[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 105 (Thursday, July 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H6346-H6350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GUAM'S EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, this evening I would like to do a World 
War II commemorative speech about the experiences of the people of Guam 
that I had intended to do last night.
  Yesterday, July 21st, is a very special day in Guam's history. It is 
the day that the Third Marine Division, United States Marine Corps, and 
First Provisional Brigade of the U.S. Marine Corps and elements of the 
77th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army landed on Guam to begin the 
liberation of Guam from the Japanese occupation.
  Annually on Guam, and certainly for the past few weeks, we celebrate 
this event with parades and solemn speeches, a carnival and 
commemorative festivities which honor both the veterans who came to 
Guam's shores to liberate the people of Guam and for the people of Guam 
themselves, my people, the people who endured a brutal enemy occupation 
for over 2\1/2\ years.
  Now, World War II, of course, is a very seminal event of this 
century, and Guam plays a very unique part in that. I want to talk a 
little bit about that this evening.
  On December 8, 1941, the Japanese began bombing Guam and they landed 
about 5,000 army troops on December 10 of 1941. This attack was carried 
out simultaneously with attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. Of 
course, Guam being on the other side of the date line, the attack which 
was carried out at the same time as Pearl Harbor actually was on 
December 8 and not December 7.
  The Japanese occupation featured a serious time of deprivation, 
suffering and brutality which the people of Guam, who are ethnically 
referred to as the Chamorro people, who were at that time not U.S. 
citizens but occupied a political category called U.S. nationals, 
endured and survived.
  My purpose this evening is to give an historical perspective to those 
events which occurred some 55 years ago, in July of 1944, on a distant 
U.S. territory, to enhance the understanding of the Members of this 
body and the American people in general about the wartime experience of 
Guam and the postwar period which helped shape the relationship between 
Guam and the Federal Government.
  Guam's experience is not unique if measured against the general 
experience of occupied peoples during a time of war, whether it was in 
Europe or China or the Philippines. Guam, after all, did not have a 
monopoly on human suffering. But it is a unique and special story about 
dignity in the midst of political and wartime machinations of large 
powers over small peoples and of a demonstrated loyalty to America, the 
kind of loyalty which was tested, the kind of loyalty that has not been 
asked of any civilian American community under the flag at any time 
during the 20th century.

                              {time}  1845

  In earlier years it may not have been necessary to give this kind of 
speech in Congress. Two or 3 decades ago the Members of this body were 
themselves, the majority of Members of this body were themselves World 
War II veterans who understood what the Battle of Guam was and who 
probably remembered it personally, if not directly from war time 
experience, but certainly just being part of World War II.
  Today unfortunately, most people know very little about Guam. Most 
Members know very little about the Battle of Guam, and perhaps think of 
Guam only occasionally, probably more for exaggerated stories about 
snakes than for the historical experience of a great and loyal people.
  When the Japanese landed in December of 1941, the 5,000 Japanese 
soldiers faced 153 Marines, 271 naval personnel, 134 Pan American 
workers and some 20,000 natives that I referred to earlier who were 
commonly called Chamorros. All of the Americans, meaning U.S. citizen 
civilians, had been evacuated on October 17, 1941, in full expectation 
a few months before Pearl Harbor, that something was going to happen in 
the Pacific.
  In the Aleutian Islands in Alaska all of the islanders were evacuated 
with the full understanding that the Japanese may occupy those islands; 
and so, therefore, all of the civilians were removed.
  But the people of Guam remained the only American civilian community 
open to and eventually experiencing enemy occupation during World War 
II.
  At the time the only units that attempted to engage the Japanese in a 
very brief, but symbolic, and several people died, was a unit known as 
the Guam Insular Guard and Insular Force which were really people who 
had joined the U.S. Navy. It was kind of a Navy auxiliary force 
composed primarily of, well entirely of, men from Guam, and they were 
the only ones who willingly engaged the Japanese, and several of them 
died.
  During the time of the occupation, the people of Guam stood 
steadfastly loyal to America and its ideals despite the best efforts of 
the Japanese occupiers to propagandize the people that it was better 
for them to be under and be part of the Far East Greater Co-prosperity 
Sphere, and the people of Guam were loyal to America at the risk of 
their lives and certainly their livelihoods.
  Symbolic of the loyalty of the people of Guam were several songs 
written during the course of the Japanese occupation, some mocking the 
Japanese emperor and occupiers and others praising things American over 
those things that were Japanese, and the most well-known song was 
``Uncle Sam, Sam, My Dear Old Uncle Sam, Won't You Please Come Back to 
Guam?''
  It is a song that was certainly in my upbringing, and I was born 
after World War II. Those people of my generation and even the later 
generation were all taught this song in one form or another.

