Guest speakers talked about the preparation of the two atomic bombs on Tinian and their final destination: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The need to restore the historical sites on Tinian and why it was necessary to drop the bombs were also discussed during the symposium.
Close to 200 attended the event including six students and their two chaperones from Koryo High School of Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima.
Tinian could be a tremendous tourist and educational attraction if the island knows how to package its valuable historical sites, according to Professor Anderson Giles after his presentation on the 509th Composite Bombardment Group.
“Tinian has something that no other island in the world will have and can have,” Giles told Variety.
He said the atomic bombings were considered the most important story of the 20th century.
The sites associated with those events should be preserved, he added.
In his last visit in 2005, Giles said he helped in the cleanup operation at the North Field atomic bomb pits.
On Wednesday, he and other visitors visited the area where “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” were assembled before being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Giles said the area’s historical importance has been buried by the jungle.
In his presentation, Giles showed more than 240 post- and pre-war pictures of Tinian.
If the military buildup on Guam reaches Tinian, he said the CNMI should demand that the military clean up the North Field area.
He believes Tinian deserves to be put in the global spotlight “because the most amazing history took place here.”
Local historian Don Farrell discussed the events that happened here on Aug. 5, 1945.
“On the night of Aug. 5, 65 years ago today, Little Boy slept peacefully in the womb of the Enola Gay, which would give birth to the nuclear warfare in only a few short hours. Many curious members of the 509th…wandered down to where the Enola Gay was parked,” he said, referring to the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The plane was named after the mother of the pilot, then-Col. Paul Tibbets.
Farrell said “it must have been something to be standing there on a warm August night on Tinian, knowing that in the belly of that beast was a bomb that would blow apart the concept of power — both military and political.”
Keiko Manglona, Tinian High School teacher and Japan Club adviser, said since 2005 they have established sister-school relationship with Koryo High School.
Japanese students who come to Tinian every year learn things about the atomic bombs not taught in their classroom, she said.
Tinian students who visit Hiroshima learn about the history of the city that will be forever linked to their island, Manglona said.
Dr. Roger Meade, who discussed the creation of the Los Alamos laboratory where the atomic bombs were developed, said the Japanese were informed about these weapons and their consequences.
The message even reached Japan’s top physicists, he said.
“The atomic bombs that exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn’t win the Pacific war, but without question they ended the war,” Meade quoted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes who wrote “The Making of the Atomic Bomb.”
Meade also discussed the important role played by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the development of the atomic bombs.
Nancy Barlit, author, oral historian and past president of the Los Alamos Historical Society, focused her presentation on the early years of the Los Alamos laboratory.
John Coster-Mullen discussed how the two atomic bombs were created, including their sensitive and complicated components.
James Petersen shared very detailed information regarding the formation of the 509th Composite Bomb Group, the unit created to drop the bombs.
Tinian’s acting Mayor Patrick Manglona said the symposium reminded members of the community about the importance of history.
Representing the governor, Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, said the island wants to play a major role in the history of peace.
Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan said the symposium will bring more understanding about Tinian’s role in world history.
