Have you been to Guam?

We hauled some SEALs in there on one occasion. During our RON we all went to a local beach bar and a few of the locals started messing with the SEAL guys. These were the real thing, not boat drivers or support guys. I thought I was going to witness a violent smack-down but the SEAL guys ignored them.
 
I was there in early 2008 as a Project Manager/Hydrogeolgist conducting an environmental remedial investigation following the February 2008 B-2 bomber crash at Andersen AFB.

The company I worked at held an AF environmental contract. Several soil borings and temporary ground-water monitoring wells were installed to assess the leaked jet fuel's impact to the island's fresh-water aquifer.
 
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Guam, where America's day begins. The island is beautiful and is populated by wonderful, warm, friendly American citizens with an amazing culture and cuisine all their own. Our son, USCG, was there for a few years and married his wife there. His dog, Poki, was adopted there and he says he would go back tomorrow. We spent two weeks there and barely scratched the surface of what the island has to offer. Remember that Guam is the USA.
 
Don't forget those long runways were for b29's first then b52's later now there for b1bs.
 
You mean Tarague Beach. I once had some wild pigs chase me up a palm tree there. :)

Nice place, a long way from anywhere. I was there 1976-78. Being a foodaholic, I remember the mongollian barbeque buffet at the USAF NCO club on Thursday afternoons, and the Yakitori II restaurant down the road. And bare-uh, 'butt' beach at the small Naval installation just outside Anderson AFB. That beach required a looong hike down many, many steps. Good place to snorkel though. A new naval commander came in and heard about the beach; being the prudes they are (:p) he ordered the base law-enforcement guys to go down there twice a day to make sure no one was nekkid. It's right warm, as you would imagine. So they'd walk down a couple of landings and have a leisurely smoke or six.

Let's see, there were two incidents of the marine guards firing at a "green mist" while I was there, so they took away their bullets. You'd drive through one of the naval gates, and there'd be a guy with a 1911, and no magazine in the gun. The USAF joke was that there were Marines and guard dogs, and the Air Force had first choice. Of course the Marines had their own jokes about us. I knew some guys, and used to go to the Navy NCO club, where everything was cheaper than at the Air Force base. But for really nasty jokes, you had to hear the ones the marines and sailors would tell about each other.

You can hunt there. Although the island is small, something like 98% of the population lived within one mile of the coast - the interior is real jungle. There was a Japanese soldier who hid out there, not surrendering until 1972. Of course the Navy has a big section of that for weapons storage. You can see WWII tanks in the jungle, and planes in the sea (can't hold a candle to Truk though). I met a retired Air Force guy who had been stationed there at the end of WWII. He said you would take ten prisoners out for a work detail, and come back with 20, as the enemy soldiers still hiding would crawl up through the grass and ask the workers if they were getting good treatment. Evidently their superiors had impressed upon them during training about the savagery we barbarians would submit them to if they surrendered.

It's funny, it had become a Japanese vacation spot by the 70's, for folks who couldn't afford to go all the way to Hawaii. They kept pretty much to the tourist area, as there were a lot of older Guamanians who did not have fond memories of the time when the Japanese controlled the island.

That's enough rambling, I'll be thinking about this topic all night - like super typhoon Pamela that came ashore a month after I did. If you've never seen one of those up close, don't.
 
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My dad was stationed there in the beginning of the Korean war and then after when the war was over. He had some good stories about his time there and really enjoyed it. Once in a while, he spoke of wanting to go back to visit.
 
I have been to Guam 4-5 times, once was a pass thru on the way to Vietnam. the other times I was TDY with SAC, The base would pack up there war reserve kits and fly to Guam and generate the aircraft fly a couple missions pack up and go home. I think every time we went to Guam it was the dead of winter in Michigan. The last trip we had a couple days to relax before loading up and going home, took a hike into the jungle to some falls, very pretty.

I think I would have rather gone to Guam then Okinawa. I remember the duty free package store.
 
My dad was stationed there in the beginning of the Korean war and then after when the war was over. He had some good stories about his time there and really enjoyed it. Once in a while, he spoke of wanting to go back to visit.

My dad too, during most of the Korean War. I have a great old picture of him stored away somewhere with some sort of Guam water buffalo. I believe they are called Carabao. He loved it there.
 
It looks like almost everybody on this forum has been there for a short time or a long time.

