Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired a collection of 132 black-and-white photographs documenting the travels of Lt. Gen. Robert C. Richardson while he served as commanding general of Army forces in the Pacific Ocean Areas during July 1944.
native nuns at an internment camp
Richardson oversaw the Army's planning, logistical preparation, training, and force deployment efforts as part of the overall US joint forces island-hopping campaign that led to the surrender of Japan. His Army ground and air forces fought in all the major central and mid-Pacific battles under the operational command of Adm. Chester Nimitz. A week after the United States declared victory in the brutal three-week Battle of Saipan, Richardson visited the island to review the troops, distribute medals, and boost morale.
This collection of photographs shows Richardson touring various parts of Saipan with Gens. George Griner, Sanderford Jarman, and Roy E. Blount. They visited the devastated village of Garapan, an internment camp holding Japanese and Chamorro (indigenous) civilians, a hospital, and a cemetery; attended a memorial service for American soldiers killed on the island; and performed a review of the troops that included observation of the work of an antiaircraft crew.
go through their paces
From Saipan, Richardson went on to the Marshall Islands, which had been captured by the United States in February 1944 and were then used as a base for attacks on the Marianas (including Saipan). There he met up with Adm. Nimitz (of whom there are more than twenty candid photos in the collection), Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner, Maj. Gen. Holland M. Smith, and others. The collection includes many images of destroyed Japanese bunkers, airfields, aircraft, and sunken landing craft.
Richardson used his visit to vigorously defend the Army position in a notorious interservice dispute. After a difference in opinion over tactics, Marine Lt. Gen. Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith had — without consulting his Army counterparts — relieved Army Maj. Gen. Ralph C. Smith (whose collection is also housed at Hoover) from duty in the middle of the fighting on Saipan. This ruffled feathers within the Army, and it was no coincidence that General Richardson arrived on the island within days. While on Saipan, he not only reviewed the Army troops but also presented decorations without the previous knowledge or consent of Holland Smith — actions considered by Smith to be a breach of military etiquette and an unwarranted infringement on his own authority. Richardson is reported to have said angrily to the Marine commander, "I want you to know you cannot push the Army around the way you have been doing."
The Robert C. Richardson papers provide a valuable record of conditions in the Pacific theater after a strategically important and hard-won Allied victory. Military historians, scholars of Asia Pacific studies, and general history enthusiasts may find the candid photography, high-level military documentation, and civilian perspectives fruitful in their research.