[[Page H6347]]

  The most visible symbol were the seven American sailors, and there 
were seven who refused to surrender to the Japanese forces and decided 
to take their chances, hiding in the jungle until the return of U.S. 
forces which sadly many of them expected to be a couple of months at 
the most. One by one each of those sailors were hunted down and 
executed by the Japanese except for one lonely sailor who survived the 
entire occupation assisted, greatly assisted, by the Artero family. 
This man's name was George Tweed, and his heroic saga was eventually 
made into a movie in the 1960s called No Man Is An Island, and for all 
those 32 months the people of Guam suffered.
  Now in July of 1944 Admiral Ainsworth, actually in June of 1944, 
Admiral Ainsworth began his pre-invasion bombardment of Guam for the 
anticipated landings in Guam which were expected to take place in June. 
After about 2 hours he was called back, and he was called back and they 
re-routed all of his vessels to help with the battle in Saipan. The 
general plan was that of the three islands in the Marianas Islands, 
which were heavily fortified Saipan, Guam and Tinian, Saipan was to be 
invaded first by U.S. forces because it was acknowledged that that 
would be the most heavily fortified since those Marianas Islands had 
been under a Japanese mandate since the end of World War I and were 
heavily populated not only by Japanese military forces, but indeed by 
Japanese civilians.
  The battle for Saipan proved much more difficult than anticipated, so 
the invasion of Guam was postponed, and instead Admiral Ainsworth and 
his naval forces were turned northward to deal with a couple of 
battles, one the Battle of Saipan and the other a naval air battle 
called, commonly called, the Marianas Turkey Shoot.
  The invasion of Guam was therefore called off for 5 weeks, and during 
that intervening time the most brutal time of the Japanese occupation 
was endured by the people of Guam as they suffered forced labor and 
forced marches, and the whole population was marched all over the 
island, countless beheadings and civilian massacres largely for unknown 
reasons. The increased brutality was over and above the forced labor 
for the construction of defense fortifications for the construction of 
air strips in places called Orote and Tiyan. Japanese army units, 
several divisions had landed, had arrived from Manchuria in April of 
1944 to defend Guam from the anticipated American invasion.
  In July of 1944 Operation Forager began, and this was the whole 
operation meant for the invasion of Guam and 13 days of sustained 
bombardment on Guam, an island of some 212 square miles, was given by 
the Navy partially as a result of their experience in the Battle of 
Saipan and even the Normandy experience, so that the bombing on Guam, 
which of course is a much smaller area than the invasion of the coast 
of Normandy, actually endured more pre-invasion bombardment.
  This extensive pre-invasion bombardment even acted more as a stimulus 
for even more acts by the Japanese military against the civilian 
population. Army Air Force planes, B-24s from recently taken islands in 
the Marshall Islands and Navy carrier base planes had been bombing Guam 
periodically for several weeks. Underwater demolition teams spent 4 
days sweeping the shoreline. In a way the Navy took great pride in 
these underwater demolition teams, and on Guam they planted a sign, 
welcome U.S. Marines from the U.S. Navy, before the Marines actually 
landed on Guam.
  And the Marines did, and they landed on July 21, 1944, and they 
landed on narrow beaches on Asan and Agat, and Asan, the people who 
assaulted the beach of Asan had to face cliffs once they landed, and 
those who landed in Agat faced the only Japanese counterattack of the 
day.
  One of the heroes of that day was Senator, former Senator Howell 
Heflin who was wounded and has repeatedly over the years that I have 
known Senator Howell Heflin has repeatedly told me that the Guam 
experience was the most important 6 hours of his life.
  And the battle for Guam raged for nearly 3 weeks, and the island was 
declared secured on August 10, 1944. Nearly 18,500 Japanese soldiers 
were killed and some 1,900 American servicemen were killed, and 
although no specific statistics were kept about the civilian 
population, hundreds of Chamorros died during the battle or were 
executed, and hundreds more died for reasons related directly to the 
war but not combat.
  And even after the island was secured, Japanese stragglers continued 
to be a serious threat to security and a Guam combat patrol, organized 
by the U.S. Marine Corps and soldiered by men from Guam, was 
established to find Japanese stragglers who refused to surrender. 
Incredibly, the last straggler was discovered in 1972 after spending 
some 28 years in the jungle by himself.

