My wish finally came true, and there I was, inhaling the cool and salty tang of the sea breeze and strolling at one of the most historic beaches on Saipan at 4 a.m. one day last week.
Invasion Beach in Chalan Kanoa stretched long and silent as my buddy and I trudged amid the early morning mist, our path illuminated by a quarter moon and a sprinkling of stars in the sky.
I was no stranger to Invasion Beach. I’d watched the sun go down and captured it on camera from this point countless times before. I’d watched the same beach come alive with families and kids in broad daylight and saw fishermen pull in their boats at twilight. But in the early morning hours, the place felt different.
The long strip stretched on forever. The deafening silence was broken only by the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore and the sloshing sound of our feet on the sand.
Everything was so calm and serene that you would never think one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific took place on the very same spot over 60 years ago.
Historical records show that Invasion Beach was where the American forces landed at the start of the Battle of Saipan. Here, hundreds died.
It is hard to imagine that every grain of sand in the beach had been a mute witness to the bloody battle.
From a distance, the World War II wrecks protruding out of the water added to the eerie early morning atmosphere, but during daylight, these would serve as attractions to tourists.
If the tide had not been out we would have taken a dip. We decided against it, not relishing the idea of going out too far in the sea and leaving our clothes on the shore.
He grew up here and spent most of his childhood days running along the same shore and swimming in the waters off the beach. I was a guest with no direct ties to the history of the island. But during this early morning stroll on the beach, we could not help but imagine what transpired at the very same spot we were standing on in June 1944.
The persistent barking of a dog from a distance broke the magical moment and we were drawn back to the present, leaving behind memories of the war. We left the beach just as streaks of daylight started to fill the horizon.
