Asan Beach

Guam's Historic Role in WWII
The Japanese invaded Guam just hours after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 8, 1941. The Japanese 18th Naval Air Unit based on Saipan bombed and strafed the island for two days while the island people fled to the jungles for protection. The attack damaged the Marine Barracks at Orote Point, the Pan American Airways Clipper Base and Hotel, the Trans Pacific Cable Station, oil storage tanks, and the harbor village of Sumay.

JAPANESE INVASION OF GUAM In the early morning of December 10, about 5,000 Japanese soldiers invaded from Agana Bay and marched on the government headquarters at the Plaza de Espaņa. They met brief resistance from brave Chamorros of the Guam Militia, who had been ordered there by the American Naval Captain Governor. He had ordered the Marines to defend the Marine Barracks at Orote Point. Overpowering the Chamorros at the Plaza, the Japanese forced the Governor to surrender. Within hours, 427 American military and civilians became prisoners of war, shippeda month later to a Japanese concentration camp near Kobe, Japan. Guam became a part of the Japanese plans for world expansion. Guam was occupied for the next 31 months, and the Chamorros became captives in their own land.

LIBERATION OF GUAM On July 21, 1944, the Americans returned to liberate the island. 50,000 troops stormed across the reef at Asan and Agat, facing 18,000 entrenched Japanese. In the next 21 days of battle, approximately 2,000 Americans and 11,000 Japanese lost their lives. Thousands more were wounded in action. An estimated 700 Chamorros died during the occupation and liberation.

This is where Forlinhawk had one of his camping trips recently.

They say that when the Marines were storming the beaches at Asan and Agat, it was like shooting ducks in a pond for the Japanese.

It amazes me that anyone survived.