  Battles sometimes bring out the worst in human beings, but they also 
bring out the inner strength in people of courage. Extraordinary 
heroism was common in the battles which occurred in the Marianas and in 
Guam, and two medals of honor were awarded.
  One was to a Captain Lewis Wilson who was commanding officer of 
Company F Second Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, fought off repeated 
Japanese counteroffensives on the Fonte Plateau. Had the lines been 
breached, it would have spelled disaster for the Marines in the rear. 
Captain Wilson later on became commandant of the Marine Corps.
  Another was granted to Private First Class Frank Witek, who 
distinguished himself in hand-to-hand combat, provided cover for the 
withdrawal of wounded comrades and single-handedly put out an enemy 
machine gun position.
  Over the Internet and because of the fact that many of the veterans 
who fought on Guam have a very special relationship to Guam, over the 
Internet I received the story of a Private First Class Jack Walker and 
Staff Sergeant Harry Kolata who landed in Agat as members of the 306th 
Infantry 77th Army Division. They volunteered to go behind enemy lines 
to make contact with the villagers of Merizo; and they did so, and they 
brought, successfully brought back 1,500 people into the American 
lines.
  And these are just a few of the stories of the heroism exhibited by 
the Marines and the soldiers who liberated Guam, and on behalf of the 
people of Guam I say: Si yu'os ma'ase.
  And the veterans of the battle for Guam continued to have an 
excellent relationship with the people of Guam and return to Guam every 
year, although obviously in decreasing numbers every year; and during 
this year's celebration some 60 veterans have returned to Guam to visit 
Guam and to see the progress that they have helped make possible.
  Earlier this month, on July 9, I laid a wreath at the Tomb of the 
Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, as I have done so every year 
that I have been in office, in order to commemorate the Battle of Guam 
and to express the gratitude of the people of Guam to the veterans, the 
servicemen. This year I did so along with Commonwealth of the Northern 
Marianas, which includes the island of Saipan and Tinian. 
Representative Juan Babauta, together we laid a wreath in order to 
express the gratitude felt by the people of our respective islands for 
the sacrifices of every Marine, sailor, airman, and soldier who helped 
in the liberation of Guam.
  And as I said repeatedly, there was something very special about the 
Battle for Guam which was not present in any other Pacific battle, 
indeed any battle during World War II. Guam was a U.S. territory 
inhabited by civilians who were U.S. nationals at the outbreak of the 
war. It was in fact the first time that a foreign power had invaded 
U.S. soil since the War of 1812.
  This special relationship is demonstrated in this painting based on a 
picture of two young Chamorro boys who waved hand-made American flags. 
The stars are all wrong, the stripes are all wrong, but these two young 
boys that we think were aged maybe 8 and 6 at the time made flags which 
were imperfect in their design yet perfectly clear in their 
representation, and their faces reflect the difficult times that they 
had had experiencing battle, not as grown men in uniform with weapons, 
but as young boys confused by all that was going on around them. But 
despite the fact that their faces reflected the difficult times, they 
also had their

