IF you are in the dark about Tinian’s history, the two cemented structures protruding from the ground which looked like crypts would mean nothing, but these are no ordinary structures.
These are the two atomic bomb loading pits that played a significant part in the history of the island.
From the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, we took the north-bound road which gradually degenerated until it looked just a deserted trail. I lost direction of the twists and turns my tour guide took before we emerged into a clearing beyond forest growth and thick foliage, into the airport taxiway.
There, at the northwest end of the runway were the two triangular-shaped structures that stood for lornly as a monument of the World War 11.
Mindless of the scorching heat of the noonday sun, I went near the pits and peered through the Plexiglas. There was nothing to see in the 27-and-a-half-foot long, 18-foot-wide pits save for a small hole in the ground and faded photographs of the planes that carried the bombs to Japan.
The pits looked innocent and harmless, but if you go back years before, you will learn that from these loading pits the “Fat Man and Little Boy”— the atomic bombs dropped on Japan — were launched from this very site.
The area was deserted, save for a group of tourists in a rented van. There is something about the place that evokes an eerie silence and makes you wish to leave everything without disturbing the ghosts of the past.
This site has always drawn visits not only from tourists every year but WW11 veterans, too whose poignant memories of the war live within them. I left the place in a pensive mood, thinking myself lucky to be able to visit a place that is important to the island’s history.
From the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, we took the north-bound road which gradually degenerated until it looked just a deserted trail. I lost direction of the twists and turns my tour guide took before we emerged into a clearing beyond forest growth and thick foliage, into the airport taxiway.
There, at the northwest end of the runway were the two triangular-shaped structures that stood for lornly as a monument of the World War 11.
Mindless of the scorching heat of the noonday sun, I went near the pits and peered through the Plexiglas. There was nothing to see in the 27-and-a-half-foot long, 18-foot-wide pits save for a small hole in the ground and faded photographs of the planes that carried the bombs to Japan.
The pits looked innocent and harmless, but if you go back years before, you will learn that from these loading pits the “Fat Man and Little Boy”— the atomic bombs dropped on Japan — were launched from this very site.
The area was deserted, save for a group of tourists in a rented van. There is something about the place that evokes an eerie silence and makes you wish to leave everything without disturbing the ghosts of the past.
This site has always drawn visits not only from tourists every year but WW11 veterans, too whose poignant memories of the war live within them. I left the place in a pensive mood, thinking myself lucky to be able to visit a place that is important to the island’s history.
This article was originally published HERE.
