The Tinian North Field National Historic Landmark By Don A. Farrell Scholar, Northern Marianas Humanities Council Abstract: In 1984, the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands petitioned the National Park Service (NPS) for a National Park to be established at the Tinian North Field Complex. The submission was approved by the National Park Service, but was declined by the United States Navy, stating that they might need to use the area for training purposes in the future. The NPS subsequently designated the area a National Historic Landmark. During the 60th Anniversary of the invasion and capture of Tinian, 2004, the Mayor of Tinian excavated the atomic bomb loading pits at North Field. Comparing photographs from Record Group 77, US National Archives, to the interior structure of the pits, it became obvious that both bombs were loaded from the same pit. This contradicted the interpretive signs at the pits, as created by the National Park Service, and began the quest to revisit the history of the Tinian North Field National Historic Landmark and make corrections to the boundaries and the list of historic sites, as necessary. Thanks to a grant from the National Park Service, a new nomination packet for designating the Tinian North Field as a National Historic Landmark has been completed by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council. The purpose of this paper is to document the status of a project developed by the Humanities Council to expand the boundaries of Tinian North Field National Historic Landmark and develop and install interpretive waysides to mark the historical significance of at least 20 sites within these boundaries.
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