[[Page H6348]]

hope for their future and their gratitude for their deliverance from 
enemy hands.
  It was reported that service men who bore witness to the display and 
to the spectacle of Chamorros who made their way down from the hills 
and the camps which the Japanese placed them in broke down and wept at 
the sight of the people, broke down and wept at the sight of these two 
young boys, and seeing the people and their condition and their 
displays of red, white, and blue.
  I know that we cannot ever recapture that moment in time, but we must 
make every effort to do so because it has established a bond which has 
lasted for generations between those in uniform and the people of Guam.
  The people of Guam came down from the mountains to tell the stories 
of brutality and the tales of suffering which they endured during the 
last few months of the occupation. The Japanese authorities had herded 
them into camps in Maimai and Talofofo, Malojloj and especially 
Manenggon, a name which today continues to stand for suffering. 
Thousands of people were placed into a valley without food and only a 
stream from which to drink; and they found a way to survive, and they 
found the will to survive, and they expressed their gratitude of their 
deliverance with laughter and tears, with hugs and screams, all 
reportedly at the same time.

                              {time}  1900

  Some experienced horrific events, massacres at Malesso', Tinta, and 
Faha' where Japanese soldiers herded families into caves and threw hand 
grenades and delivered small arms fire until dozens were killed. A 
similar event occurred at Fena cave and for the first time in many 
years, Speaker Tony Unpingco of the Guam legislature led a 
commemoration of this event. This event took place in what is now 
referred to as ``naval magazine,'' a highly secured area where lots of 
weaponry is stored. And this is very special for the people of Guam, 
and I certainly congratulate Speaker Unpingco for making this possible.
  This tragedy was most manifested by an enormously brave woman I would 
like to tell you about who passed away a few years ago. She was 
Beatrice Flores Emsley. Beatrice was a woman who, as a 13-year-old, was 
told to kneel by Japanese soldiers and then struck by a sword across 
the back of her neck. This attempt to behead the young lady was 
unsuccessful for reasons we do not know, but we can only guess at. The 
soldiers buried her in a shallow grave and miraculously, she emerged 
from that grave and wandered for several days before she was treated, 
lived to a ripe old age, had children and grandchildren.
  For years, I remember this, Mrs. Emsley was a curiosity for many 
people. Understandably, she did not like to talk about the war because 
the experience was so very painful. So very few people asked her, but 
eventually she started to speak out about her experience in order to 
bring honor and dignity to the experiences of the people of Guam, and 
she came to testify in Congress on several occasions. She was a 
remarkably gifted woman, devoid of bitterness, who never spoke harshly 
about her captors or the people who tried to behead her, but only spoke 
compellingly about how her experience and how she hoped that the people 
of the United States would understand what Guam went through.
  As always, Mrs. Emsley was dignified as we asked her to recount her 
painful experiences, recounting that we knew caused her so much pain, 
and she came to symbolize what the people of Guam went through.
  Several years ago, at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of 
the liberation of Guam, the half century mark, Secretary of the 
Interior Bruce Babbitt referred to the veterans who landed on Guam as 
the liberators from without, and the people of Guam as the liberators 
from within. It is their interaction that we bring honor to today, and 
it is their struggle in the beaches and in the concentration camps; it 
is their common fear and their common bravery; it is their common love 
for freedom, and it is their common bond that we bring honor to today.
  In light of this, I will enter into the Record two newspaper 
articles, one on the Fena cave massacre which was commemorated recently 
in Guam, and the other is about Darryl Dass, one of the Marine 
liberators from Iowa who was a parade grand marshal in our recent 
Liberation Day festivities in Guam.

                     [From the Pacific Daily News]

                     Guam Remembers Lessons of 1944

                          (By Hirashi Hiyama)

