AMERICA IN THE PACIFIC, 1944-45 — MARIANAS, LEYTE, & MANILA

Sunday, February 4, 2029

• Check-out and depart lodgings with luggage.
• Drive to Guam International Airport and check-in.
• United flight from Guam to Saipan International Airport.
• Operation FORAGER, the seizure of the Marianas Islands, was the largest and most complex operation to date in Nimitz’ Central Pacific Ocean Areas theater. Coming hard on the heels of Normandy, the fleet was much more powerful here than in Europe. It comprised 15 carriers, 7 battleships, 11 cruisers, 86 destroyers and over 900 planes. The amphibious force consisted of 56 attack transports, 84 landing craft and over 127,000 Army and Marine troops.
• Breaking into the main line of Japanese island defenses would provide air bases to take the war to Japan’s industry and cities.
• Saipan and neighboring Tinian were most important. We will visit the Airfield seizure, Landing Beaches, Death Valley/Purple Heart Ridge, Mount Tapotchai overlook, and the NPS American Memorial. Two Marine and one Army division fought here.
• Box lunch at Mount Tapotchai overlook site.
• The concurrent naval-air Battle of the Philippine Sea (the famed “Marianas Turkey Shoot”) broke the back of Japanese carrier aviation for the remainder of the war.
• Check-in to Saipan lodgings.
• Dinner on your own at one of the many options near the hotel.
• Hotel: Crowne Plaza Resort (or similar).

Monday, February 5, 2029

• Breakfast.
• In the morning, we will visit the scene of final massed banzai charge near the end of the battle, as well as Suicide Cliff and the Japanese final defense, Banzai Cliff, and the Korean Memorial.
• Lunch on your own in the capital of Garapan.
• Drive to Saipan International Airport for the short charter flight to Tinian Island.
• Load vans at Tinian Airport and visit Japanese cave defenses, Runways ABLE and BAKER, Atomic Bomb Loading area, and the Seabee Memorial. If time allows, visit Landing Beach and amphtrac. Two Marine divisions fought on Tinian. Tinian’s airbases became the world’s busiest airport from November 1944-July 1945, primarily as a B-29 Superfortress base of the US Army Air Forces’ 20th Air Force. Both the Enola Gay and Bockscar flew from here in August 1945.
• Drive to Tinian airport for return flight from Tinian to Saipan International Airport.
• Dinner on your own.
• Hotel: Crowne Plaza Resort.

Tuesday, February 6, 2029

• Breakfast, then check-out with luggage.
• Return to Saipan International Airport.
• Midmorning flight to Guam to catch the international flight to Manila in the Philippines.
• On arrival on Guam, we will have an early lunch on your own.
• In the afternoon, we will visit several sites for the battle of Guam, occurring after Saipan had finished; OR, visit the active-duty Andersen USAF base, which has been active since 1944 and saw most of the B-52s going into North Vietnam.
• Return to the airport for a flight to Manila.
• On arrival in Manila’s Aquino International Airport, we go through immigration and then drive a short distance to our lodgings at the new Sheraton.
• Hotel: Airport Sheraton (or similar).

Wednesday, February 7, 2029

• Breakfast and check-out of lodgings.
• Depart for the airport for the short flight down to Leyte Island.
• “I shall return.” Thus promised General Douglas MacArthur in 1942. In October 1944, he made the vow come true. Half a million men served on Leyte in Lieutenant General Walter Krueger’s US Sixth Army, with seven Army divisions. Later, elements of Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger’s US Eighth Army joined the fray. The invasion, code-named KING TWO, was supported by two US naval fleets, MacArthur’s 7th under Vice Admiral Kincaid and Nimitz’ Third under Admiral Halsey. It was the most powerful naval force in history to this point.
• We will walk the American landing beaches and initial fights of A-Day, where four divisions swarmed ashore to battle against General Yamashita’s battle-hardened men of the 14th Area Army.
• We will visit the iconic MacArthur Landing Memorial on RED Beach.
• Famed American divisions include the 1st Cavalry, the 7th and 24th Infantry along with the 11th Airborne.
• Social hour and group dinner at hotel or nearby site.
• Hotel: The Tropics MacArthur Park (or similar).

Thursday, February 8, 2029

• Breakfast.
• Soon after the landings, the Japanese launched a massive naval operation, SHO GO 2, to destroy the landing forces, their transports and supporting warships. The resulting fight, comprising four major actions, involved over 200,000 seamen and the largest forces ever assembled in all of history.
• On a boat cruise on the San Juanico Straits, we will be able to see/discuss the most significant actions at Surigao Strait and off Samar. These include a Crossing of the T in the last fight between battleships, as well as the famed Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. The twin American victories ensured allied naval dominance for the remainder of the war.
• Lunch on the cruise.
• Return to Tacloban Airport for the flight back to Manila.
• On arrival at Aquino International, we will take a bus to our lodgings for the remainder of the trip, the crown jewel of the city – the Manila Hotel. Here MacArthur lived for the years prior to the war.
• Dinner on your own in Manila.
• Hotel: The Manila Hotel.

Friday, February 9, 2029

• Breakfast.
• Bus to Cavite pier for the cruise out to Corregidor. This is the site of the Spanish defenses and fleet in the fight against Commodore George Dewey in May 1898.
• Corregidor controls the mouth of Manila Bay, one of the great harbors of all of Asia. The US built tremendous batteries on the island and others nearby, to prevent the capital’s capture and/or the use of the harbor. We will explore the island fortress, known as The Rock, with visits to Malinta Tunnel, the memorial museum, several large gun batteries, the Mile Long Barracks, the Golf Course and Parade Ground Drop Zones and more. Two major battles occurred here – when the Japanese seized the island in May 1942 and when the Americans recaptured it in a daring airborne/seaborne assault in February 1945.
• Group lunch on the island.
• We make our boat return to Cavite and bus back to our lodgings.
• Tour the MacArthur Suite (if available) and dinner on your own in Manila.
• Hotel: The Manila Hotel.

Saturday, February 10, 2029

• Breakfast.
• We will explore the nearby “city within a city” known as the Intramuros (City within the Walls). Here is where the Spanish made their imperial headquarters for centuries. Here also was the heart of the scene of the US military’s largest urban fight of all WWII, the Battle of Manila. In a brutal fight to the death, block-by-block, the US Army retook the city. Rebuilt afterwards, it retains colonial charm.
• Then, we complete our WWII expedition with a visit to the spectacular Manila American Cemetery, by far the largest American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in the world, commemorating over 55,000 American servicemen and women, with nearly 17,000 burials.
• Final group dinner and farewells at one of the lovely mansions in the Malacanang Palace area. Malacanang still hosts much of the Filipino government including the President.
• Hotel: The Manila Hotel.