NRHP Reference # 76002193 Area 4 ha Added to NRHP 30 September 1976 | Designated NHLDCP February 4, 1985 Phone +1 678-901-5531 | |
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Nearest city San Roque (Saipan), N. Mariana Islands Part of Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island (#85001789) Address Rte 322, Capitol Hill, Saipan 96950, CNMI Similar American Memorial Park, Mañagaha, Mount Tapochau, Old Man By The Sea, Our Lady of Mount Carmel C | ||
Wrecks of saipan part 5 jake seaplane suicide cliff
Suicide Cliff is a cliff above Marpi Point Field near the northern tip of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, which achieved historic significance late in World War II.
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Also known as Laderan Banadero, it is a location where thousands of Japanese civilians and Japanese soldiers committed suicide by jumping to their deaths in 1944 in order to avoid capture by the United States, as Japanese propaganda emphasizing brutal treatment of Japanese such as American mutilation of Japanese war dead. Many Japanese feared that 'American devils [were] raping and devouring Japanese women and children.' The precise number of suicides there is not known, but has been estimated at around 8,000 deaths. A contemporary correspondent, praising their actions as 'the finest act of the Shōwa period', described them as 'the pride of Japanese women.' The alternative name of the pace, Banzai Cliff, stems from the fact that, when the people jumped, they shouted '"Banzai" (wishing the Emperor 10,000 years of life).'
By 1976, a park and peace memorial was in place and the location had become a pilgrimage destination, particularly for visitors from Japan. In that year, 9-acre (3.6 ha) of the site were listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.
The cliff is, along with the airfield and Banzai Cliff, a coastal cliff where suicides also took place, part of the National Historic Landmark District Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, designated in 1985.