The retaking of Guam was liberating for our families at that time

and it is also true that the military was not there on a mission to liberate our Chamorro people

Hafa Adai,

Our 20,000 person Chamorro population in 1944 was blessed to still be generally intact despite Japanese actions and despite American actions from war between two great superpowers, the Empire of Japan and the emergent rise of the American superpower state.

Liberation Day for the 80th time is coming around the corner. The day is historically one where fighting began and ended rather quickly. The destruction was massive for Guam at so many levels. Agana, where most of the island’s population was located, was destroyed by U.S. pre-invasion bombing runs.

Liberation Day may more accurately be described as a celebration of gratefulness that hot war was beginning and then ending and maybe should be called the 80th anniversary of the cessastion of hot war.

Anyway, here is what the War Department was thinking back in the early 1940s about Guam and the Marianas.

It is instructive so please read on:

Number 1. Taking Saipan, Tinian, Guam and the entire chain of our ancient homelands was a War Department requirement in order for the United States to complete the prosecution of war against Japan.

The U.S. military needed - not wanted - the Marianas in order to cut off key lines of travel and key lines of logistics, and key lines of communication and planning for battle used extensively by the military of Japan.

By fighting for the Marianas and retaking Guam in particular, the Americans succeeded 100% in breaking the spine of the Japanese military operational space and region.

The Japanese couldn’t use Tinian and Saipan to refuel planes that were intended to attack the South Pacific where the U.S. Army was or Guam.

Break this gig up, and then the jig was up for the Japanese.

The war was not about the liberation of our people, it is about kicking Japan’s ass. The problem though was as the Japanese and Americans were pounding each other, they were also pounding our entire Chamorro population and our total environment.

Number 2. The taking of Guam, or retaking of Guam, unlike before the war, would enable the U.S. navy the opportunity to completely capture and take over Sumay and Apra and permanently lock it down for use as an advanced naval base.

The reason this was important was to provide a long logistical tail that would enable the navy to re-establish presence and a line of site to protect all American interests in the region.

It was also cheaper to retake Guam than to fortify our island and protect our people before the war.

By virtue of taking over Sumay and Apra, the U.S. navy was then be able to also replant or reestablish a major submarine refueling location and drop some major communication undersea cables.

Number 3. The U.S. army aviation community could now ride herd by bombing the heck out of Japan for the purpose of finishing off Japan and bringing World War Two to a faster close.

Napalm dreams every day, fire bombing runs every day. The target? Japan.

The only problem with this, is that the B-29 fleets which were dropping these bombs were located en-masse on Artero land that was once a ranch and there were huge concentrations of jet fuel, napalm and other material that desperately changed the environment of northern Guam (in this specific case).

Ultimately, was this needed from a military planning and operational basis?

Absolutely, yes, it was needed and had to be done.

Was it liberation? Absolutely not from the military point of view alone because it was all about winning World War Two.

When great powers sneeze, we catch the flu.

Please honor our fellow Chamorros who were there in 1944. Don’t forget all the Japanese and Americans who also died.

War is very serious business.

Ric