[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10] [House] [Pages 13727-13730] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO VETERANS OF PACIFIC THEATRE DURING WORLD WAR II The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kerns). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood) is recognized for the time remaining until midnight. Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the veterans of the Pacific theatre during World War II, especially for those who participated in the battle for Guam; and I also want to take the time to honor the Chamorro people, my people, the indigenous people of Guam, for their show of courage during the 2\1/2\ years of enemy occupation, and most especially to pay homage to the many lives lost during World War II, both by men in uniform and by the civilian population in Guam, particularly the lives lost at the Fena, Tinta, and Chaguian massacres that occurred near the end of the Japanese occupation. I will be submitting a list of names for the record of those who suffered the fate of death at those massacres. On July 21, 2001, at the end of this week, the people of Guam will be celebrating the 57th anniversary of the liberation of Guam. It is that day that commemorates the landing of the Third Marine Division on the shores of Asan and the First Marine Provisional Brigade, supported by the 77th Army Infantry, in Agat. I wish to extend a very warm Hafa Adai and sincere Si Yu'os Ma'ase' to the veterans of that conflict who liberated Guam. I would also like to honor and pay respect and remember the people of Guam and the suffering they endured for some 2\1/2\ years under the enemy occupation of the Japanese Imperial Army. On the morning of December 8, 1941, Japanese troops bombed and invaded Guam as part of Japan's attack on U.S. forces in the Pacific, including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, both areas also having significant U.S. forces. They all occurred on the same day, except that Guam is on the other side of the date line. This commemoration, which I do annually, and try to bring a little honor and respect for the experiences of the people of Guam, is marked by a laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, which honors both the American veterans and remembers the sacrifices of the people of Guam. This is also a tribute of the necessity for peace, for it is only in the remembrance of the horrors of war that we do really truly remain vigilant in our quest for peace. I was privileged to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the liberation of Guam; and I was assisted by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump), the chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services and a World War II veteran himself. My purpose this evening, in the time that I have, is to give a historical perspective to the events we are commemorating on Guam at the end of this week, and to enhance the understanding of people across the Nation of the wartime experiences of the people of Guam and the postwar legacy which has framed the relationship of my island with the United States. It is a story that is both a microcosm of the heroism of soldiers everywhere and the suffering in particular of civilians in occupied areas during World War II. This is encapsulated in these three pictures that I brought with me today, and it is part of a lengthy display that we have had called tempon gera, the time of war. And down here we have basically the cemetery, a temporary cemetery, in which servicemen were buried right after the battle of Guam. Here we have some servicemen entertaining some children from Guam right after the liberation of Guam. And this is the most poignant picture of all. Actually, these are a couple of kids from the Cruz family. This is a young lady and a young man, and this is probably the most remembered picture of the wartime period in Guam. Their mother has made a flag. Their mother was a seamstress, and she hand made this flag; and they carried it around at the time of the liberation of Guam. Guam has a unique story all to itself. It is an experience of dignity in the midst of political and wartime machinations of larger powers over smaller peoples as well as a story of loyalty to America and a demonstration of loyalty that has not been asked of any civilian community, I believe, during the entire 20th century. It is important to understand that Guam was an American territory since the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898. It was invaded, as I pointed out earlier, in the early morning hours of December 8, 1941, and thus began a 32-month epic struggle of the indigenous people of Guam, the Chamorro people, to maintain their dignity and to survive during an occupation by the Japanese. In the months leading up to the war in the Pacific, many of the planners had decided that it was not feasible to defend Guam against the possible invasion by Japanese forces in the surrounding areas. All of the areas in the Micronesian region were held by Japan, save for Guam. The rest of the islands in the central Pacific were held by the Japanese under a League of Nations mandate, the most significant Japanese installations being held in Saipan, 100 miles to the north, and the naval forces in the Truk Lagoon, some 350 miles to the south. This decision not to build up Guam became a major