WWII Prisoners of the Japanese on SAIPAN | History Traveler Episode 229
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2022
- The Battle of Saipan was one of the most violent and decisive battles of the Pacific War in WWII. Located in the Mariana Islands, Saipan was to be the first target in a larger campaign codenamed Operation Forager. One secured, this and the islands of Guam and Tinian would put the U.S. B-29 bombers in range of the Japanese home islands. But before the first Marine would step foot on Saipan, there were other Americans who were on this island. But not by choice.
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My great uncle, Cpl. George Iverson, Co. B, 24 Marines, 4th Marine Division, was wounded on June 18, 1944 on Saipan. Due to his wounds he missed the Tinian landings. He was killed on Iwo Jima in 45 and is buried at the "Punchbowl".
My most sincere condolences on the loss of your great uncle. 💔🇺🇸
Semper Fi
I'm so sorry for your loss. God bless him and may he rest in peace.
Respects always to your great uncle.
A true American hero!
Lived on Saipan in 1975/6 - father helped develop the airport there. Was an interesting time for finding WWII history on the island.
Did your father possibly mention anything about Amelia Earhart or her plane?
@@thomasmcdaniel6264 we knew many locals there who claimed to have seen a “white woman” on the island.
J.D. Thanks so much for making this "easy"trip to the Pacific. Can't imagine the courage it took to cross that open area in front of those bunkers ! Special meaning to me because my favorite uncle served in the Pacific at Guadalcanal and Leyte in the Philippines. True story, he carried a silver dollar in his shirt pocket thru out the campaign given to him from his future wife. "You may need this some day, think of me" He did need it, it deflected a Japanese bullet and saved his life. He was buried with it a few years ago.
Wow!
Excellent! Can't imagine being held in one of those cells in that tropical humidity on a poor diet and being interrogated. God Bless those souls and as always a huge Thank You to all those who have served. Looking forward to this series.
This guy pretends it was better than it was. The American prisoners were usually tortured in the worst ways imaginable before being killed
Yeah, The humidity there is unbearable. Being in a jail cell would just add to the misery.
You should check out the atrocities committed by the US soldiers in Saipan
Name the battle, Name the soldiers origin an no matter you will always find what tortured by war minds create@@user-td2jw9ze2c
as someone who was born and raised in saipan it is so strange to see things that are just inherent to me be seen as something so special. i hope you had a fun time here!
Loved that island. I didn’t like the heat, but everything else was amazing.
Keep them coming. My dad was in t he south Pacific starting in July 1944,. He was with the army 77th division, all the way to Ie Shima, a small island off the western coast of Okinawa, where he was shot through the chest and shoulder, and out the back. He was evaced to Guam, where his physical wounds healed. He dealt with the horror of war in his dreams and occasional waking hours until he died in 2008. Thank you for doing this!
You'll like the next several episodes. Got some 77th Infantry Division content on the way.
Love seeing you covering the Pacific. My father was a gunners mate on the USS Terry E Stevenson, a liberty boat, during WWII. The pulled into Saipan while the fight was still raging to offload supply for the grunts fighting the battle
Thank God for what your Father did in WWII. Grateful for his service.
My dad was also on a liberty ship. (USS Bjarne A. Lia) Go Merchant Marine!
My father was in San Diego in the Navy during the war. He said war is first and foremost, an EXPORT INDUSTRY. I'm sure my father was gazing at your father.
@@motaman8074 My dad was USNavy, not merchant marine. Regular navy manned the guns on the liberty ships. My dad was a 20mm antiaircraft gunner
@@michaelblagrave7648 I knew that about the Navy gunners. I just wanted to shout out the MM. Your father and his mates were much appreciated by my dad and the rest of the crew.
