Here is a picture of a few American Soldiers at the Battle of Guam during World War II
With Guam being an American Province, it should be included in American History. It is often overlooked, but it has remarkable history that dates as far back as 2000 B.C.! That is a LONG time ago, which gives time for a LOT of things to happen. The first Guam discovery was made by sea-faring people from Indonesia. The people who stayed and resided in Guam became known as Chammaro, or pre-contact, "ancient" people. Chammaro culture and customs are still celebrated and embraced today. Many Chammaro people even believe in spirits of ancient Chammaro people. Portugal's Ferdinand Megellan was the first navigator from the outside world to reach Guam in 1521. Guam was later claimed by Spain in 1565, but taken control of by the U.S. in 1898 during the Spanish American war.
The most recent and significant history of Guam was its attack from Japan in World War II, on December 8, 1941. Japan forces were in Japan for approximately thirty-one months.This was a time of deep sadness for the peaceful Island People. During this period, the people of Guam were forced in to unagreed labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps and prostitution. Approximately a thousand people died during the Japanese occupation according to Congressional Testimony in 2004. The United States returned and fought the Battle of Guam on July 21, 1944 to recapture the island from the Japanese military. To this day, Guam remains the only U.S. soil, with a sizeable population (in the thousands), to have ever been occupied by a foreign military power except for the British during the war of 1812. The U.S. also captured and occupied the Northern Marianas. After the war, the Guam Organic Act of 1950, which basicaly say that Guam as an unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided for the structure of the island's civilian government, and granted the people United States citizenship.
