STOP #1- ROI INVASION BEACHES - The assault on Roi and Namur was to be carried out by the 4th Marine Division. The plans called for the Navy to secure the pass inside the lagoon and then Marine elements would seize and secure the outlying islands. Once secured, these islets would serve as bases for artillery to support the main force landing in a coordinated assault on Roi and Namur. The wartime intelligence photographs of Roi suggest an island similar in appearance to the one you now see. The current airfield is an enlargement of the Japanese one, from which Japanese fighters flew sorties against Americans. You are standing on an area of beach that is close to the center of the Marine advance. The 1st Battalion, 23d Marines was responsible for the area designated RED Beach 2, while the 2nd Battalion, 23d Marines landed in an area designated by the invasion planners as RED Beach 3 (see map on marker). Landing craft of the 23d Marine Regimental Combat Team came ashore on the beach you can see from this location at 1133 hours (11:33 A.M.) on February 1, 1944, and under light opposition moved across present-day Perimeter Road towards their objectives on the north side of the island. Move south-west on Perimeter Road to the end of the runway. Be mindful of approaching and departing aircraft.