Looking forward to learning about the Pacific campaign. I had family that fought in the European and Pacific campaign as many of your viewers. My Gram had letters typed on delicate paper from surviving crew members of a Catalina that her brother piloted. He got crew out and went down in the pacific with the plane. There is a barn at our local fair named in his honor. As a kid I had so many questions but was taught that it not polite to ask. Being born in the sixties the wounds and memories of my uncles that came home ….it was not the time to ask. I respected that. But I now often think of the personal stories and events in history they each took to their grave. Very grateful for what you are doing. Am certain these places are extremely humbling to visit. Thank you for taking us along.
Yes, we learned and were told not to ask. A man down the street was captured in Hong Kong. He was frail looking and drank a heck of a lot. Not sure if his appearance was from the drink or being a captive but I am sure that certainly didn't help.. He never worked but did get a supplemental disability pension for being a prisoner.
I know it would have been emotional, but I wish more veterans recorded their personal recollections. I find those more interesting than the overall history.
Wow!
Yes, I too was born in the sixties and no one ever talked about it -being a kid, I probably would not have had good questions anyway- but I remember the 'quiet' regarding the war. We were barely one generation post war and I am sorry for the lost opportunities.
My great uncle fought there. He joined the Marines in 1937. Fought in WW2, Korea and Vietnam before retiring as a Sargent Major. He has passed on but I remember asking him which Island was the worst in his experience in WW2 and his response was Saipan.
Oh wow.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I have to admit. Your videos are amazing. Military history is my passion. Especially WW2. I’m envious my friend. Love the videos.
Wow! I am so excited for the rest of this series on the war in the Pacific. So many aspects of the Second World War are covered on this channel that are rarely if ever covered. Keep up the good work!
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☑️🤔 Yeah, and one day historians like ^him will be able to visit Iwo Jima and teach us about it's war history. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait roughly 920 more years for those documentaries to be researched and filmed. After all, the Japanese DID say that it would take 1,000 years for the island to be conquered. So we've still got a LONG wait, and a LOT of fighting ahead of us before the Japanese defenses are breached.....
But I'm confident that my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson will help lead the final charge for victory! I'll be so proud of him!😁
So awesome. No better history channel on the internet.
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Can't wait for more of this series. Thanks so much!
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A very well made video, job well done... Thank You for coming.
Absolutely fascinating. I'm pumped for this series. Thanks for sharing!
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So excited to watch this series! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
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Once again i am so envious of your great adventures .. Look at that place !! I am so happy you bring us to these places and i hope you take the time to relax and enjoy your surroundings, Thank You again for such great content.
Awesome tour JD looking forward to it. Always a pleasure to watch pal thanks for taking us along
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What a way to end the day, great job JD. Looking forward to seeing the whole series!
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These are just so awesome, really well done; thank you for doing these! Also, from South Dakota, a big HELLO to the Gettysburg Museum! Love you guys!
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I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your content over the years, but have been particularly interested in this new series on the Pacific Campaign beginning with Saipan. What I enjoy about what you do is the research you've done. I have read WWII history extensively, and particularly the war in the Pacific since my dad fought in this theater in the US Navy. Keep up your excellent work.
Awesome videos man, I absolutely love history. You make me love history even more, I thank you for all your efforts you put in these videos.
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Its so awesome that you are getting to do this with your life. So glad I found this channel🤘🏽🤘🏽
Thank you for watching. Much appreciated.
JD so glad you are doing this series. Beautiful beaches now back then not so much. Looking forward to the other sites on Saipan and other stops on this journey. Always top shelf material from you--thanks for sharing!!
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Wow love seeing this. My son lives there and I have not been able to get to the island. This is wonderful to see the history of the islands. Thank you to all who served, and fought for our country.
Awesome JD. Glad to see you on the other side of the pond. Stay safe. 👍👍👍👍👍
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I love this channel!! JD you are completely killing it keep it up, this is great knowledge for the younger generations to learn.
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Great video thank you for traveling to all these places and letting us see all this history. Your a fine man and very well educated on the subject
Thank you. Glad to share the experiences.
