Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act

Floor Speech

GUAM WORLD WAR II LOYALTY RECOGNITION ACT -- (House of Representatives - February 23, 2009)

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Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to join in supporting H.R. 44. This bill had actually passed the House last year with bipartisan support.

I want to commend the Congresswoman from Guam for her leadership on this issue. I have had the privilege of traveling with Ms. Bordallo around the world. Everywhere I go, she finds persons of Chamorro descent, people who are originally from the territory of Guam, and you can tell immediately there is deep affection between the people whom she represents and their Member of Congress. Additionally, you can tell how wonderful the people are of Guam by their extraordinary loyalty and service to the people of the United States.

I had the extraordinary privilege last week of participating in a program with Major General Donald Goldhorn, the Adjutant General of the Guam National Guard. I was present with Congresswoman Bordallo and with our colleague, Congressman and Ranking Member Solomon Ortiz of Texas. We were present at the National Guard program where the National Guard of Guam was recognized as the number one National Guard in the United States in terms of percentage of membership of state or territory.

I particularly was very appreciative. I am a 31-year veteran of the Reserves and Guard. I have three sons serving in the Army National Guard, and so I know of the great opportunities that can be had by serving in the National Guard. The territory of Guam has truly come forward to be first in our country of percentage of membership.

It has already been stated, but in my visit last week, we visited the memorial to the Marines who liberated Guam in July 1944. It was extraordinary to find out that, within 1 hour of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the people of Guam were under attack by the Imperial Japanese forces. They seized control of the Island of Guam. The island was inhabited by 22,000 United States nationals. The island was occupied for 31 months. It was very brutal. The people were subject to executions, beatings, rape, forced labor, and forced march. All of the residents were interned in concentration camps in the closing months of the occupation.

This week, I had the extraordinary opportunity to read a book about the occupation by former Congressman Ben Blaz, a retired major general of the Marine Corps. It was very moving to see his tribute. This was a 13-year-old boy who sadly lived his teenage years under the brutal occupation of the Imperial Japanese forces. There are so many facts in there that the American people should know, but one of them that was particularly shocking to me was that there were six Americans, military personnel, who escaped as the Japanese seized control of the island. Five of them upon capture were summarily executed. The sixth person was hidden during the 31-month occupation and survived thanks to the people of Guam.

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Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. I also would like to point out that the Guam Meritorious Claims Act of 1945 was passed within months of the cessation of hostilities for the immediate relief of the people of Guam, but there are deficiencies, obviously, that have been discovered in the last 64 years. They need to be corrected.

I also want to point out that, last week, the strategic importance of Guam was recognized by the agreement between Japan and the United States, and 8,000 Marines are being relocated from Okinawa to Guam.

I am, again, grateful to be here. We have extraordinary fellow citizens living on Guam--great Americans. Therefore, I urge that we adopt H.R. 44, which will update a statute that is flawed.

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