Author’s note: Therese Padua Howe served as an editor for the book “So We Leapt – Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na: Guam after Liberation & CHamoru WWll Survivors.”
Just in time for Liberation Day, the Guam Museum is hosting a new exhibit that showcases the resilience of the CHamoru people through the lens of an Army photographer immediately after World War II ended, as well as modern day portraits of those who served and those who survived the war.
The exhibit “So We Leapt. Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na: Guam after Liberation & CHamoru WWll survivors” opens July 12 at the Guam Museum.(graphic: Manny Crisostomo)
“So We Leapt – Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na: Guam after Liberation & CHamoru WWll survivors,” which opens July 12, includes almost 150 photos from a collection taken by U.S. Army photographer Frank Buchman between 1944 and 1946.
The collection, which was curated and digitally restored by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Manny Crisostomo, depicts everyday life on Guam in the years after the Japanese occupation ended.
The exhibit also includes 200 photos of WWII liberators and CHamoru survivors captured for a passion project by California Superior Court Judge Johnny Cepeda Gogo. As part of the cultural history project, Johnny is traveling around the country to have liberators and survivors sign a Guam flag — an effort first captured in his 2024 book, “Hasso.”
He has collaborated on the flag-signing project with Manny, who published the book under his imprint, Sanlagu Publications. In conjunction with the exhibit, they will be unveiling their second book, also titled “So We Leapt – Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na: Guam after Liberation & CHamoru WWll Survivors.”
In the book, award-winning investigative reporter Rob Perez chronicles the series of serendipitous events that led to Manny’s discovery of the Buchman collection.
“Within 10 years, 20 years, … we will lose that generation that directly connects us to the people in the photos.”
Their passion projects have been lauded by other CHamorus, from retired Navy Rear Adm. Pete Gumataotao — who wrote the foreword for the book — to Guam Museum curator Michael “Miget” Lujan Bevacqua.
“These guys … are doing their part to make sure that this small island and their people punch above their weight class in terms of being represented out there,” said Miget, whose perspective on Frank’s collection is included in the book.
Calling the collection a rare find, he noted that Frank “wasn’t just taking pictures of military planes getting fueled up or bombs getting loaded onto planes or military dudes at attention, (he) was a guy who was leaving the military safe areas, wandering out into the countryside, into the beaches, into the CHamoru areas of Guam, exploring the island, getting into the community — and that’s what was so amazing. …
“And what’s just truly wonderful is that it was just a year within a year of the end of the Japanese occupation that these pictures are being taken. And so these are people whose bodies are, no doubt, still filled with an incredible amount of pain — physical pain, emotional pain — but whose eyes are still looking up in many ways, because there’s hope, because there’s lots of things that they want to put behind them. They want to look to the future.”
Serendipity has also played a hand in the timing of the exhibit and the potential for identifying those CHamorus from a time that seems so far removed from us today. “We’re at a point where we still have people who are alive who can help identify them, but within 10 years, 20 years, … we will lose that generation that directly connects us to the people in the photos,” Miget said.
Sylvia Perez Artero DeLong, left, and Melvia Perez Artero Cafky, hold a wedding portrait depicting them as flower girls in a photograph taken Oct. 7, 1945, by Army photographer Frank Buchman. The wedding party also included former Gov. Ricardo “Ricky” Bordallo and retired federal judge Cristobal Duenas. Sylvia and Melvia are scheduled to attend the exhibit opening on July 12. (photos: Manny Crisostomo)
To facilitate that effort, Manny will be providing a catalog book with all of Frank’s photos in the hopes that attendees will be able to identify relatives and provide him that information.
While Frank was aware that his beloved collection was being digitized for the book and exhibit, sadly he passed on Memorial Day at the age of 103. But his daughter, Jane Buchman Tweedlie, will be on island to see Guam celebrate her father’s work.
“I hope to see people seeing themselves or their relatives in those photos, and … to acknowledge Jane and her father, for having those photos be available and bringing those photos back home to Guam,” Manny said.
The book “So We Leapt – Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na: Guam after Liberation & CHamoru WWll survivors” will be unveiled at a July 12 exhibit of the same name at the Guam Museum.(photo: Manny Crisostomo)
‘So We Leapt’ Events
JULY 12: The exhibit will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Guam Museum in Hagåtña. The exhibit will be available through Aug. 18. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. Go to guammuseumfoundation.org for more information.
The book will be available for purchase at the Guam Museum and later online at Sanlagu.com. Cost is $50, plus tax and shipping if purchasing online.
Ateendees also will be able to purchase any of the prints in the exhibit, with the proceeds going toward a grant in Frank Buchman’s name to fund further documentation of CHamoru survivors through oral and/or written histories.
JULY 17: Johnny Gogo, Rob Perez, Manny Crisostomo and Jane Buchman Tweedlie will be signing books at the Guam Museum Foundation’s Tuba, Chesa Yan Setbesa fundraising event from 6 to 8 p.m.
JULY 18: Johnny Gogo, Rob Perez, Manny Crisostomo and Jane Buchman Tweedlie will host a Meet and Greet at Dusit Place in Tumon from 5 to 7 p.m.
From left, Johnny Cepeda Gogo, Emily Borja Unpingco, Rob Perez, and Manny Crisostomo at a ‘Hasso’ book signing event.(photo courtesy of Manny Crisostomo)