page_title: Guam
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Guam / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Bpmbardieri B-52G del SAC schierati a Guam nella base Anderson per partecipare all'operazione Linebacker II
context_page_description: Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States, along with the Northern Mariana Islands. The capital city of Guam is Hagåtña, and the most populous city is Dededo. Guam has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983. The inhabitants of Guam are American citizens by birth. The indigenous Guamanians are the Chamorros, who are related to other Austronesian peoples of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
  In 2016, 162,742 people resided on Guam. The territory has an area of 210 square miles and a population density of 775 per square mile. In Oceania, it is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia. Among its municipalities, Mongmong-Toto-Maite has the highest population density at 3,691 per square mile, whereas Inarajan and Umatac have the lowest density at 119 per square mile. The highest point is Mount Lamlam at 1,332 feet above sea level. Since the 1960s, the economy has been supported by two industries: tourism and the United States Armed Forces.
context_section_description: During World War II, Guam was attacked and invaded by Japan on Monday, December 8, 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition, Japan made major military moves into Southeast Asia and the East Indies islands of the South Pacific Ocean against the British and Dutch colonies, opening a new wider Pacific phase in the Second World War. The Japanese renamed Guam Ōmiya-jima (Great Shrine Island).
  The Northern Mariana Islands had become a League of Nations mandate assigned to Japan in 1919, pursuant to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. Chamorros indigenous island people from the Northern Marianas were brought to Guam to serve as interpreters and in other capacities for the occupying Japanese force. The Guamanian Chamorros were treated as an occupied enemy by the Japanese military. After the war, this would cause resentment between the Guamanian Chamorros and the Chamorros of the Northern Marianas. Guam's Chamorros believed their northern brethren should have been compassionate towards them, whereas having been administered by Japan for over 30 years, the Northern Mariana Chamorros were loyal to the Japanese government.
  The Japanese occupation of Guam lasted for approximately 31 months. During this period, the indigenous people of Guam were subjected to forced labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps and forced prostitution. Approximately 1,000 people died during the occupation, according to later Congressional committee testimony in 2004. Some historians estimate that war violence killed 10% of Guam's then 20,000 population.
  The United States returned and fought the Battle of Guam from July 21 to August 10, 1944, to recapture the island from Japanese military occupation. More than 18,000 Japanese were killed as only 485 surrendered. Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, who surrendered in January 1972, appears to have been the last confirmed Japanese holdout, having held out for 28 years in the forested back country on Guam. The United States also captured and occupied the nearby Northern Marianas Islands.
  North Field was established in 1944, and was renamed for Brigadier General James Roy Andersen of the old U.S. Army Air Forces as Andersen Air Force Base.
caption: B-52 at Andersen Air Force Base, during Operation Linebacker II in the Vietnam War, 1972
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