| The Marianas Project 1.0 is a survey of the World War II sites around the four major islands in the Marianas chain: Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. The centerpiece to this survey is Project Guam, to which I was able to devote over three years of research. Projects Rota, Saipan, and Tinian are smaller overviews that are less detailed, but highlight some of the major sites and relics left on those islands 60 years after the end of the Second World War. A historical note of interest is that the last surrender or organized Japanese forces from World War II took place on the island of Anatahan, about 75 miles north of Saipan. These were the survivors of three Japanese ships that had been sunk during the war. They were discovered in 1945 during expeditions to recover the bodies of the crew from a crashed B-29 bomber. The Japanese merchant mariners finally surrendered to the U.S. Navy on June 30, 1951. Today in 2006 Anatahan is only sparsely populated, but also the site of the one of the only two active volcanoes above sea level in the Marianas chain (the other is on Pagan Island). It began erupting again unexpectedly in 2003. |
| The centerpiece of this survey. |
