyway. Saipan and Guam are pretty easy to get to. The flight cost about the same as going to Hawaii. They are both worth seeing
Thank you for your service Marine. I rue your untimely, ultimate Sacrifice. May You Rest in Peace. Salute.
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