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Guam: Difference between revisions
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By 1943, the Japanese began worrying that the US army would attack the island soon and so ordered all Guamanians over the age of 12 to act as slaves and build fortifications and airstrips as to militarise the island. Many Guamanians died during this, those who would not work for whatever reason were shot, and some were shot for no apparent reason at all. After completion of the buildings, the Japanese army moved the entire population of Guam into concentration camps in the south of the island. In 1944 the US army surrounded the north of the island and began wresting the island from the Japanese. The Japanese refused to surrender and the battle was very horrific; it is reckoned that as many as two thousand Americans and eighteen thousand Japanese soldiers died. A Japanese soldier named Shoichi Yokoi hid in a cave during the battle, and would not come out until 1972.
After 1944, during the remaining years of World War II, the USA built numerous military bases on Guam. The island became key to the USA's efforts in the Pacific. After the [[World War II|second World War]], the bases remained in use, which caused the Guamanians to demand at least some autonomy. In the 1950s, Guam was given its own government, subordinate to that of the USA's. Guamanians were also given US citizenship and are allowed to immigrate to the USA freely. The bases are still in use today and serve as potent{{
Guam today is still classed as an 'Unincorporated Territory' or dependency of the USA (like [[Puerto Rico]]). The Chamorro language is still in use but is under threat of being replaced by the English language. Steps have been taken by the Guamanians to try and preserve the language, but the fact that Guam is a US territory, and the high presence of English speaking military personnel, make this difficult.
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