Entrance to Naval Air Station Guam
When I arrived on Guam I took one look at the place and had to wonder why my Uncle Kenny risked his life with a Marine amphibious force to assault the Japanese garrison on this tropical toilet almost 20 years earlier. When I left 15 months later, I still wondered why. It’s a resort paradise now, but in 1964 it was nearly the same as 1943, and the Navy had just captured a Japanese soldier still hiding in the jungle since 1941. I must admit he was a dedicated soldier. I often speculated that he too wondered why he ever went to that tropical asylum.
I was assigned to VW1 or Aeron One, as it was formally called. The squadron’s purpose prior to the outbreak of the Vietnam War was to track and report on typhoons in the Pacific, from Midway Island to China. That included aerial penetration of the typhoon and radio reporting the storm’s intensity, course and size to fleet headquarters. At some point, before I got there, the mission was expanded to providing overnight low level radar coverage for the Seventh Fleet carrier task forces off Vietnam in the gulf of Tonkin.
The picture above is of downtown Agana Guam in 1965. That’s ocean just past those cars.
Here is one of the beautiful beaches on Guam. That beefcake guy in the picture was me.
I learned that you could eat rice without raisins and sugar when I was on Guam. Mom always made rice with raisins and sugar as a desert at home. I acquired a taste for fried rice with ham and eggs on top, a culinary delight I still enjoy today; in fact I always think of Guam when I eat fried rice.
All of the native Guam adults at that time remembered the Japanese conquerors that held the island during the early years of WWII. The Guam natives all had 4 vaccinations on their arms, like a 4 on a dice cube, compliments of the Japanese. I heard one old man from Guam say once that: “Guamanians never worked better than when they had some Jap’s bayonet stuck in their ass.” His words, not mine.
I found out that Guamanians loved to gamble. Barracks buddies and I were out one night and came across a cockfight. I never saw much of the fight, or even which chicken won and which died because these hundred or so natives jumping, screaming and making bets with each other from all over the barn fascinated me. I never did figure out how they could keep track of who bet what with whom. Those people seemed ready to bet on anything.
One place we found on the north end of the island was really cool. We could sit on the beach and feel the salt in the air from the ocean waves crashing on the rocks, and then just 20 feet inland there was a cave with the clearest crystal blue fresh water I’d ever seen! The pool was very deep and so neat being underground with an open skylight. I think about it often and wish I could see it once again as it was then.
The picture above is of me near Marbo cave.
I must admit there were some people who liked Guam. In fact I just met a lady while I was on jury duty in Springfield, Missouri recently. She was there at the same time (as a little girl) and she really enjoyed it. Some good friends of mine even extended their stay there to avoid being transferred to aircraft carrier duty like the rest of us. Just months after I left, the entire squadron was transferred to Da Nang, Vietnam. I often wonder if my buddies ever pondered what ever went wrong to send them to that shit hole. Da Dang made Guam seem like Nirvana! At least on Guam you could get a night’s sleep. Da Nang was busier than Las Vegas and the mortar shells were incoming, not outgoing.
Once Cal and I were assigned to a flight crew, things got a lot better. We could get away from Guam.
We were both assigned to crew 4 and as the two junior members we got much of the good duty, like picking up all of the food and coffee from the mess hall no matter what country we were in. We got to empty the trash after every flight and best of all, the honey bucket. In case you don’t get the reference, that’s the crapper on the plane. It was a large stainless steel box that thankfully most crew members avoided during flights unless it became impossible. Most flights for overnight fleet radar coverage were about 16 hours, 4 hours from Cavite, Philippines to the coast of Vietnam, 8 hours on station and 4 back to Cavite. The one that sent us into Da Nang for refueling was over 20 hours.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
I was assigned to VW1 or Aeron One, as it was formally called. The squadron’s purpose prior to the outbreak of the Vietnam War was to track and report on typhoons in the Pacific, from Midway Island to China. That included aerial penetration of the typhoon and radio reporting the storm’s intensity, course and size to fleet headquarters. At some point, before I got there, the mission was expanded to providing overnight low level radar coverage for the Seventh Fleet carrier task forces off Vietnam in the gulf of Tonkin.
The picture above is of downtown Agana Guam in 1965. That’s ocean just past those cars.
Here is one of the beautiful beaches on Guam. That beefcake guy in the picture was me.
I learned that you could eat rice without raisins and sugar when I was on Guam. Mom always made rice with raisins and sugar as a desert at home. I acquired a taste for fried rice with ham and eggs on top, a culinary delight I still enjoy today; in fact I always think of Guam when I eat fried rice.
All of the native Guam adults at that time remembered the Japanese conquerors that held the island during the early years of WWII. The Guam natives all had 4 vaccinations on their arms, like a 4 on a dice cube, compliments of the Japanese. I heard one old man from Guam say once that: “Guamanians never worked better than when they had some Jap’s bayonet stuck in their ass.” His words, not mine.
I found out that Guamanians loved to gamble. Barracks buddies and I were out one night and came across a cockfight. I never saw much of the fight, or even which chicken won and which died because these hundred or so natives jumping, screaming and making bets with each other from all over the barn fascinated me. I never did figure out how they could keep track of who bet what with whom. Those people seemed ready to bet on anything.
One place we found on the north end of the island was really cool. We could sit on the beach and feel the salt in the air from the ocean waves crashing on the rocks, and then just 20 feet inland there was a cave with the clearest crystal blue fresh water I’d ever seen! The pool was very deep and so neat being underground with an open skylight. I think about it often and wish I could see it once again as it was then.
I must admit there were some people who liked Guam. In fact I just met a lady while I was on jury duty in Springfield, Missouri recently. She was there at the same time (as a little girl) and she really enjoyed it. Some good friends of mine even extended their stay there to avoid being transferred to aircraft carrier duty like the rest of us. Just months after I left, the entire squadron was transferred to Da Nang, Vietnam. I often wonder if my buddies ever pondered what ever went wrong to send them to that shit hole. Da Dang made Guam seem like Nirvana! At least on Guam you could get a night’s sleep. Da Nang was busier than Las Vegas and the mortar shells were incoming, not outgoing.
Once Cal and I were assigned to a flight crew, things got a lot better. We could get away from Guam.
We were both assigned to crew 4 and as the two junior members we got much of the good duty, like picking up all of the food and coffee from the mess hall no matter what country we were in. We got to empty the trash after every flight and best of all, the honey bucket. In case you don’t get the reference, that’s the crapper on the plane. It was a large stainless steel box that thankfully most crew members avoided during flights unless it became impossible. Most flights for overnight fleet radar coverage were about 16 hours, 4 hours from Cavite, Philippines to the coast of Vietnam, 8 hours on station and 4 back to Cavite. The one that sent us into Da Nang for refueling was over 20 hours.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
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