U.S. Marine officers check progress of American troops on Saipan.

U.S. Marine officers check progress of American troops on Saipan. Two American Marine Corps officers, whose leadership helped wrest control of strategic Saipan Island from the Japanese, check over battle data during the fierce fighting for the Marianas island of the Central Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel William K. Jones (left) and Major James A. Donovan, Jr., were with the U.S. troops who overran the last of organized Japanese resistance on Saipan on July 8, 1944. In speaking of the American victory at Saipan, which is less than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Japan, U.S. Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson said: The firm establishment of American sea and air power in this region of the Pacific should mean the eventual elimination of effective Japanese military strongth in the islands of this area and to the south including Truk.