citizens during World War II, they had many of the rights citizens enjoyed. Living in little grass huts one story above the pigs and chickens wearing what clothes they can find, or none at all, and subsisting on whatever fruit happens to grow near, they appear to be happy and contented beyond the usual lot of humans.” Most were Catholic, with a Protestant minority, and almost all were, simple, good-natured and kind people. Leahy, described the people before the war: “They have little and want nothing.

The first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, U.S. It was populated by 22,000 indigenous Chamorro farmers and fishermen and their relatives, for whom family, church and a village lifestyle were vital. Guam, and its sister island Saipan, “were big, rugged islands, dominated by steep peaks, yawning gorges, undulating tablelands,” fields of sugarcane, and thick vegetation.īy 1930s, Guam was a coaling and supply station for ships crossing the Pacific, and later served as a stop for planes such as Pan American Airways clippers. Coconut groves flourished under clear skies and aqua ocean waters lapped white sandy beaches that surrounded the island. Guam, the largest and most populous of the Mariana islands in the Micronesia in the North Pacific, was a convenient stop on the route from North America to the Asian continent, the Philippines and Japan.

The United States acquired Guam as a result of the Spanish-American War in 1898. In order to understand this unknown chapter of American history, one needs to know the background of the United States involvement with Guam and how it all began. We in American need to never forget what happened to people who trusted us to protect them and who served in our military and paid their taxes. In fact, the Japanese fascist warmongers who occupied Guam for two years and nine months, slaughtered 10 percent of the population, raped most of the women on the island and conducted numerous war crimes.

Few people know that the Japanese constructed seven concentration camps on American soil during World War II and imprisoned American nationals there.

Largest tank battle in ww2 guam