controversy in the latter part of World War II as people reviewed the records of Congress. Even though an effort was made in Congress, by amendment, to try to reinforce Guam, it failed; and subsequently the people of Guam, as well as the island of Guam, was laid defenseless. When the Japanese Imperial Forces landed on Guam in December of 1941, they basically found 153 Marines, 271 Navy personnel, 134 workers associated with the Pan-American Clipper Station, and some 20,000 civilians, Chamorro people, who at that time were not U.S. citizens but were termed U.S. nationals. All of the American military dependents had been evacuated from Guam in anticipation of the war, with the last ship having left on October 17, 1941. Despite the fact that of course we all think of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a surprise attack because of where it took place and the suddenness of it, I think most people at the time were fully cognizant of the fact that war was eminent in some fashion in the Asian Pacific area. And proof of that is the fact that the American military dependents were evacuated from Guam. But, of course, the people of Guam were not evacuated. {time} 2330 And it was the people who were left faced to confront the cruel occupation that they did actually experience in subsequent months. The actual defense of Guam then fell to these handful of Marines and handful of sailors and actually to the Guam ancillary guard and Guam militia consisting of civilian reserve forces. The insular force, which was a locally-manned type militia, actually were the ones who faced the Japanese. The Japanese invasion force numbering some 5,000 easily overwhelmed these men in uniform. Ironically, the only ones who really fired any shots in anger were Japanese Imperial Forces, were members of the Guam insular guard who had set up some machine gun nests in defense of the Placa de Espana and at the governor's offices. Throughout the ordeal of the occupation, the Chamorro people maintained [[Page 13728]] their loyalty to America and their faith that American forces would soon return to liberate them from the Japanese. The resistance against the occupation manifested itself in many, many direct forms, but none so powerful and costly as the effort designed to help some American servicemen who had decided not to surrender. When the Japanese took over Guam, some seven sailors decided that they would rather hide in the jungle than surrender to the Japanese. All of them, save one, were captured and executed by the Japanese Imperial Forces. The one fortunate sailor who evaded capture throughout the entire 32 months of occupation with the assistance of the Chamorro at the cost of numerous atrocities to them, the story of this one sailor, George Tweed, was made into a movie entitled, ``No Man is an Island.'' The actual attack on Guam, the actual liberation of Guam began on July 21, 1944. As I have indicated, this Saturday is the 57th anniversary of that time period. But beginning in mid-June Guam started to experience a series of bombing runs as a result of a series of preinvasion bombardment. The preinvasion bombardment off the coast of Guam was very intense, perhaps amongst the most intense during World War II, made more intense by the fact that in June U.S. forces had landed in Saipan and their struggles against the Japanese forces in Saipan was additional reason to increase the ferocity of preinvasion bombardment for Guam. As well as the experience of Normandy in Europe also led to the reconsideration of the preinvasion bombardment of areas that were to be invaded. After U.S. forces began their preinvasion bombardment, which lasted over a month, they were called back only two hours after the initial bombing because of the ferocity of the battle for Saipan. When the preinvasion bombardment began in mid-June and the actual invasion occurred toward the end of July, this time period experienced by the people of Guam was the most intense period of cruelty and atrocities that had been experienced by the people from the Japanese forces. This actually gave some time during that 5-week's time for the Japanese forces to reinforce their position in anticipation and of course gave them additional opportunity to amass the Chamorro people on one side of the island to get them out of the way of the battle because they knew that the Chamorro people would be of assistance to the American forces. In April 1944, approximately 20,000 Japanese troops were brought in from Manchuria, and they began a wholesale series of agricultural projects designed to feed the soldiers in which people started to experience widespread malnutrition. Then you had the preinvasion bombardments, a lot of forced marches; and the preceding months also featured a great deal of forced labor as the Japanese tried to build various installations on the island in anticipation of the invasion by the American forces. Preceding the July 21, 1944, invasion of Guam were 13 days of preinvasion bombings that leveled almost all standing structures in Guam. It also served to act as a further stimulus for atrocities against the people of Guam. As the bombardment continued, the Japanese Imperial Forces, who basically realized their fate, that they were going to die either in suicide attacks or at the hands of the Americans, inflicted further brutality and mass slaughter against