WASHINGTON, DC — About three generations have passed since Guam was liberated from the Japanese occupation during World War II, and the 81st Liberation Day will be celebrated on island later this month.
The annual celebration began as an expression of overwhelming gratitude to the U.S. military. In the 1944 battle to reclaim Guam, more than 1,700 American service members were killed and over 6,000 wounded.
Capturing Guam and other strategic islands in the Pacific was important to the U.S. military’s strategy to bring its air power closer to Japan, but news of Japanese atrocities in Guam, which had been U.S. soil, also added a moral obligation to the island’s liberation.
With few people still alive who remember the brutal Japanese occupation, Liberation Day has morphed from a celebration of a World War II victory into a unique celebration of Guam itself.
It’s a reason for those with Guam roots to gather each year, wherever they are, to share their common culture and love for the island. Those gatherings often are not tied to the July 21 liberation, when marines and soldiers started to come ashore in Hagat and Asan, and instead are scheduled on a convenient weekend in July, when a venue is available.
It’s an annual tradition to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in Arlington National Cemetery, to mark the liberation of Guam, and Guam Del. James Moylan on July 9 placed this year’s wreath, along with former Del. Madeleine Bordallo.
Photos by Steve Limtiaco/My Jungle Rules — Guam Del. James Moylan and former Del. Madeleine Bordallo placed the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery on July 9, 2025.
The brief morning ceremony in Arlington was witnessed by a couple of dozen guests, including members of the Guam Society of America, which is the oldest CHamoru organization in the mainland.
Guam Society President Mike Blas, a former Dededo resident who now lives in northern Virginia, said newer generations can’t fully comprehend the importance of the Guam liberation because they never had the opportunity to speak to those who experienced it first-hand.
“I am thankful that I was fortunate to hear these stories from my grandmother, her sister and my father and their relatives at family gatherings of old,” Blas said. “For them, the gratitude of being free from the occupation and for the Americans who came to take back the island was limitless.”
That gratitude has started to fade, Blas said, but the past generation’s wartime experience doesn’t have to be lost. “There can and always will be a happy medium if we look for it,” he said.
As Liberation Day traditions continue to evolve, so does the meaning of freedom for the CHamoru people — a legacy preserved in stories, ceremonies, and gatherings that span oceans and generations.