       As the 55th anniversary of the island's liberation draws 
     near, American soldiers and local residents who went through 
     the war will meet once again on the island this week.
       Washed away by time, Guam's memories of World War II are 
     starting to be overwhelmed by development and comfort of the 
     modern lifestyle, say those who experienced the war.
       But they remember the original Liberation Day and remind 
     others of the harsh island life little more than two 
     generations ago.
       Darryl Dass, 75, of Iowa will join local residents on 
     Wednesday as one of four grand marshals for the Liberation 
     Day parade. The former Marine landed on Agat on July 21, 
     1944, helping to free Guam from the Japanese occupational 
     forces.
       He is among some 42 World War II veterans, who helped 
     liberate Guam from Japanese occupational forces, who plan to 
     return to Guam this week to join local residents in 
     celebrating the island's holiday.
       ``I thought so much about (local) people when we first 
     arrived (on Guam in 1944),'' Dass said, during a phone 
     interview from Iowa. ``They were so pitiful. Their clothes 
     were ragged. They were hungry. They didn't know it they were 
     supposed to give us a hug or to bow.
       ``All the people, they were so thankful. It was the way 
     they were pleased with their freedom--these things leave a 
     mark on you,'' he said. ``When you have so much respect for 
     the people--it's just like a magnet--it draws me back.''
       The arrival of American soldiers is remembered clearly by 
     local residents who lived through the war.
       Amalia G. Arceo, 88, of Sinajana was in a concentration 
     camp in Manengon, where she lived in a cave, drank river 
     water and treated her sickly son.
       Her family members risked their lives and hid in the 
     surrounding jungles, and from the eyes of Japanese soldiers, 
     to supply food for captured family members, Arceo said.
       The joyous news of the arrival of American soldiers on the 
     island seeped through the camp.
       ``We heard that American people were coming in,'' she said. 
     ``So we said `the Americans are coming. The Americans are 
     coming.' We were so happy. They brought eggs, ham, cookies, 
     candies, coffee--it was all in boxes.''
       Freed local residents were so hungry that they ``stuffed 
     themselves in a hurry.'' Arceo said. But their bodies were so 
     weak that many people initially were sickened by food rations 
     eaten after they were freed, she said.
       At about the same time in Guam's's history, similar things 
     were happening at a concentration camp in Tai, Mangilao, 
     where Carmen A. Perez, now 66, also of Sinsjana, was staying 
     with her family. The camp was located near the Fatimer Duerms 
     Memorial School, she said.
       She also recalled a rumor about the arrival of American 
     soldiers spreading quickly among those who were captured at 
     the camp.
       ``We were still careful not to be noticed by the 
     Japanese,'' she said, of the elation detainees felt when 
     hearing the rumor.
       Her brother was captured by Japanese soldiers in a jungle, 
     but American soldiers found the Japanese soldiers just in 
     time to rescue Perez's brother, she said.
       Memories of the war have been difficult to share for those 
     who experienced it.
       Dass said he remained quiet about his war-time experiences 
     for decades. But he now talks about the harsh memories of the 
     war ``because they don't teach too much of the history to 
     (school) kids.''
       ``Memories: friends are killed and blown into pieces and 
     you don't recognize them. You are killed. You are crippled. 
     These are things you don't forget. You don't want to talk 
     about it,'' he said. ``If we don't tell (young people) what 
     we have done, they won't know. It's over 50 years ago. That's 
     like ancient history to those kids.''
       Liberation Day has become a joyous occasion, celebrating 
     the island's freedom from the Japanese military. But it also 
     brings sorrow to those who lost loved ones during the war, 
     Perez said.
       ``I want,'' Perez said, ``the people of Guam to be educated 
     (in Guam's history).''
       Dass said he hopes Guam residents will continue to pass on 
     the island's history for generations to come.
       ``Old men create the war and young men die, fighting it,'' 
     Dass said. ``War is hell. It brings out the worst in 
     people.''

                     [From the Pacific Daily News]

                       Fena Survivors Tell Tales

                         (By Joseph E. Duenes)

       Nearly 400 people attended a memorial service at Fena Cave 
     yesterday to pay homage to the 35 victims, and their families 
     of one of Guam's worst recorded World War II massacres.
       Yesterday's ceremony was only the second to take place at 
     the cave since the massacre occurred. The site has been U.S. 
     Navy property since the war, and access to the area was 
     forbidden until last year's memorial ceremony.
       In July 1944, shortly before U.S. troops liberated Guam, 
     about 85 Chamorros--men, women, and children--were marched to 
     the Fena area by Japanese soldiers. The

[[Page H6349]]

