Learn about Camp Tarawa at Lyman Museum program
Camp Tarawa.
Credit: U.S. Marines Corps. image
HILO, Hawai`i (May 28, 2013) — Between December 1943 and August 1945, some 55,000 U.S. Marines, Navy Corpsmen, and Seabees called the Big Island “home.” Parker Ranch leased 40,000 acres of its property to the U.S. Government for the creation of the largest Marine Corps training facility in the Pacific: Camp Tarawa. On Monday, June 10 at 7 p.m., the unique history of this camp is recounted in a special presentation at the Lyman Museum.
Named for the atoll in the Gilbert Islands where the bloodiest battle in Marines Corps history was fought, Camp Tarawa initially was a place of healing for the heroic men of the Second Marines Division, and of training for their upcoming missions on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. The Fifth Division later arrived to train for the Iwo Jima Campaign and the occupation of Japan. Camp Tarawa was more than a place name in military history, however; it had a profound and lasting effect on the people and town of Waimea, where the camp’s tent city was located.
In 2006, the Camp Tarawa Detachment Marine Corps League was formed to educate the public about those who had trained there. The Lyman Museum is proud to host the League’s historian and public affairs officer Kathy Painton, a South Kohala resident who has her own personal connection to Camp Tarawa. A Q&A session will follow her discussion at 7 p.m. on June 10.
The Smithsonian-affiliated Lyman Museum is located at 276 Haili Street in Hilo. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for evening public programs, which cost $3 and are free to members. Call (808) 935-5021 or visit www.lymanmuseum.org for more details.
