National Park Service Ranger Nancy Kelchner said they get a fair share of about 10,000 tourists and about 50 field trips a year.
“Majority of the tourists who drop in are from Japan, Korea, China, U.S. mainlanders, Russia and other countries, while the field trips are from the different schools in the CNMI and Guam,” Kelchner said.
She said the park is designed to be a living memorial for all those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the island.
The park’s Visitors Center and World War II Exhibit Hall just turned three years old on May 28 but already, it is gaining a steady stream of visits from locals and
tourists.
A brief tour of the exhibit hall brings poignant memories of what transpired during the bloodiest battles fought in the island during the World War 11.
The exhibit area has three sections — pre-war life, at war on Saipan and after the battle.
The chronology of the battle is recorded with artifacts that were mute witnesses of the actual events.
Exiting the exhibit hall brings you to an atrium where you can reflect on the war and its impact on the islands.
Opposite the reflection wall where you can see the Court of Honor and the Marianas Memorial is the Recovery Wall where colorful pictures depict the “recovery from the ashes of the war.”
A small library is available to help researchers and scholars, a bookshop containing English and Japanese books, videos and other merchandise related to the war
and the National Park Service, a 120-seater auditorium which is available for meetings, conferences, film showings, lectures and presentations.
Within American Memorial Park are amenities that the community finds useful like the Amphitheater, the Micro Beach pavilion, a jogging bike path under the shades of the ironwood trees, Marina and Micro Beach restrooms, tennis courts, the Carillon Bell Tower,
and the whole park which is also home to mangrove forests, native birds and other species.
The Visitors Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. Admission is free for everybody. For more information, call 234-7207, fax 234-6698, or e-mail [email protected].
