[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 12, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E123-E124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AMERICAN MEMORIAL PARK TINIAN ANNEX ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

          of the commonwealth of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2013

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the American Memorial 
Park Tinian Annex Act. This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior 
to develop, maintain, and administer on the island of Tinian in the 
Northern Mariana Islands an extension of the existing

[[Page E124]]

American Memorial Park on the neighboring island of Saipan.
   American Memorial Park was established to honor the 5,204 U.S. 
military personnel and Northern Mariana Islanders, whose lives were 
lost during the Marianas Campaign, one of the most strategically 
significant events of World War II. The Park houses a museum that 
affords residents and visitors alike an opportunity to learn about the 
vital role of the Northern Mariana Islands in the United States' 
successful effort to bring World War II to a close.
   The Marianas Campaign was so important because capture of the 
islands placed U.S. bombers within range of the Japanese homeland. B-
29s were deployed from both Saipan and Tinian; and, eventually, the 
atomic bombs that ended the War in the Pacific were launched from the 
airfield on Tinian, which was at the time the largest facility in the 
world.
   Despite the critical role of Tinian and its airfields, today there 
is no repository on the island for artifacts recovered from the vast 
military sites that were quickly abandoned at the end of the conflict. 
Nor is there any location at which residents and visitors to Tinian can 
obtain adequate information about the historically significant events 
that occurred there.
   The proposed Tinian Annex would fill this gap. The Annex would have 
both a curatorial and an interpretive function. And, as conceived, the 
Annex would accomplish these purposes by building on National Park 
Service resources and infrastructure already established to manage the 
American Memorial Park and largely supported by a trust fund. Although 
the Department of Defense has said that it will seek additional funding 
to support a historical center on Tinian, the proposed Act also 
respects the limitations on federal financial resources by encouraging 
the use of public lands, provided by the local government, as the site 
of the Annex.
   The need for the Tinian Annex is pressing. For decades after World 
War II the historically significant areas of the island remained 
relatively undisturbed. The U.S. military leased two-thirds of Tinian 
and there were only occasional training exercises on these lands. But 
more recently, as U.S. forces have begun to be reconfigured and 
realigned in the Pacific region, the tempo of activity on Tinian has 
increased. Lands are being developed for firing ranges, encampments 
sites are being enlarged, and the airfields of the 1940s are being 
reconstructed as part of the military's on-going readiness exercises.
   Although the people of the Northern Mariana Islands certainly 
support this increased activity and are proud to have a role in our 
Nation's defense, we are also concerned that historically important 
artifacts that may be unearthed over the coming decades of stepped-up 
training will be discarded and lost without a nearby repository for 
their preservation. We are concerned, too, that because this military 
activity will at times necessarily limit physical access to large parts 
of the island Tinian residents and visitors will need some alternative, 
virtual means of learning about the role of Tinian North Field, where 
the atomic bomb carrying B-29s, Enola Gay and Bock's Car, lifted off 
and about other sites of historic significance. We are concerned that 
we may be losing a little bit of our Nation's and our islands' history, 
day by day. The purpose of my bill is to remedy this.
   This is not solely the concern of those of us who live in the 
Northern Mariana Islands. I would like to share with you the 
perspective of U.S. Marine Corps Chaplain Lt. David Jeltema who was on 
Tinian last September. He accompanied a Marine expeditionary unit 
training there. Lt. Jeltema said the visiting Marines were in awe to be 
in such a historically significant location and viewed Tinian as 
``hallowed ground.'' Tinian's North Field is one of those places he 
said he wished more people could see, ``so that we can remember the 
tremendous power the military has and realize what an incredible 
responsibility it also has.''
   That is certainly one of the many important lessons that could be 
drawn by any visitor to the Tinian Annex of the American Memorial Park, 
which the bill I introduce today would authorize.
   I want to thank the House Natural Resources Committee, which 
favorably reported this same legislation in the 112th Congress. I thank 
all those Members who are original cosponsors of the measure today. And 
I ask the House to move quickly to approve the American Memorial Park 
Tinian Annex Act for the benefit of the future and in honor of the 
past.

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