Thank you for bringing HISTORY and make it alive for us. Much appreciated.
Thanks for watching. I appreciate you it. Hopefully the channel is doing some good.
Your channel is my favorite. I love history and documentaries. You do a wonderful job of telling nuggets of American Military history in a concise interesting way. Thank you for your work.
Much appreciated. Thank you for watching.
What a great video! My grandfather fought(and was wounded) in the Philippines and am very interested in the battles in the Pacific!!! Keep up the great work!!!!
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Oh THAT was wonderful! I can hardly wait for the rest of the series, and the videos of the other islands that you are going to. What I am looking forward to the most is when you finally get to the Philippines! Hopefully you have a lot of time for that series.
I would love to get to the Philippines.
@@TheHistoryUnderground don't rush to it man. you cannot actually get to the most famous part of the Philippines now. The island is closed off as of june 2021. due to the owners of the island going out of business and not being able to go to Corregidor. You can still see the landing zones along Leyte but its hard to get to them as no ports along that side of the island There are ways still of getting to Corregidor but once there there is no infrastructure to even move about the island. Bataan is still viable to visit along the death march and Subic and Clark are there but not much to see in the area that i found after looking for a month. Hope to get back there in a year or so and maybe the island will be an option to visit then if someone takes over the running of it.
Excited for how you are gonna move through the experiences and take more episodes to do it. Crawl through it!
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I’ve been to Guadalcanal, Guam and Iwo Jima - but not to Saipan. Thank you for this wonderful video honoring these great heroes. Please keep up the great work!
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Wow....no words just much emotion. Incredible sites and great information. It's really quite helpful to be able to see and hear so much details of this time in war. Thanks a bunch JD for all your efforts to bring us truth and amazement. Take care.
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J.D., you just get better all the time. Thanks for all you do!
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Your very lucky to get to see this place so much history. Thanks for letting us see it to
Glad to share the experience. Thank you for watching.
Nature is really amazing, taking over that jailhouse. Interesting story as always, your videos are so good looking forward to the next one.
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This is so cool! My Mom had family members who fought throughout the Pacific. I am so glad you are presenting this part of the war. Also, had a family friend that fought on Gaudalcanal. That would be cool to see.
I would love to get there. Wish that they would open back up to travel.
Great documentary! Thank you for your sharing
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As a USCG vet who was stationed on Guam, we visited Saipan several times. Thank you for bringing back fond memories. While your there, don’t miss out on the other battlegrounds on Plau, Truk, Tinian etc.
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So awesome man!! I’ve been subscribed to your channel for over a year & love all your videos! (The towns/villages in France were amazing). BUT PLEASE do as much Pacific theatre coverage as possible. Keep up the good work, love the videos!!!
I agree. I’m really into the Pacific and honestly Vietnam and Korea as well. Idk why lol
I completely agree, the other theatres of war don’t get the coverage they deserve
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JD your Killin it. Awesome history. Looking forward to seeing more. Thank you sir 👍🏼😎
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The areas that were the sight of such death and horror. Look so nice today, that water is so blue and beautiful.
Thank you for going off the beaten path and showing stuff you don't normally see in documentaries etc...
Saw the WW2tv live stream, it was great!
Thanks! That is one of my favorite channels.
Very nicely done as always.
Looking forward to the next one
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Great video! Fascinating content. The Japanese jail footage a story in itself.
Thrilled you’re embarking on the Pacific theatre aspect of WW2. No doubt your productions will parallel the excellence you presented in the Normandy and beyond European theatre videos. The Pacific tour hits closer considering my dad was a AAA Fire Control Officer on the battleship USS Pennsylvania in ‘44-45 and involved in several historical naval battles.
Keep up the excellent work JD! 🇺🇸
Thank you. I am hoping that people will enjoy the content.
