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Isley Field |
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Isley Field is one of the most complete WWII
airports surviving today. This airport was originally called
As Lito Field during the Japanese occupation and was among the
first objectives for the U.S. Marines landing on Invasion
Beach a mile to the west. Construction to repair the airfield
began immediately with fierce fighting on all sides of the runway.
The American soldiers used the existing buildings for the same
purpose as the Japanese soldiers did the day before. 24 hour-a-day
construction continued throughout the Battle of Saipan to add
a second runway and increase the length of the runways to accommodate
the American B-29 bombers.
One night, 500 heavily armed Japanese soldiers
snuck through the front line at Nafutan
Peninsula and blew up many parked American planes at Isley
Field. The Japanese soldiers then withdrew to Mt. Nafutan where
they stumbled upon a sleeping American field artillery unit.
None of the 500 Japanese soldiers survived that encounter.
Isley Field not only helped in ending the
Battle of Saipan but WWII as well. By 1945 an American military
city grew from Isley Field to the Obyan
Beach area. Tens of thousands of American soldiers lived
there working in shifts around-the-clock loading B-29's for the
constant bombing of Japan. Today the city is gone, swallowed
by the jungle. Most of the roads are nothing more than hiking
trails leading to cement foundations, the only remaining evidence
of the city.
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1945 aerial picture of the city from Isley Field to
Obyan. |
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After the capture As Lito Field the airport
was briefly renamed Conroy Field and then renamed again to Isley
Field in honor of the first American pilot to loose his life
in the Battle of Saipan. Its name changed a couple more times
after WWII and is currently called the Saipan International Airport
which is still used today.
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