Stories in the Exhibition  —  The Story of the Chagui’an Massacre

Saturday, August 19, 2017 — 12:00 p.m. — In Hahasso’ Ha – Exhibition 

Among the thousands of CHamorus held at the Manenggon concentration camp, 45 men were forced to carry supplies to a Japanese command post at Milalak near Chagui’an, Yigo. The location of this command post was unknown to American Liberating Forces who landed in Guam on July 21, 1944. As the battle reached Yigo on August 7, 1944, a gruesome discovery was made near CHagui’an by a Marine Regiment — a Japanese truck loaded with the decapitated bodies of the CHamoru men. As the search continued the following morning, 21 more bodies were found at Chagui’an. In commemoration of the those lives lost, the Guam Museum welcomes Chagui’an memorial researcher, John Blas, to share the story of the site and the  CHamoru experience of World War II.