     Chamorros were lured into caves with promises of food and 
     rest after a long hard day of building military 
     fortifications.
       Without warning, soldiers began flinging grenades into the 
     cave after the Chamorros entered. The soldiers apparently 
     wanted no survivors of the incident, and systematically 
     plunged bayonets into those who were not killed by the 
     explosions. At the same time, a dozen women were raped and 
     killed in a nearby cave. Nearly 35 men and women were killed 
     in the massacre.
       Maria ``Chong'' Alerta, one of a handful of survivors still 
     living, was very young when the massacre took place. 
     According to Alerta, the soldiers insisted children enter the 
     cave first, in what she thinks was an attempt to help them 
     survive. As the Japanese walked through the carnage of the 
     grenade blasts, bayonetting moving bodies, Alerta and her 
     family remained still and were passed over by soldiers. Her 
     father was the only one in her family hurt during the 
     onslaught, suffering a non-fatal bayonet wound.
       Alerta, the only surviving member of her family, said the 
     event was a blur to her and she does not remember most of it.
       ``Right now if I think about it, I can still feel it, even 
     though I don't remember the most exciting moments of the 
     event.'' Alerta said, as tears welled up in her eyes. ``I 
     feel kind of lonely.''
       Maria Nauta was 17 years old when the massacre took place. 
     She, her father, and her sister were already at the caves the 
     day of the massacre.
       ``I was here that morning, because we were lined up to be 
     killed. The American planes came early that morning, and 
     everybody scattered.'' Nauta said. ``I ran and I ran, but my 
     father and my sister were, caught and put over here (at the 
     caves). I was able to get away,''
       Nauta tearfully said her father was later killed during the 
     massacre. She said her sister was able to escape, but not 
     before being stabbed in the back with a bayonet.
       ``That was a very sad day, and it is very hard for me to 
     remember,'' Nauta said.
       Leroy Delos Santos said he had relatives killed in the 
     massacre. He and his family came to the ceremony to honor 
     them, and the others who died.
       ``From my perspective, (I came) to memorialize, to pay 
     tribute to our ancestors that were killed,'' he said.
       Survivors and their families were not the only ones 
     honoring the victims of the attack. Many came to learn, 
     firsthand, some of Guam's tragic World War II history. For 
     this reason, Delos Santos brought his niece, and all four of 
     his children, to the memorial service.
       ``I want them to experience this and to know. I feel that 
     its very important that the kids, even at a very young age, 
     get exposed to stuff like this,'' Delos Santos said.
       Paul Mafnas, a University of Guam student from Barrigada, 
     came to the ceremony with his Chamorro class. Mafnas said the 
     greatest lesson we can learn from the massacre is 
     forgiveness.
       ``Of course it's going to touch a nerve, because it was our 
     people that they did this to. But on the same token, we 
     should also practice forgiveness, because everybody needs 
     forgiveness these days.'' Mafnas said ``We should remember 
     what they went through, but at the same time, use that to 
     prevent those mistakes from happening again in the future.''
       Pat San Nicolas, of Talofofo, spent a lot of time 
     explaining to her son Chris and her daughter Amanda the 
     events that led up to the massacre, and some of the reasons 
     why it may have happened. She was saddened that the same type 
     of events still take place in other parts of the world.
       ``You think about Kosovo and the tragedy there, and you 
     think, `It's still going on after all these years.' People 
     just haven't learned,'' she said.
       Though the Navy has already agreed to allow next year's 
     ceremony to be held at the site, Speaker Antonio Unpingco, R-
     Santa Rita, said the construction of a monument honoring the 
     Fena massacre victims and their families is already in the 
     works. The monument will be located on a hillside near the 
     navy's access gate, and will cost an estimated $500,000 to 
     construct, Unpingco said.
       ``Since last year, we had several suggestions from the 
     (memorial) committee to put up a memorial for the victims, 
     and we decided to put it near the actual site.'' Unpingco 
     said. ``It will not only be open to locals, but to visitors 
     from all over.''
       Unpingco said plans for the memorial have already been 
     donated by the Filipino American Society of Architects and 
     Engineers. The committee is relying on private donations for 
     funding, however, which means it may be two to three years 
     before construction begins, he said.
       Unpingco added that as soon as the monument is completed, 
     it will be used for the annual memorial services.

