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Media Type: All JPEG Image Format MP3 Audio File MP4 Video File PDF Document TIF Image Format Collection: All 313th Bombardment Wing Collection 58th Bombardment Wing Collection Alexander Spoehr Collection Bill Sakovich Collection Brennan Collection Carolinian Oral History Charles H. Booth Collection CNMI Speaks Out Compo Collection Development of a U.S. Commonwealth, 1960-1977 Don Farrell Histories Edward DLG Pangelinan Collection Georg Fritz Collection Georg Fritz in Palau Collection Guam Daily News Hamilton Scans Collection Hutchinson Collection Isley Airfield Collection Kanematsu Collection Kit Porter Van Meter Collection Lyon Collection Margo Duggan Collection Marie S C Castro Collection Marine Corps Archives Collection McPhetres Collection Michael A. White Collection Naval Civil Affairs RG 38 Collection NKK Album Collection NMI Constitutional Conventions Okaya Collection Oral Histories Ovitt Collection Påndan Collection Pangelinan Obo Collection Pride Marianas Collection Quinn Collection Ruth Tighe Collection Saipan 1956 Saipan 1969 Seabees On Saipan Collection Sellers Collection Spanish Government in Marianas Collection Stan Martin Collection Steward Collection Ted Goble Collection The Whitehouse Trust Territory Times UN Collection US Navy Civil Affairs Files (1944-1962) Wheeler Collection Wilcommen Collection Willens and Siemer Collection Search Term:

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Archaeology

A QUONSET HOUSE ON THE BEACH

Because techology was very limited so soon after the end of World War II and the frequent risk of weather damage to materials due to typhoons, it is rare to come across photos of such high quality in such excellent condition. The following letter is taped to the inside of an album of original black & white photographs in the council's possession. No other information remains with the album, but from its pristine condition, it was gifted presumably by Hardy Spoehr, the author of the description:

"Honolulu, Hawai'i

December 2016

SOME NOTES ON THE SPOEHR PHOTOS:

Aloha,

These photos were taken by my father, Alexander Spoehr, during his time in Micronesia, primarily on the island of Saipan but also on Tinian, and Rota between 1949 and 1951. A number of these photos also appeared in his three publications focusing on Saipan:

(1)1952. "Time Perspective in Micronesia and Polynesia," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, vol. 9.

(2)1954. Saipan. The Ethnology of a War-Devastated Island, Fieldiana: Anthropology, vol. 41.

(3)1955. Marianas Prehistory: Archaeological Survey and Excavations on Sasipan, Tinian, and Rota, Fieldiana: Anthropology, vol. 48.

I've included his family photos in the collection simply to make the collection as complete as possible.

 

 

REMEMBRANCES:

My recollections as a young boy of five and six years old during the time we lived on Saipan was one of adventure. We arrived on Saipan on a Mars "Flying boat" by way of Guam and Wake Island. The aroma of pancakes and maple syrup from our stop-over in Guam still remains with me today. My father met us at the airstrip on Saipan in our jeep which was to serve us as transportation throughout our stay. Most mornings I [would] awake before my parents in our quonset house on the beach and would go seeking what the tides had brought in on the beach - sometimes live ammunition other times large trochus shells. A sunken tank was in front of our

house and at least two or three days a week my father would swim out and around it but on occasions he would encourage me to swim with him - mostly on his back - and I can still remember the ghostly feeling of touching the barrel of the tank itself. On the beach there were also still Japanese artillery pointing out from beach enclosures and I remember a large tower on the beach - probably used for observation. Right next to our house was a tunneled hill which can be seen in some of the photos my father took of our house. It was used by the Japanese for shelter during bombardments.

Hardy Spoehr"

 

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