Camp Tarawa 1943-1945

Camp Tarawa at Parker Ranch in Hawaii was developed in 1943 as the Pacific's largest Marine training facility, with training areas, a tent city, and a dam and reservoirs above Kamuela, built by U.S. Engineers, Navy Seabees, Marines, and local residents as the V Amphibious Corps prepared for joint Army, Navy, and Marine Corps amphibious campaigns in the Pacific. The public school and local hotel served as an Army hospital, and the residents of Kamuela and the Big Island welcomed and supported Soldiers, Sailors, and more than 50,000 U.S. Marines throughout the war years through hospitality, Red Cross, and USO activities. After the invasion of Tarawa, the 2d Marine Division arrived in early December 1943, completed work on the unfinished camp while recuperating and refitting, and gave it the name Camp Tarawa before departing in spring 1944 for Saipan and Tinian; during its stay, Marines joined local paniolos in a grand rodeo on February 12, 1944, before more than 10,000 spectators. Camp Tarawa then hosted units of the V Amphibious Corps Artillery as they prepared to support Pacific campaigns, and in the summer and fall of 1944 the 5th Marine Division arrived there to rehearse for Iwo Jima on Parker Ranch's steep volcanic hills, which simulated Mount Suribachi, before departing by January 1945. After Iwo Jima was secured on March 26, 1945, the 5th Marine Division returned in April for additional training and later left for Kyushu as an occupation force following Japan's surrender. Parker Ranch and the residents of the Big Island contributed immeasurably to victory and peace in the Pacific, and Camp Tarawa was dismantled in 1946 and 1947.

Waimea, Hawaii · United States