Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

World War II veterans Wilfred "Spike" Mailloux, left, and John Sidur, both of Cohoes, N.Y., pose at a presentation on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Saipan at the New York State Military Museum on June 7, 2014, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Both served on Saipan with the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Division, 105th Infantry Regiment. The Army’s 27th Infantry Division bore the brunt of Japan’s largest mass suicide attack, launched before dawn on July 7, 1944, on the island of Saipan. The division’s 105th Regiment saw more than 400 killed and 500 wounded during the attack by more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors. The 27th was a former New York National Guard unit that still had many New Yorkers among its ranks when it landed on Saipan after the U.S. Marines made the initial beach assault on June 15, 1944.

Courtesy of Bob Dial / AP

World War II veterans Wilfred "Spike" Mailloux, left, and John Sidur, both of Cohoes, N.Y., pose at a presentation on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Saipan at the New York State Military Museum on June 7, 2014, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Both served on Saipan with the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Division, 105th Infantry Regiment. The Army’s 27th Infantry Division bore the brunt of Japan’s largest mass suicide attack, launched before dawn on July 7, 1944, on the island of Saipan. The division’s 105th Regiment saw more than 400 killed and 500 wounded during the attack by more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors. The 27th was a former New York National Guard unit that still had many New Yorkers among its ranks when it landed on Saipan after the U.S. Marines made the initial beach assault on June 15, 1944.