Misplaced Pages

Suicide Cliff
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property
Nearest city	San Roque (Saipan), N. Mariana Islands
Coordinates	15°16′38″N 145°48′35″E / 15.27722°N 145.80972°E / 15.27722; 145.80972
Area	9 acres (3.6 ha)
Part of	Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island (ID85001789)
NRHP reference No.	76002193
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 30, 1976
Designated NHLDCP	February 4, 1985

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.

Also known as Laderan Banadero, it is a location where Japanese civilians and Imperial Japanese Army soldiers took their own lives by jumping to their deaths in July 1944 in order to avoid capture by the United States. Japanese propaganda had emphasized brutal American treatment of Japanese, citing the American mutilation of Japanese war dead and claiming U.S. soldiers were bloodthirsty and without morals. Many Japanese feared the "American devils raping and devouring Japanese women and children." The precise number of suicides there is not known. One eyewitness said he saw "hundreds of bodies" below the cliff, while elsewhere, numbers in the thousands have been cited.

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, nine acres (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.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in the Northern Mariana Islands
• Banzai Cliff

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. Jennifer F. McKinnon; Toni L. Carrell (7 August 2015). Underwater Archaeology of a Pacific Battlefield: The WWII Battle of Saipan. Springer. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-319-16679-7.
3. Goldberg, Harold J. (2007). D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780253116819.
4. "NHL nomination for Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island". National Park Service. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
5. Frederick E. LaCroix (2009). The Sky Rained Heroes: A Journey from War to Remembrance. BookPros, LLC. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-9821601-3-8.
6. Dennis Vander Tuig (1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Suicide Cliff / Laderan Banadero". National Park Service. and accompanying two photos from 1976
7. "NHL nomination for Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-04-14.

v t e National Register of Historic Places listings in the Northern Mariana Islands
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by municipality	Northern Islands No listings Rota Chudang Palii Japanese World War II Defensive Complex Chugai' Pictograph Site Commissioner's Office Dugi Archeological Site Japanese Coastal Defense Gun Japanese Hospital (Rota) Mochong Nanyo Kohatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Sugar Mill Rectory Rota Latte Stone Quarry Sapian Banzai Cliff Brown Beach One Japanese Fortifications Campaneyan Kristo Rai Chalan Galaide Hachiman Jinja Isley Field Historic District Japanese 20mm Cannon Blockhouse Japanese Hospital (Saipan) Japanese Jail Historic and Archeological District Japanese Lighthouse Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isely Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island Laulau Kattan Latte Site Mañagaha Sabanetan Toro Latte Site Suicide Cliff Tachognya Unai Achugao Archaeological Site Unai Lagua Japanese Defense Pillbox Unai Obyan Latte Site Waherak Maihar Tinian House of Taga Nanyo Kohatsu Kabushiki Kaisha complex North Field Unai Dangkulo Petroglyph Site
Other lists	National Historic Landmarks
Category List NRHP portal

This article about a property in the Northern Mariana Islands on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Northern Marianas location article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Cliffs
• Historic district contributing properties in the Northern Mariana Islands
• World War II sites of the United States
• World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in the Northern Mariana Islands
• Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
• Cliffs of Oceania
• Landforms of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Suicide in World War II
• Oceania Registered Historic Places stubs
• Northern Mariana Islands stubs
• Oceania geography stubs