Naval Base Guam - Military Installations on Waymarking.com

On July 21, 1944, now known as Liberation Day, American forces landed on Guam and after almost three weeks of bitter fighting that claimed 1,600 American servicemen and almost the entire 18,000 Japanese Army, not to mention the approximate 800 Chamorro lives lost throughout the occupation, the island was declared ‘secure’ and the American flag raised again amid the rubble of the former US Marine Corps barracks in Sumay, Apra Harbor.

Today’s naval base surrounds that same location and is the result of construction under Navy’s *“Lion Six” that landed on Guam within hours of the first Marine landing. A “Standard Lion” consists of a group of components intended to furnish everything needed for the complete operation of a large base. It is assembled elsewhere, in this case in the US mainland in April/May 1944 and shipped to location.

The area was officially named “Naval Operating Base” in October 1944, and was the largest single element of WWII Fleet support in the Pacific. It was nicknamed “The Pacific Supermarket” and built to support the ongoing Pacific campaign against Japan. Navy Seabees molded jungle and mangrove swamp into a self contained Navy supply base housing 50,000 personnel and complete with an expanded harbor and repaired and expanded airfield, new docks, ship repair facility, submarine base, 3,000 Quonset huts and more than 1000 major structures. Where there is open space today, in 1944 Quonset huts and buildings stood jammed together. This base was the largest of more than 100 smaller installations constructed around the island manned by another 150,000 Sailors. Guam’s local population was estimated at 20,000.

An area within today’s base, once Sumay village, like other island villages on the west side of Guam, had been destroyed by American pre-invasion bombardment and due to its location was absorbed into the new base. With the help of the Navy the Sumay residents, who the Japanese had already evicted in 1941, were permanently resettled in newly established Santa Rita village in the hills above nearby Agat.

With the war’s official end in September 1945 and until 1949 the island was under Naval government rule, with a Navy captain serving as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Marianas (COMNAVMARIANAS) and headquartered at Fonte Plateau dubbed Nimitz Hill because it was the first headquarters and home of Adm Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Pacific Fleet, in 1945. The region’s naval headquarters have been on Nimitz Hill ever since except in 1997 – 2007 when the building was made the temporary Guam High School. Today it is the the Admiral is Commander, Joint Region Marianas.

In 1950 the U.S. Government transferred the island’s Navy oversight to the Department of the Interior when President Harry Truman signed the Guam Organic Act . which made Guam an unincorporated territory with limited self-governing authority, and gave island residents American citizenship. In July 1975 U.S. Naval Station, Guam was placed under the overall control of Commander, Naval Logistics Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Slowly over the years this Navy base evolved, expanding and contracting with various conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Naval Base Guam today is home to numerous U.S. Navy commands supporting the fleet in this part of the world. Many significant historic sites spanning numerous eras are located on the base making Naval Base Guam unique among Navy bases. Approximately 6,300 active duty Navy members and 6,900 family members live on Guam as well as a significant population of retired military personnel.

Era: WW II General Comments: Check out the Wikipedia Page for further information about Naval Base Guam. Also of interest is Guampedia and the historical literature of Guam. Related web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/30/2015 CGTeri visited it