Beyond the War on Saipan

While serving as a team member and advisor to the High Commissioner during the administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (formerly the Japanese Mandated Islands), William Stewart became interested in the Pacific conflict and subsequently met and interviewed many of the aging veterans who returned to the islands with stories of their experiences, some of which have been recounted here-in.

Stewart later served as senior economist for the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands previously a principal island within the Japanese Mandated Territory during World War II which at that time encompassed the Northern Marianas, the Western Carolines of Palau and Yap and the Eastern Carolines of Pohnpei, Truk and Kosrae as well as the atolls of the Marshall Islands a total of 2,100 islands spread over 3 million square miles of the western Pacific Ocean, an area the size of the continental United States.

During the Cold War period of the sixties he studied the “economics of national security” from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now National Defense University) and later was the recipient of the Cold War Certificate of Recognition from the Defense Department for his service with American embassies in Africa and Asia while associated with the U. S. Department of State.

Many of the articles presented here-in were written and published in Saipan's media for commemorating the anniversary of the island invasion by U. S. forces, or the war's termination. He is the author of the books "Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon” and "Saipan In Flames” as well as historical battlefield maps of Saipan, Tinian, Truk and Peleliu.

Portions of the material presented in this collection were either researched from declassified government documents where no author was cited, or from the internet. Regrettably in some instances the names of some internet authors remain unknown for appropriate acknowledgement.

Commemorating the 66th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor the Saipan Tribune published a series consisting of a little known facet of the conflict concerning the exchange of diplomats between Japan and the United States. The information presented by the author is based on declassified confidential memoranda of 1941 '42 prepared by FBI Special Agent Roy L. Morgan to J. Edgar Hoover.