Political Quotes

“today is a momentous occasion for the people of Guam. With the passage of this legislation, the Guam War Claims Review Commission, the people of Guam will move one step closer to being healed from the brutalities of enemy occupation during World War II. For nearly 3 years the people of Guam were subjected to horrendous acts inflicted by an enemy occupier. Many were executed by firing squads or beheadings. The entire island was in fact an internment camp, and families whose lives were once consumed with farming and subsistence living were now forced to labor to the needs of its occupiers. But the will of the people of Guam was much stronger than the infliction cast upon them by the Japanese. They concealed the presence of U.S. military men who remained on the island by moving them from house to house. They composed songs, such as ``Uncle Sam, please come back to Guam,'' and made makeshift American flags from tattered rags as a reminder that America would soon return. Some even organized small militia units, often only teenaged boys, to bedevil Japan soldiers, hoping to ease the matter for the return of U.S. military forces, and America did. In July of 1944, U.S. naval forces began the liberation of Guam. For days they bombarded the island to draw out the enemy, and paved the way for America's invasion. Marines stormed the beaches of Guam's capital, Hagatna, and the southern villages of Asan, Sumay, and Agat. The liberation of Guam was achieved on July 21, 1944.”