the people of Guam. The most known and remembered massacres were those that occurred in Tinta at the southern end of the island near the Fena Caves. Tonight I try to bring attention to another massacre that is really not known by very many and has not really been widely explained. Immediately after the island was secured, U.S. Navy Commander Roger Edison Perry filed a report on atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial Forces. A specific report dated August 16, 1944, mentions the decapitated bodies of 45 men who were discovered in the municipality of Yigo around the vicinity of the present Andersen Air Force base. What happened was these men were forcibly conscripted by the Japanese forces to be of service to them during their retreat from the central part of the island. Commander Perry's report indicated that the men were summarily executed because they knew too much about Japanese activities. The story of these men has largely been forgotten, and for over 50 years these men have remained unnamed and have hardly received any mention. Mr. Speaker, today I am going to enter what are very familiar Chamorro names into the Record. The fate of these and a number of other unnamed men who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the occupation and eventual liberation of Guam indicate the height of indignities, pain and suffering endured by the Chamorro people due to their loyalty to the United States. Men were taken away from their homes and families, forcibly made to serve the enemy occupiers, and ultimately paid dearly with their lives because of their allegiance to the United States. {time} 2340 On July 21, 1944, the actual liberation began. U.S. Marines landed on the narrow beaches of Asan and Agat to crawl up their way to what is now known as Nimitz Hill. The men of the Third Marine Division were thrust wave after wave onto Asan Beach already littered with Marines that had come before them and once on shore the U.S. forces were in the heart of Japanese defense fortifications. Simultaneously, the southern beaches of Guam were braved by the First Marine Brigade and this was quickly interrupted by the only Japanese counterattack of the first day. It is also on those beaches that former Senator Hal Heflin was wounded as a Marine in Guam. The people of Guam are a resolute and tenacious people as was proved some 57 years ago as they helped the Marines participating as scouts, lookouts and even forming little pockets of armed resistance to Japanese occupiers. The liberation of Guam is commemorated as a time of solemn memory and remembrance every year since World War II, because it is a very special struggle of what must ultimately be seen as Americans liberating people who were their fellow Americans. This serves as a reminder of the spirit of freedom and democracy and the high cost that must be paid to maintain it. During the Japanese occupation, the people of Guam suffered severe privations and cruel injustices. It is hard to perhaps explain that every family on Guam has a whole series of stories related to the Japanese occupation and that these stories form the corpus of a series of attitudes about the relationship to the United States, the tenacity of the Chamorro people to endure privation and still manage to survive and to thrive. In my own family, I am the youngest of 11 children that my parents had, I am the only child that was born after World War II. My parents lost two children during the occupation. To this day my mother sort of remembers where her two children were buried but we are not sure really where they are at to this day. That is not an atypical story. It was a story that almost every family in Guam experienced. In the interplay between these men who were coming as Marines and as soldiers and as sailors, interacting with these people who had been under American sovereignty since the Spanish American war, and in that interplay, there are many, many stories about the meaning of that. In a very powerful and poignant sense, you had really in Guam two sets of liberators. You had the liberators that were coming in on the beaches and coming in from the ships, and you had the liberators who were hiding in the mountains and they were coming down from the mountains. In that meeting in which these stories are very much documented, people wept and cried for joy and the soldiers and the Marines themselves frequently broke down in tears as they understood that something very special was going on in this particular liberation in Guam in 1944. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to discuss this, not only with the people of Guam obviously but also [[Page 13729]] with the men who came in uniform. To this day I am constantly amazed at the number of veterans who continue to show up, a little bit older but continue to show up at our events. Last weekend, I was at an event in San Antonio, Texas, commemorating the liberation of Guam in which there were over 700 people there. This weekend there will be numerous events not only in Guam but around the country. In San Diego which has the largest Chamorro community in the U.S. mainland, they are having a very special event to honor and bring in the veterans as their special guests, and there will be an event here in the Washington, D.C. area down at Fort Belvoir. Of course in Guam we will have a large parade, it is the single