LAND clearing began Saturday, Sept. 9. at the site of a former World War II-era American Cemetery, local historian and scholar Don Farrell said.
He said a crew of “a few hardy souls, not representing any particular agency,” met at the 8th Avenue Roundabout to begin uncovering the nearby site of the access road to the cemetery. They likewise uncovered the cemetery’s altar and flagpole, he added.
Farrell said the site was once the graveyard for all the servicemen who died on Tinian during the war. The area hosted 627 graves.
In 1947, their bodies were exhumed and returned to their next of kin or reburied in the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Oahu, he added.
After almost 80 years of exposure to the elements and Mother Nature, the site’s flagpole and altar are reduced to historic debris, Farrell said.
He added that it was a “timely” measure to begin land clearing efforts because of a local plan to use the site for a formal Veterans Day ceremony this November.
Farrell said because the location is overgrown with vegetation, the long process to make it usable for visitors will have to begin now. Not all of the clearing can be done manually, and will require a front-end loader, he added.
The American Cemetery is included on a list of sites that will comprise an upgraded Tinian National Historic Landmark.
According to the website of the National Park Service, the agency responsible for historic landmark designations, national historic landmarks are “historic properties that illustrate the heritage of the United States.”
The upgraded map of the National Historic Landmark and the list of historic sites within the landmark have been sent to the National Park Service by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council for final review.
In 2021, the Humanities Council received a $92,000 grant to create and install 20 interpretive signs around the Tinian National Historic Landmark. Farrell is one the advisors for the project. The funding came from the NPS’ American Battlefield Protection Program.
View the full Marianas Variety Article here:
https://www.mvariety.com/news/local/land-clearing-begins-at-tinian-national-historic-landmark/article_a3e73246-5043-11ee-99bf-07dca2d59802.html
