Guam: ‘Where America’s Day Begins’

Published 10:53 am Tuesday, January 14, 2025

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By Bonnie Bartel Latino

Columnist

In 1972, after Tom’s orders for Tan Son Nhut and Phan Rang Air Bases in Vietnam were both cancelled, and new orders for an “Accompanied Overseas Tour” in Guam arrived for June of the same year, we were overjoyed! However, due to no current available military housing for junior officers at Andersen AFB, and limited off-base rentals nearby, the Air Force mandated that no family members could accompany the service member until he had first arrived and procured adequate off-base housing.
Tom and I dreaded that separation. We had rarely been apart in his four-year military career. In June, after we visited his folks in Mississippi, we left our precious little dogs, Lamb Chop and Daffodil, with his parents and continued on to Alabama.
Only a few days later, Tom flew to Los Angeles to connect with a U.S. airline charter for his flight to his new assignment in the western North Pacific. Guam was and is the largest island of the Mariana chain and also the largest in Micronesia of which the Marianas are a part. Meanwhile, I stayed in Atmore with my parents, not knowing how long I would stay. However, Tom had quickly purchased a “Guam Bomb,” a used VW-Beetle for house-hunting and to get to and from work, etc. Within a week, he had found a small house for us. In late June, and within three weeks of his departure, I headed to Guam. If only we had known that would be one of our two longest periods of separation in what would become his 30-year career. And, yes, that was, and is, unheard of in the military.
When he picked me up at the airport and placed a floral lei over my shoulders, I smelled the sugary-sweet scent of Plumerias for the first time. Heavenly! At the civilian airport I saw a sign that read “GUAM: Where America’s Day Begins” welcoming travelers to the island. The sun is said to first touch the eastern side of the island before anywhere in America. Tom also taught me the popular phrase “Hafa Adai,” which, like Aloha, is interchangeable with Hello and Goodbye. Until the first of July when we took possession of our rental, I stayed with Tom at a gorgeous hotel on Tumon Bay, where he had lived until I arrived.
When July 1 arrived, we headed across the island to our humble abode. Very humble. The tiny, isolated concrete-block rental sat amid thick, deep jungle as far as one could see. The house contained a bedroom big enough for a standard bed and one dresser, an even smaller bath, a living room not much bigger than a closet with one sofa, and a combination dining room-kitchenette. I once found a shiny-green dead gecko inside our miniscule ancient refrigerator, which was probably older than our Guam Bomb. Our rental was located in the middle of a vast jungle on the fringe of Barrigada, a tiny village that we never saw.
According to www.guamdreamhomes.com/blog “ … Barrigada is today considered a popular choice for families looking for larger properties at competitive prices, typically ranging from $400,000 to $750,000.” What a difference 53-years makes. Guam’s largest employer is still the U.S. military. The Air Force, Navy (and today) the U.S. Marines all have large presences.
Tom and I were still practically in the honeymoon phase and some parts of our new island did look and feel like our own paradise playground … just not in our “neighborhood”. The only other house we ever saw was 50-yards away and would have been considered in America a rambling, wooden shack. It had probably been passed down for generations. We soon learned that every weekend, the nearby family held a big “Fiesta,” a celebration for ANY and EVERY occasion . . . a pig roast to be exact – like all good Chamorros, as Guamanians are known, often hosted. Not just any pig. The family kept swine on their sprawling property. If we didn’t leave home early every Saturday morning, the squeals of an unseen pig being sacrificed for the family’s roast haunted us.
Needing to be out of the house early on Saturday mornings for obvious reasons, Tom and I usually went exploring down the main road on Guam, now called Marine Corps Drive (Route 1). From our house mid-island, we headed south down the length of the island, around the southern tip, and north again toward Barrigada. From there it was another 20 minutes to Andersen to shop the commissary and base exchange for necessities.
According to http://www.guamguide.com, the island “ … covers an area of 212-square miles, and is about 30-miles in length with a width of 8.5 miles at the northern tip and a maximum width in the south of 11.5 miles.” There was one place on the island where the Pacific’s turquoise waters could be seen on either side of the road ahead.
Stately palms bent by the wind and weight of their coconuts swayed in ocean breezes. We often saw big gnarly Caribou grazing in fields near the road. These beasts often dug up and devoured the buried cables for Andersen’s telephone system.
Soon we would witness an enormous and historical Air Force deployment. Stay tuned.

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