Mac has not been very well but is still e-mailing strong. Here are some of Mac's post war reminiscences about Guam. But first, here are some pictures paying homage to Mac, recognising all the e-mails he has sent the Beetle and how much he has contributed to the Globetrotter e-newsletter. From top left, going clock wise: Mac meeting Prince Charles when the Prince came to Washington earlier in 2006, next Mac's usual photo, then a more relaxed picture of Mac on an outing, and finally, Mac during WW2.
Guam: hafa adai – translation – it is raining again on Guam. Actually this is Guam's equivalent to Hawaii's greeting: aloha. Guam is 5,200 miles from San Francisco, 3,300 miles from Honolulu, 1,500 miles from Manila and 1,300 miles from Yokohama and eight hundred miles from the equator. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Now when you consider that Guam is only thirty miles long and eight miles wide at the widest, I am amazed our navigator found this little speck in this big ocean especially as there was a rumour that the navigator navigated by wetting his finder and holding it to the wind. Guam was the first and only US territory to be occupied by Japanese during World War II. The island was liberated in Aug 1944.
When I saw a sign in the Quonset hut terminal at Agana that read: “Those desiring transportation to Saipan report to the information desk,” I knew I was the South Pacific. We sped thorough Tote Village, Mong Mong, then Agana (pronounced (uh=gan-yuh) then past Tamuning, Dedeedo Village, Marbo there is an Armed Services PX, Magsaysay Village, Yigo and through the gates of Andersen AFB. (The Air Force Base is at one end of the island and the Navy Base is at other end of the island. There is a steady stream of traffic between the two as the Air Force thinks the Navy has better PX (Post Exchange – the place on a military base where you can buy everything from boots to baseballs) and the Navy thinks the Air Force has a better PX.
One of the attractions for a Guamanian to be in the service and stationed in Guam is that they can buy food in the commissary. The Guamanians in the service bought not only for themselves but for their relatives. It was only after I had been here a while that I understood the reason for the sign in commissary that read “Only eight chickens per person” I used to collect signs. Not the signs themselves but what was written on signs around the world as I am easily amused.
One of the Guamanians I worked with told me that when he got mad at his wife that instead of hitting her he goes out and hits his car. I noticed his car was kind of beat up but they all were there. They called a jeep a Guamanian Cadillac. We had an open air theatre we called the “Rain In” and some called the “Swim In”. Actually its name was “Sky View”. We even had a soft freeze ice cream stand where milk was brought over in powdered form and then recombined there. This stand opened at six thirty in the morning and at that time there was already a line waiting in the heat to get ice cream.
After a three week visit as a civilian at home I left McCool Junction, Nebraska once more in kind of a hurry. It was 27th Oct 1959. This was not by request of the sheriff but due to the urgencies of the service so packed in a hurry for Guam I packed overcoat, winter underwear and arrived in Guam sweating in my winter uniform.
My house was a three storied cement typhoon proof building with a balcony on both sides of the room. There were two doors on each side of room leading to balcony with three louvres instead of windows (wooden slats that can be opened and shut) so there is a lot of ventilation. When I checked in the commander told me to get some sleep after the long trip. Instead I decided to hitch hike around the island and see what it looked like. The guys in barracks told me to be sure and close the louvres before I took off. I was so anxious to see island that I forgot and it rained in on all the beds. It has only been recently that some of them have been speaking to me. Ha!
Each village had a religious festival that lasted two days on their villages feast day. Every house in town is open house then. Most of the cooking is done outside in a shed A Guamanian who had been in American military before he lost his leg picked me up hitch hiking and took me to his house where there was a christening. The host and hostess had been up since one o'clock preparing the pig and food. The baby was named Melchoir as he was born on the 6th of Jan and that is the Feast of The Three Men one of them named Melchoir. The other two were named Wilfred and Ivan. Tired from trip and without much sleep the drinks put me out. My host and friends put me in their car to take be back to the base. I woke up on way back and saw all these dark faces and forgetting I was in Guam wondered where in the hell I was and what I was doing there.
My new friends saw my puzzled look and told me what had happened and they invited me to visit them anytime I had time off. I would not have invited myself back but the Guamanians were very hospitable and liked the military.
A Guamanian lad with white shining teeth came up to me and took me around the different stand under the roofed market shed. He would say “this is winged beans” like our stringed beans but with four fins on each side, grown only on Guam. This is betel nut (a mild narcotic used in Indo China and that part of the world. I had seen it used in Thailand. It stains their teeth and lips. Women as well as men chewed it in the floating markets in Thailand)
We then came to a little girl about the same age as the lad and he said “this is Palau”. Palau is an island in the Carolinas and the little girl was from there. Everyone laughed including the little girl at the little boys joke. At one of the festivals I had coconut crabs. They are very like big lobsters in appearance but are difficult to find and are considered a delicacy. They are sometimes found in caves (along with Japanese soldiers that were still hiding there and did not know the war was over.)
They had a beer made from sprouts of coconut. It is called Tuba. I said the ex Guamanian GI that had picked me up the first day hitch hiking had a wooden leg. Rereading my diary notes, I see he was actually from Saipan. He had been in the Korean war and had a disability pension. He was hit in the groin and had an artificial sack for a bladder. He got $400 a month pension and had commissary privileges plus what he made from his boat fishing. They lived in the village of Toto. He had a doll of a little Guamanian wife. They lived in a Quonset hut but were building a new home.
For one meal when I visited and I did often, they had pork chops from the commissary, winged beans and rice. She was so glad I liked rice (and I do as it tasted better than our rice in the States or maybe it is my imagination.) They had two of his brother's children living with them island of Rota as Rota has no school. Students there went to a Catholic school and wore uniforms. Franciscan Capuchin Fathers were stationed in Guam.
The Diaz (another Guamanian family) had a different version of how Guam got its name. They said it was the Queen of England that gave them her name as she knew how embarrassing it was to be called the Island of Thieves. When Magellan landed, the natives swam out to the ship and took everything they could get their hands on so Magellan referred to the island as The Island of Thieves. Some Guamanians told me that the Guamanians had wanted to trade food for what they took but Magellan did not understand. We got Guam in kind of a sneaky way; during the Spanish American War one of our battleships came into the harbour and fired a shot at the Spanish f ort. The shot missed the Fort (that is the Navy for you) and the Spanish thought we were firing a salute. They had no gun powder to return the salute so they sent a messenger to try to find some powder. Embarrassing moments followed as the US troops landed and declared the island captured. I followed some years later.
If you would like to get in touch with Mac, he is happy to correspond by e-mail when he is well. His e-mail address is: <a macsan400@yahoo.com