biggest holiday of the year, and marching down the main drive which in honor of the liberators is called Marine Drive, we will hopefully pay witness to some Marines marching and when they march, they will surely bring the biggest cheer. The war also changed the relationship of the people of Guam to the United States. Immediately Guam was taken for a number of reasons. Obviously it was part of a general strategy to cripple Japan, but Guam and Saipan and Tinian were very crucial islands because those islands were fairly large compared to other Pacific islands in the central Pacific, and they also could reach Japan. They had the ability to reach Japan by air. So these three islands immediately became enormous platforms for the continual bombing of Japan. Of course off the one island of Tinian is where the Inola Gay took off to bomb Hiroshima. So those islands, the islands were taken for this particular purpose. I always like to point out that one of our colleagues here in the House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), flew many combat missions out of Guam, out of what was then North Field and what is now called Andersen Air Force Base. In the context of World War II, Guam became the forward base for the United States. What was Pearl Harbor for the first part of World War II was basically moved to Guam. It became, in the words of the Victory at Sea program on Guam, the supermarket of the Pacific. Admiral Nimitz moved his headquarters there. Admiral Nimitz strategized, triangulated, fought the rest of the war from Guam. As a result of the experience of World War II, and the upcoming Cold War with the Soviet Union, it was decided that there would be many, many military installations built on Guam. So immediately, in order to prosecute World War II, the rest of World War II, because we still had the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the Philippines to confront and many of those activities were triangulated out of Guam, many, many military installations were built on Guam. At any given time from the liberation of Guam until the end of World War II, you could find as many as 250,000 people in uniform on Guam while you only had a civilian population of about 20,000. So it became this military supermarket from which World War II in the Pacific was fought for the balance of the war. After World War II, it became a major Cold War base and, of course, based upon the experience in World War II, there were a number of political changes that were advocated by the local community in order to have, first of all, civilian government and not the pre-World War II naval government and also to have U.S. citizenship, and those things came to pass as well. All of these things, as we understand the meaning of World War II for Guam in its own light, we also have to bring some understanding to the meaning of war in a broader light, World War II across this country and across the world. One of the things that is upcoming on the national mall is the World War II Memorial. Based on what I have outlined here this evening, when they first conceptualized the World War II Memorial, which will be built on the mall, despite all of the ongoing controversies about it, when that memorial was first proposed, they proposed having 50 columns to represent basically the 50 States. It was a little incongruous because at the time of World War II, there were only 48 States. {time} 2350 But what was particularly disturbing to me was that given this experience which I have outlined this evening, that while it is true that the 50 columns which were being built for the World War II memorial should include each of the States, it did not include Guam. So after exerting some special effort in this regard, we have been happy to note, grateful to note, that Guam will be included in some fashion deserving its own pillar. So there are now 56 pillars representing each State and territory and the District of Columbia, so that all who participated in World War II will be recognized. That is particularly important in Guam's case, and it is particularly important to understand the meaning of sacrifice, and not only subjecting yourself to the danger of death, as sometimes men in particularly that time period are called to do in the context of war, but to understand that civilian communities like Guam experienced war at a more direct level, suffering untold atrocities, suffering in ways in which I hope no community is ever called upon to suffer. But it reminds us of a basic reality in human history, that there are times when we are called upon to suffer, there are times when we are called upon to fight, but there is something more at stake than that, and that is when we say we fight for freedom and when we say we fight for democracy and when we say we fight for liberation, we must understand that each generation is commanded, each generation is responsible to make their contribution to the perfection of liberation, to the perfection of democracy, to make sure that the sacrifices of people who came before us were for something more significant than the sacrifices just at that time; that it is part of a continuing saga of struggle, of the perfection of democracy. It is no secret that today Guam is what is called an unincorporated territory of the United States. Its political development and its political fulfillment has yet to be