  The meaning of the battles of Guam and Saipan.
  The taking of the Marianas was another in a series of critical 
turning points in the Pacific war. The defeat of Japanese forces in the 
Marianas enabled America to bring the war to the Japanese homelands 
which was not previously possible. The Tojo government resigned as a 
result of the Japanese debacle in the Marianas Islands and Admiral 
Asami Nagano, supreme naval advisor to the Japanese emperor stated, 
hell is upon us, and the words were very true as Army Air Force bombers 
took off from airfields recently built on Guam and Saipan and Tinian, 
the airfields of Harmon Anderson, North, Northwest, Isley, Kobler, 
became familiar to the Army Air Force station on these islands.
  And the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the Chairman of the 
Committee on International Relations, was stationed in Guam during this 
time period and participated in 35 missions to Japan, taking off from 
Guam.
  And in addition to the air war, Guam became the jumping off point for 
later landings in the Philippines in Iwo Jima and Okinawa as Guam 
became, in the Victory at Sea documentary, Guam became the military 
supermarket in the western Pacific. Guam became the forward naval base. 
Basically, Pearl Harbor was effectively moved 3,500 miles west and 
Admiral Nimitz set up his headquarters in Guam.
  But we have other issues to bring up as well, and it certainly is 
something that we do not like to draw too much attention to, but we 
must, and that is that as we bring honor and recognition to the 
experiences of the people of Guam, I have to bring up an issue which 
basically cries out for justice. And this is the issue of how best to 
recognize this loyalty and their sacrifices.
  At the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. Congress passed a bill 
called the Guam Meritorious Claims Act. This act basically said that 
people of Guam could submit claims for property damage up to $5,000. In 
submitting those claims, if one had a claim for more than $5,000, one 
had to physically come to Washington, D.C., to present one's claim. And 
this Guam Meritorious Claims Act was in existence for one full year, at 
a time when the people of Guam were still recovering from World War II, 
and even the notion of travel to Washington, D.C., was almost as remote 
as the notion of travel is to Antarctica for most of us today.
  Yet, that was legitimate legislation, because it was an attempt to 
deal with the battle damage. In 1948, the U.S. Congress passed what is 
known as the War Claims Act. The War Claims Act provided a basis upon 
which American citizens and American nationals who were working for the 
Federal Government, who were subject to enemy occupation or forced 
labor or internment or death or injury could make a claim. Incredibly, 
Guam was not included in that legislation.
  When that legislation was amended in 1962, Guam again was not 
included in that legislation. And so let me express the anomaly in 
terms of my family.
  My name is Robert Underwood. My grandfather is from North Carolina. 
He came to Guam in the year 1902 as a Marine. He mustered out in Guam, 
and he married a Chamorro woman and he thereby established a line of 
Underwoods in Guam who fully considered themselves, as I do, indigenous 
inhabitants of Guam.
  My grandfather was taken by the Japanese and put in a prison camp for 
civilians in, Kobe, Japan. As a result of the War Claims Act of 1948, 
my grandfather was compensated for his time of internment in Japan. His 
family, his wife, my grandmother, his children, my father and my aunts 
and my uncles, could not submit any claim, even though it could be 
argued and certainly, my grandfather felt this way before he died, they 
suffered more than he did. But because the War Claims Act only 
recognized the activities of U.S. citizens who were subsequently taken 
to Japan, the people of Guam were not included.
  There were some people of Guam who worked for Pan American Airlines 
who worked in Wake Island. These people were drafted, in a sense, by 
the U.S. Marine Corps to help defend the island against Japanese 
invaders. These people from Guam were taken, captured by the Japanese, 
some were killed, eventually recognized as World War II veterans, went 
to prison camp in China. As a result of the War Claims Act of 1948, 
they were given a certain level of compensation for their forced labor 
and for their internment. Their families, which were back in Guam, who 
suffered a similar fate, were not allowed to submit the same claim. So, 
in a sense, we have a situation that cries out for justice. And 
outlining that history only helps make the case.
  But there is more to it than that. In 1950, the people of Guam were 
made

[[Page H6350]]

