U.S. Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, fourth right, and Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan hold the wreath as they, along with other Tinian leaders, join U.S. servicemembers in honoring the nation’s fallen heroes on Memorial Day, Monday, on Tinian.
Contributed photo
“TINIAN didn’t just mark the end of a war. Tinian marked the beginning of peace. And the people we remember today didn’t serve for glory or conquest. They served to protect something bigger: Peace. Peace that makes family possible. Peace that lets us raise our children. Peace that allows us to build something better,” said U.S. Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds during the Memorial Day ceremony on Tinian Monday.
She said she was deeply honored to deliver the keynote address on Tinian because “we carry something sacred on this island. All of us from Tinian, we carry a responsibility. This feeling that we’ve got to keep telling the story of this place. We’ve got to carry it on our backs, bring it with us wherever we go.”
So much of what the people of Tinian carry lives in memory — “the memory of growing up on the island, but also the memory of what the land holds. The memories of war. The memories of death. Of blood spilled here on this soil. Of soldiers and civilians who never made it home. And from it, memories of survival. Of rebuilding. Of sacrifice. Sacrifices to reclaim this land. And sacrifices to make it into something more,” King-Hinds said.
She said she has had the privilege of sitting with many veterans from the CNMI. She noted that in their stories of service, and in their recollections of pain, one thing always stands out. “The most enduring scars are the memories of the ones who didn’t come home,” she said. “The brothers, sisters, friends they still see in their dreams — they carry those memories with them every day, not just out of grief, but out of honor…as a duty and a service that doesn’t end with discharge.”
On Memorial Day, King-Hinds said, “we share that weight with them. And to stand here, on Tinian, makes that even more meaningful. Because this place, the soil that we stand on, was the frontline of history.”
She noted that Tinian was transformed in the aftermath of war. In July 1944, the U.S. forces landed on the island “in one of the most ingenious and daring operations of the Pacific war. They scaled coral cliffs using scrap metal ramps, surprising the enemy in what history has described as the most perfect amphibious operation of the Pacific War.”
In a matter of weeks, she said, Tinian became the largest and most sophisticated airbase in the world.
“The northern half of this island was carved into a perfect grid of roads — Broadway, 8th Avenue, 42nd Street — named after New York City streets.”
From the North Field, the Enola Gay took off.
She said the atomic bomb it carried brought the war to an end. “But it also opened the door to an entirely new chapter in our human history. It is heavy to carry that legacy…to know that the end of the deadliest war began here. To know that peace came at such a cost. And to know that even today, the bodies of World War II soldiers, American and Japanese, still lie unrecovered across these islands.”
Yet somehow, for all that happened here, Tinian is too often a footnote, King-Hinds said.
“Our island, the stage for world changing events, is rarely remembered for what it gave, or for what it lost, and what we who call this island home continue to sacrifice today to ensure that freedom across the Pacific endures. But we remember. We speak the names. We walk these grounds. And we continue to pass on the stories because we must. Because what happened here matters. Not just of what was destroyed, but because of what was made possible,” she said.
On Memorial Day, she added, “the Commonwealth honors our brothers and sisters, our fathers and grandfathers who gave their lives in service to this country. We have to hold on tight to this truth: They didn’t die for war. They died for the promise of peace. The kind of peace that lets us stand here today. Free. Together. Unforgotten.”
King-Hinds urged everyone: “When you leave this place, don’t just carry flowers, don’t just carry flags, but carry the memory, carry the stories, carry the lives they lived and the values they gave everything for, and carry the legacy of this island and the lives shaped by it across this world.”
She added, “And let’s walk forward not just with remembrance, but with purpose. Not just for what was lost. But for what they fought for. For what was made possible. And most of all, let’s live in a way that honors them. With courage. With gratitude. And with a peace that was paid for with a heavy price.”