fully consummated. Even though we call July 21, 1944, Liberation Day, all of us in Guam are mindful of the fact that that liberation was liberation from enemy hands; that we have many more struggles in our desire to be fully liberated, to be full participants in a democratic and representative form of government, the kind of government which we do not have today, because as a territory you do not have voting representation in laws which are made that govern your existence, the same as any other American. By not having the right to fully participate in law making, you violate one of the core principles of American democracy, which is consent of the governed. So as we look back on this, and there are many, many stories that come out of World War II that I can tell, I will just end with one story about a 13-year-old girl. Her name is Beatrice Flores Ensley. This young lady was 13 years old in 1944. She and a friend of hers were actually caught by a Japanese patrol. The Japanese patrol decided to behead these two young people. I think the young man was only 14 and she was only 13. They cut through her neck, buried her and her companion and left them for dead. But by some miracle, both of them survived. She was in a very shallow grave, and Beatrice crawled out of the hole, maggots covering her wound, and she then became over the years, and I remember her looking at her, I remember seeing her when I was in high school and people remarking, oh, look at it, you could see the enormous scar on her neck, and she became over time a symbol of the Chamorro people's capacity to survive. She came on several occasions to testify here in Congress at great personal cost to her own psychological equilibrium, because it was a memory she did not like to relive. But she came here and testified on behalf of bringing justice to the people of Guam for their World War II experience and to gain some recognition. Because of her, we were able to get a Memorial Wall built in the War on the Pacific National Park, which is in [[Page 13730]] Guam, which lists all the Chamorros who suffered during World War II, because of her testimony. I can say one thing about Mrs. Ensley, who has since passed away, that during that whole time, she was never embittered. She never uttered one harsh word about the Japanese people or the Japanese army at the time. But she took very careful note of her experience, to explain it to other people so that they could understand it in its own light, not as a lesson of bitterness, not as a testimony to cruelty, but as a testimony to the human capacity to survive, to forgive, and to inspire others and to command others to make their own contributions to the perfection of democracy and justice and liberation. I am thankful for this opportunity to present these items. I have a number of names to enter into the Record for the Fena massacre, the Tinta massacre and the Chaguian massacre. Victim/Survivor Listing--2001 Fena Caves Massacre Memorial Services VICTIMS 1. Aguigui, Balbino G. 2. Aguon, Jesus 3. Babauta, Joseph 4. Babauta, Juan B. 5. Borja, Vicente Munoz 6. Camacho, Gaily Cruz 7. Carbullido, Evelyn T. 8. Castro, Concepcion R. 9. Castro, Dolores Rabago 10. Castro, Maria Rabago 11. Charfauros, Antonio B. 12. Cruz, Dolores J. 13. Cruz, Jose T. 14. Cruz, Maria J. 15. Cruz, Vicente T. 16. Elliot, Antonio Cruz 17. Fejeran, Dolores C. 18. Fejeran, Enrique C. 19. Herrera, Joe 20. Lizama, Caridad T. 21. Lizama, Gregorio T. 22. Mendiola, Juan Ulloa 23. Mesa, Rosalia Pinaula 24. Ana Terlaje Nededog 25. Nededog, Juan T. 26. Perez, Ana P. 27. Quitano, Ana L.G. 28. Sablan, Nicolas 29. Sablan, Raleigh Carbullido 30. Sablan, Rosita Carbullido 31. Toves, Frank 32. Toves, Johnny SURVIVORS 1. Aguigui, Elias San Nicolas 2. Alerta, Maria (Chong) San Nicolas 3. Babauta, Jesus C. 4. Babauta, Rosa C. 5. Babauta, Vicente Torres 6. Barcinas, Joaquin 7. Babauta, Maria S. 8. Borja, Francisco 9. Camacho, Francisco G. 10. Camacho, Juan Guerrero 11. Castaneda, Ana Muna Salas 12. Castro, Jose Rabago 13. Castro, Santiago Rabago 14. Chaco, Maria B. 15. Charfauros, Francisco Muna 16. Concepcion, Francisco Perez 17. Concepcion, Ignacio Mendiola 18. Cordova, Maria Mendiola Cruz 19. Cruz, Antonio Reyes 20. Cruz, Joaquin Mendiola 21. Cruz, Joaquin Ofricido 22. Cruz, Jose Ofricido 23. Cruz, Juan Reyes 24. Cruz, Pedro Ofricido 25. De Jesus, Joaquin 26. Dela Cruz, Antonio Reyes 27. Espinosa, Jesus Mata 28. Fernandez, Catalina C. 29. Garrido, Joseph C. 30. Garrido, Rosa Taitague 31. Guzman, Jesus Concepcion 32. Herrera, Maria 33. Herrera, Vicente Q. 34. Lizama, Juan Quitugua 35. Manguba, Josefa San Nicolas 36. Munoz, Gregorio Sablan 37. Nauta, Maria Babauta 38. Nededog, Roque Nededog 39. Pangelinan, Francisco Sablan 40. Pinaula, John 41. Pinaula, Joseph 42. Pinaula, William 43. Quidachay, Jesus G. 44. Reyes, Enrique Chaco 45. Reyes, Gonzalo Chaco 46. Reyes, Joseph C. 47. Reyes, Juan Taijito (Severa) 48. Roberto, Pedro L. G. 49. Sablan, Francisco ``Nabing'' Manibusan 50. Sablan, Jose S. 51. Sablan Juan S. 52. San Nicolas, Jesus Muna 53. San Nicolas, Jose Chaco 54. Sucaldito, Agnes Nededog 55. Salas, Antonio Muna 56. Santos, Jose B. 57. Schmidt-Yates, Alfonsina Sablan 58. Taitano, Jose 59. Terlaje, Balbino Muna 60. Topasna, Jose Q. 61. Toves, Arthur Carbullido 62. Toves, Joseph Carbullido 63. Ulloa, Juan 64. Unsiog, Agustin Nededog ____________________