I lived there from 1958 - 1960 as an AF dependent, great place to grow up, lots of adventures. I went to Tumon Jr/Sr HS in its first year.

Went back in 1968 and spent 18 months working in the 4133 Bomb Wg Provisional (Arc Light). Lived in Dededo and Marbo.

Last visit was 1982 or so, flew a C141 in on my first "west trip" from McGuire. Spent just 2:15 refueling and then headed off to Hawaii.
 
Went to Oki after Guam but that is another story.....

Did Okie in the 60's landed with the advanced party to set up
the post and Armory c/o Head quarters company, before the
big boat with the main body arrived.

A Typhoon had hit the Island and caused a lot of damage.
Fishing boats tossed up on to main street, cars blown into the back yards,
straw sticking into telephone poles, downed power and phone lines......
not a pretty sight.

We even went through a Typhoon while there. First time I ever
saw gravel go through wooded louvers on a cement two story living quarters.
Just glad we had our metal lockers up against the louvers for a safety measure.

Lots of hard work but there was also bowling, snorkeling and
cold beer and burgers at the "Gedunk".
I sort of miss the afternoon rain bust that soaked you clear through...........
and 30 minutes later you were "dry" again.

High points were seeing U2's taking off from the run ways and
putting a black two man, Japanese submarine into the Officers swimming pool and a Bob Hope show. :D
 
s part of a NDMS DMAT, I was there sfter a typhoon Pong son Wa. We set up at Agat, right where the Marines came ashore when they took back the island. There was a Japanese Pillbox just outside the Mayor's office, with Japanese letters finger-painted into the concrete.
 
My dad was stationed on Saipan during the war (WW2). For his & moms 50th anniversary got them a trip back with a stopover in Guam. They got a guided tour of the island by a local Charmaurow(not spelled right) who know the history of Guam & had relatives there during the war. He and mom had a great time there & talked about it many times.
 
Wait-there was an EM club on Guam!!!? Oh well, probably just as well. Stopped there going both ways, but my best memory of the place was a guy in our platoon at Ft. Gordon who was a native of Guam. He was very well liked, and when we all got our orders for 'Nam-they had him going home to Guam, then flying back to the states, so he could get on a plane and fly back the same way-to 'Nam-typical Army. We went to the head shed and said, in essence, "come on Sarge???" Well, they fixed it so he could just get on the plane in Guam. Good Dude-hope he made it.
 
6518John-

I guess my dad isn't the only one that had his picture taken with a water buffalo on Guam. He was at "North Field" in '48-'49 with the 514th Recon Squadron VLR (Weather) and my mom came over and worked as a civilian secretary at the base. The base housing looked pretty sparse then. Finding transportation was a problem until my dad latched on to a Jeep; Later a shipload of Chevrolets was delivered which let you get around and explore the island better. My mom said they were warned about going out in the hills that there were still Japanese stragglers out there.
 

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Never over 6 hrs

Never out of the terminal

Semper Fi, me too, but only twice. It really looked beautiful out the terminal window. Oddly enough I am looking for a place to move to. I'll have to check out Guam.
 
A friend of mine lived there for around 2 and 1/2 years because his dad was stationed there while an NCO in the Navy. The friend hated the place--not sure why?? I guess as a kid-had nothing to do??? All he ever really told meabout the placeis he said that Japanese tanks and other stuff were still in the jungle rotting.
 
I briefly lived there in 1961. My widowed mother got a job teaching there with the promise of a around the world trip after teaching awhile. My mother, sister, myself and our Basset hound moved from Northern Idaho.
When there we lived in a Quanset hut in the teachers village. My kid friends and I had the exciting hobby of finding duds in the boonies and taking them apart, pouring out the old powder and displaying them in our rooms. I was 11 years old at the time. One day while I was at the dentist my friend was taking apart a bazooka rocket when it exploded blowing his head off. After his death the island had a big drive to clean up all the duds that people still had laying around. Huge amounts of unexploded ordnance was turned in. I still have newspaper clippings and a Do Not Touch poster from this sad episode. My mom met my stepfather who was a CPO in the Navy, they married and he got orders to come back stateside to San Francisco. I have lots of memories of Guam , sorry for the long reply.
 
Went through it a lot of times when I worked for NCI. My dive team was headquartered in Truk and then Palau for 22 years, so I HAD to visit them as part of the contract every year or so. Strangely, my trips coincided with snow on the East Coast. Dave _n
 
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