United States citizens by a congressional act called the Organic Act of 
Guam. In 1951, the United States signed a peace treaty with Japan, 
officially ending the Pacific War. In that treaty, the United States 
forgave or foreclosed or made impossible any claim for any war action 
by the Japanese by any American citizen or American national. So the 
peace treaty, in effect, foreclosed the opportunity for the people of 
Guam to be allowed the opportunity to make a war claim to Japan.
  So what we have today is that the people of Guam cannot make a war 
claim against Japan, nor are they included in the war claims 
legislation that has been passed by Congress. So what we have today is 
a situation that is intolerable, that is unconscionable, and cries out 
for some justice.
  Fortunately, with the collaboration of Senator Danny Inouye over in 
the Senate, he and I have introduced legislation to grant the people of 
Guam the opportunity to submit war claims for death and injury and for 
forced march and forced labor. In order to validate these claims, we 
are proposing that in the future, we will establish a commission to 
validate the existence of these claims and certainly to review the 
tortured history of the claims situation in regards to the people of 
Guam.
  The one other irony is that, as I mentioned earlier in this speech, 
is that in anticipation of a Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands, 
the civilians who lived in the Aleutian Islands were evacuated. In 
anticipation of Japanese war action in Guam, the only civilians that 
were evacuated were U.S. citizens. The people of Guam who were not 
citizens obviously were not evacuated. Legislation was granted to 
compensate those for property damages and for damages claimed as a 
result of the Japanese occupation to illusion islanders, but no such 
similar legislation has been passed for the people of Guam.
  It is painful sometimes to talk about such issues because sometimes 
people think that we are talking about money issues. In one sense, we 
are. But we are not asking for what we do not deserve, and we are only 
asking for the same treatment as other American citizens and nationals 
who experienced exactly the same kind of condition.
  In trying to bring honor and closure to the World War II experience, 
we have done many things in this country. We are establishing a World 
War II memorial on the mall. The original design of that World War II 
memorial called for 50 columns to commemorate each of the 50 States and 
one more for the District of Columbia. Incredibly, a place like Guam 
was left out of the memorial.
  Fortunately, through a lot of conversation and personal appearances 
and letters and everything else, we have been able to rectify that so 
that Guam will be given the same kind of prominence in that memorial as 
any other State or territory, because, based on what I have told my 
colleagues this evening, its contribution to the war effort was not 
only great in terms of winning the war against Japan, but enormous in 
terms of the suffering of individuals and their families.
  So it is in their name, it is in the name of the people of Guam that 
we ask that consideration be given to this legislation, that it be 
widely supported. It is in their name that I ask that we bring some 
closure to this war experience for those who have survived to this age. 
Certainly, most people have passed on. Most of the people who 
experienced World War II as mature adults have passed on from Guam, and 
it is a way, it is a tragic circumstance because so many of them that 
suffered during the Japanese occupation will never see any kind of 
compensation or recognition for their efforts.
  Every single family in Guam has some connection to the war 
experience. I always do not like to talk about it in those terms, but 
sometimes those are the terms that most people understand.

                              {time}  1915

  My parents have 11 children. I am the only one that was born after 
World War II, and all the rest were born either during the war or prior 
to the war. Three of them died during the war.
  For my parents, for my father while he was still alive, and for my 
mother who still lives today as a very energetic 85-year-old woman, 
there is no concern and there was never any concern about war 
restitution or the legislation or seeking any legislative initiative.
  In fact, I will have to say that for most of the people who 
experience it, they barely mention it. It is really part of our 
attempt, for those of us who come from the generation who profited from 
their experience, it is our attempt to help make whole what must have 
been a horrific experience and to try to bring some closure and honor 
to their experience.
  So today, even though we are one day late and actually in Guam time 
we are two days late, I want to again congratulate all the Marines and 
sailors and airmen and soldiers who participated in the battle for 
Guam.
  There are so many out there. I am in strong communication with 
several of them. If they have not gone back to Guam, they should go 
back to Guam and see what they helped make possible. For those people 
who came down from the hills, the Chamorro people of Guam, who endured 
the Japanese occupation, let us never forget that they made their 
contribution to liberty and they made their contribution to American 
ideals as well.

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