Liberation Day is the same as Independence Day. It's a time for the celebration of freedom. You really need to read the history of Guam. For 31 months during WWII, Guam was occupied by enemy forces. War's are man's creation for power but nobody ever really wins.
I read something today, a simple question asked from a father to his son in the 1950's (a new Naval officer); “why is it we only have equality during War but not in peace?” The same could be said for so many minorities in the US. That question struck me to my core. It’s utterly true.
Notice the picture; women hand sown the flag out of scraps of clothing and hid them from the Japanese while living in caves or in holes in the jungle.
Yes, the US liberated Guam from the Japanese but it isn’t as if they gave back the land and walked away. No, Guam was too much of a strategic location and that wasn’t going to happen. I love my country, I’m proud of my country and everything we stand for; however, I’m not blind or dumb to how we became the most powerful country in the world. Our history isn’t pretty; it’s gruesome and rot with bloodshed. What country isn’t?
Every July the entire island of Guam comes out to celebrate its liberation from enemy occupation during the WWII. Japanese forces landed on this American-owned Micronesian island in 1941, occupying it until US troops recaptured it in July 1944.
Admiral Nimitz led the operation to recapture and defense of the Mariana Islands. Targeted were the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. The United States Pacific forces under Nimitz's command commenced the broad Pacific sweep of island-hopping that would end by mid-summer 1944, resulting in the Liberation of Guam.
The Chamorro people are lively, dynamic, proud, and survivors. I'm honored to be here today, witnessing them celebrate their freedom, and sad that I wasn't home to celebreate Independence Day with my family and friends.
Did you know? In August 1945, the "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian. On board the bomber was the world's first Atomic Bomb, destined for Hiroshima, Japan. A few days later another atomic bomb, dropped from the bomber Bock's Car, would hit Nagasaki. Thus enabling the end of WWII with Japan. Germany was a whole other story.
Here is the story of the Liberation: http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extcontent/lib/liberation16.htm
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