I knew you were going to make it to the Pacific theater. Lots to learn so I'm paying attention. Thank you for putting up the the heat.
Thanks. And that heat. Oh my gosh.
You're my new favorite video producer on UA-cam my brother. Thanks for bringing great content of what my fellow brothers went through. 👍 SEMPER FI !
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I couldn’t begin to imagine what being held in a cell like that would be like. True heroes. Great video, JD, thanks sir. 👍
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Real Good video to see you traveling the Pacific Theater. We'll get to enjoy the journey as well. Thank you.
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Brilliant episode my friend 100% keep them coming.
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Absolutely amazing work and I just love the pacific theater! Would love the see you on Peleliu in the future!
Thank you. That island is very high on my list.
Really good episode. Thank you.
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This was so good!!! Seeing the prison, and thinking how horrible it must have been for them…wow! Incredible
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Very interesting!! Thanks JD! 🙏🏻💪🏻
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I have been waiting for this. While in the Air Force, I was stationed on Guam in the 70s but never go a chance to visit Saipan and Tinian. Even on Guam, there wasn't much information available. My on views of Saipan and Tinian were from B-52 flying over at 30,000 feet and seeing the runways on Tinian for the B-29s. I am looking forward to the rest of the series, especially the ones taken on Guam.
My uncle was a B-52 crew chief on Guam during Vietnam.
You cover the most interesting topics. Thanks
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Incredible! My grandpa was in the 3rd marine division and was wounded on Iwo, I know how hard it is to visit that island but I hope to get there some day. I’m excited to see you cover Guam as he was stationed there before the invasion. Thank you for bringing this content to us!
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Give me shout if you ever make the trip. I'd be glad to show you around bud.
Great stuff JD...... very much enjoyed this...
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I know I'm a year plus late, but this is a great companion series to Ian Toll's the conquering tide. Nothing like learning about a battle and being able to see what that actually looks like today.
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Fantastic you’re in the Pacific! Can’t wait to see the rest!
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I am so jealous of your travels. Very interesting, thanks.
Glad to share the experience. Thanks for watching.
Absolutely fascinating! Thank you! 💯
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
Excellent start can’t wait to see the places
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Excellent! Looking forward to seeing all your content.
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Hi JD. I'm rewatcing this play list again. Does anyone else reading this?😊
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The only channel I watch where I hit the "like" before watching the show....it never disappoints.
Appreciate that 👊🏻
Loving all the content from the Pacific!
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It’s amazing how the jungle tries to reclaim itself. To look at the Island now it’s hard to believe there was a war there. If the bunkers weren’t there you would never know that a battle actually happened there. Great video and can’t wait to see more.👍😁
Thanks. The island looks completely different now than it did in 1944. The jungle has reclaimed everything.
Not quite.. theirs a few old Sherman tanks around the island. Infact theirs one out side my sliding door on the beach in about 6ft of water ( high tide ) right now.
My dad was in the 2nd Marines fought on Sipan. He told me they never had a prisoner, only dead Japanese soldiers. War is hell.
My father from the Navy, said Marines move fast and take no time for prisoners, and care nothing about casualties.
It was a rough place for sure.
Very well done. I was on Saipan in the mid 1990’s teaching some classes for their police officers. Saw many of the places you’ve presented. I was surprised at how often I came across unexploded ordinance from the WW2 battle. There was an open structure at the end of the island. If a resident found old ordinance, they could take it there and leave it inside. A Naval detachment from Guam would come to Saipan periodically to render the ordinance safe. Found lots of war debris in the lagoon. Would love to go back!
Very interesting. My husband did TDY there twice and we are looking forward to more videos on Saipan.
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Being looking foward to this chapter of WW11, keep up the good work JD 👏👏👍
Thanks 🙏🏼
Excellent again JD .. my pop fought in the South Pacific (Guadalcanal ) and I always have had great interest in the stuff you are covering now .. keep it coming !!
