The War Years on Saipan, Transcripts of Interviews with Residents

Ted Oxborrow and Associates

This collection of 20 taped interviews and transcriptions was gathered during July, August, and September of 1980. The collection documents three years, 1943, 1944, and 1945, in the Northern Mariana Islands, from the perspective of the Chamorro and Carolinian residents of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Because the island of Saipan was the principal population center for the Northern Mariana Islands during 1943, 1944, and 1945, the majority of the interviewees are from Saipan. In an effort to establish some degree of uniformity in project scope, a questionnaire was developed as an interview guideline. The numbering system in the left hand margin of the transcriptions corresponds with the numbering system of the questionnaire. The sequence of questions, however, is not followed in every interview. In two instances, the questionnaire is disregarded altogether. The use of parentheses in the transcription indicated the insertion of additional information not necessarily provided by the interviewee. The collection is printed in two volumes for ease in handling. Volume One contains the transcriptions for interviews #1 through #10, and Volume Two contains the transcriptions for interviews #11 through #20.