If Guadalcanal would ever open back up for travel, I’d love to go there.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I will find out that info for you JD I am currently in Darwin and heading to the Brisbane side next week. I have found stuff in Darwin from the war such as tunnels and bombing sites. I am going to port moresby in the near future and the are around it as well.
@@vw2112 wow! Thanks.
@@TheHistoryUnderground no prob i enjoy scouting areas to put you into knowing how much you love the sun and sand out here. still waiting on you to flesh out the Okinawa trip lol
Great video, as always!
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Really like your videos. Interesting stuff 👍
Glad you like them!
@@TheHistoryUnderground get to do any fishing while you were there?
My Grandfather was a POW in Kanchanaburi…Hellfire Pass. Australian Army captured in Java area. Was in camps for 3 years…the suffering that went on in those places was unimaginable. A video of that place would be amazing, especially on ANZAC Day.
Wow!
Welcome to Saipan, sir! I hope you enjoy your stay and film as much about our history. There many bunkers located around the airport, Obyan beach, and of course the northside of the island.
Loved my time there.
Good video.. Im learning some things that I did not know about the Pacific Theater.
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Wild video sir very cool. Have a good weekend.
Great content guys 👏👏
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Love your videos! 👍
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Great job, as usual, JD! Really looking forward to the rest of your coverage! Did you eventually make it all the way to Okinawa?
No, but I would love to get out there someday.
Great video mate I gust read book about pealhabour can't wait for the next one 👍🔥🔥
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Thank you for the history lessons
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Awesome JD, been hoping you would do some episode's from the Pacific theater
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Excellent….change it up a bit! Hope you get to Truk (Chuuk)…some amazing shoreside, forgotten and abandoned hardware, buildings, bunkers (one overlooking the airport)…and of course the wrecks! Thanks, Andrew
Didn’t make it there. But I would like to someday.
That was great and really interesting the way you tell the stories shows your passion for history looking forward to the rest, l don't know which would be the worst capture by the Japanese or crash landing in the pacific, brave men indeed.
Thank you for this!!
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I live on Saipan! You make our Island look so Beautiful. I can recognize where you are just from the islands in the back
Thank you for the preview of Saipan. I will be there next March. When you mentioned the POW's were moved to Omori, I think that is where Louis Zamperini was also held for a period of time and subjected to brutal torture.
Once again, thank you for the great video.
Yes, he was a prisoner at Omori. I read the book of his life, I could not put it down. Truly a real hero and a very brave and lucky man.
Yes, "Unbroken." What an amazing piece of writing.
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@@TheHistoryUnderground Check out a series of blogs by "Saipan Pictures" by a former Marine who lived on Saipan in the 90's and explored caves etc on Saipan used during WW2 .
Are you going to Saipan on a tour in March?
I'm ashamed to admit I know hardly anything about the war in the Pacific so thank you, J.D., for educating us all.
No shame at all. We are all learning.
Great! The pacific, a fantastic subject for a series!
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Thanks for showing the Japanese prison. It reminds me of the Louis Zamperini story -“Unbroken”.
Pretty awful place.
loved your conversation with WW2TV
Thanks! That is one of my favorite channels.
My Grandfather was in the invasion of Saipan, he was a BM1 on the LST-130. He was in the first wave of the invasion delivering the Second Marine Division to the beaches. He was also in Titian invasion right after.
Wow!
Good stuff, thanks.
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Bro, love the videos, just one suggestion if I might. Have you given any thought to using a drone with Ariel views to fully understand the size and scope of the area that you’re visiting. Keep up the great work.
Nice intro JD. Imagine all the WW2 pilots that fly over the island and had that view. WOW!
Would love to see Saipan, thanks for sharing!
Awesome place. Thank you for watching.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I can imagine P-51Ds taking off.. Such a cool place..
And looks like lovely beaches too.. Sad about the US servicemen that suffered there though. Glad you are telling their stories.