We continued our tradition of visiting Tarague Beach on Sunday afternoon. It’s so nice to be able to hop in the car and be at a beautiful beach within 10 minutes. This time we decided to explore the Tarague Trail and ended up hiking 3 miles along the water.
We found these guys along the way:
One crab was in desperate need of a new shell ~ I’m always fascinated as to how they find their new homes.
We could not have asked for a more beautiful view along the route:
I love your blog! I lived in Harmon Village in 1959 and wet to Tumon Jr-Sr. I was in the eighth grade and had a wonderful teacher. I spent most of my free time at NCS beach and wet to movies at an outdoor theater. I made friends with some native Guamanians. I wish I had my yearbook from that year.
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Thanks for your comment. I love hearing from people who lived on Guam in the 50’s and 60’s. You may want to check Ebay periodically to see if your year book is for sale. I was surprised to see so many on there for sale.
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Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’m not sure which subject you’re referring to…
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We lived on Guam 1955-1957, my Dad was in the Air Force.
We lived at T-113 Harmon village.
I attended 3rd and 4th grades at Wettengel elementary school.
We lived in the quanset huts and I loved it.
I would love to see pictures of the area back in the 1950’s.
Barbara Sharp
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Hi Barbara, thanks for stopping by my blog. I would love to see photos from the ’50s as well ~ would be so interesting to compare to now.
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Go to Kenneth Dougherty on facebook[my cover photo is Uss Kitty Hawk-CVA 63 tied up at the pier, and I live in California] I have a photo album titled Guam which is public. All pictures were taken by my Dad in 1951-52
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Thanks for your comment. I looked for your FB photos but there are a lot pages under the name Kenneth Dougherty. I love seeing the older photos of Guam.
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Try this link and you should see the album. https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.dougherty/photos_albums
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Thanks for the link (helped a lot). Love looking at those older photos. Makes me miss Guam…
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Glad that helped. I love sharing those. Guam has changed a lot over the years. But it was still pretty pristine back then[no tourists or hotels!!] I was just barely able to save those old slides on to my computer.
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Barbara,
You and I attended Wettengel at the same time, and most likely were in the same class. Wish I could compare notes.
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Thanks so much ~ I appreciate your nice comments about my blog. We miss Guam a lot especially on these super cold days in London. How I would love to hang out at Tarague Beach for the day!
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From November 1948 to May 1951, my father commanded all Coast Guard operations in the Western Pacific–actually a chain of 13 Loran stations on scattered islands and a couple of resupply ships. I attended Hilaan school during this period as a 6th–7th–and 8th grader. We lived nearby at the Naval Communications Station (NCS) between Andersen AFB and the Army Marianas-Bonins Command (MARBO) HQ at what was then known as Wettengale Junction. What I remember most about Hilaan is that school let out about 1 pm and we would spend the rest of the day at the Naval Officers Beach Club at Tumon Bay.
This was back in a less culturally sensitive era and we had two Filipino houseboys–“the cap’ns personal staff” who did all the housework and cooking for us. My mother had a tough time adjusting to reality when we went back to the states in ’51 and she had to re-learn how to do those things herself.
The big adventure of 1949 was living through Typhoon Allyn. We rode it out in a reinforced concrete building but the quonset hut we lived in was one of about a dozen at NCS that were damaged beyond reoccupancy.
One of the perks of being the son of the commanding officer was that my aviator father would periodically take me and one of my school friends with him in one of the two USCG PBYs under his command when he visited various Loran bases like Ulithi, Saipan, Tarumpitao (PI)and Iwo Jima. Needless to say , being able to decide which schoolmate to take on these trips made me a very popular guy at Hilaan.
In similar fashion, in the summers of 1949 and 1950 I “shipped out” on the USCG Cutter Kukui when it left Apra harbor on a resupply run.
During those years at Hilaan I formed two very close friendships–one with the son of an Army chaplain, and the other with the son of an Air Force MSGT. I lost contact with them when we left Guam in May 1951, but in 2006–thanks to
the miracle of the Internet, I re-established contact with both of them. The Chaplain’s son was a professor at CA Baptist University and the other had been a pilot with Delta Airlines. Both have since died, but we did get together for a reunion in Las Vegas in 2007–an extraordinary experience.
One final bit of nostalgia: Last year I googled the name of my 7th grade teacher and found him living in Santa Barbara. Needless to say he was surprised to get a telephone call from one of his students back in 1949!
Judd White
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Judd White: Thanks so much for leaving a comment and telling me about life on Guam in the late 40s. I was particularly happy to hear you reconnected with your close friends after so many years! I sent you an email…
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I went to Hilaan school in 51-52[I was in 4th grade]. All our classrooms were quonset huts and it was my favorite school year. My dad was in the AF. Yours is the 1st mention I have ever seen of Hilaan.
Ken Dougherty
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Although I was somewhat older (I was in 8th grade in 1950-51 school year) it sounds as though we may have overlapped our Hilaan tenure. Did you ever go back to Guam?
When I was on the staff of the House Armed Services Committee in 1980 I went to a “Inter-legislative Symposium” in Tokyo ( the Press called those things “Congressional junkets”) we stopped overnight in Guam so that the Guamanian delegate to the US House of Representatives, Tony Won Pat, could impress the locals. I took advantage of the opportunity to look up two Guamanian classmates at Hilaan (there weren’t very many)–Johnny Cruz and Vincente Santos. Both had parlayed their American-style education into successful local business careers.
Later, at the conference in Tokyo, I had the opportunity to meet a member of the Japanese upper House named Minoro Genda. That name might not ring a bell, but he was Admiral Nagumo’s air operations officer at Pearl Harbor and Midway, and later the commander of the post war Japanese air self defense force.
One of my most fascinating experiences while in Guam was flying over to nearby Tinian with my father in his USCG PBY. We landed on the same airstrip in 1949 from which Lt Col Tibbett and the crew of the Enola Gay took off four years earlier on the way to Hiroshima. We visited a Leper colony there, the sight of which, is forever branded in my memory.
Does anyone remember the great “rivalry” between Hilaan and Adelup Point, the other dependent grades 1-8 school? In the round-about way that 7th and 8th graders do such things, I was madly in love with a girl from Adelup Point whose father was a Navy Captain at Agana Naval air station. Sad to say, it was unrequited. BUT,, even though It’s only been 63 years I’m already beginning to adjust to the rejection.
When I first got to Guam in December 1948, dependents were not allowed off the military bases after dark unless accompanied by an armed (really) member of the military because hold-out Japanese soldiers were still known to be in the boondocks. We all thought this to be nuts, but while we were ion the ship returning to San Francisco in May 1951, six Japanese soldiers walked up to one of the gates at Anderson AFB (I think it was still “North Field” at that time) and surrendered after holding out for six years.
Judd White
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The only time I got back was as a passenger on a C-5 about 74 or 75. I was in the Navy and we refueled there and weren’t allowed out of the terminal. I was there in 51 when they caught the Japanese soldiers. I thought it was 8 but I could be wrong. I know in 61 or 62 they caught 2 more.
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I always find the stories about the Japanese Soldiers hiding out on the island all those years fascinating. All that time…
We haven’t been back to Guam recently but hoping to go in the next year or so.
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A fascinating book about Guam during the war is Robinson Crusoe, USN. It is out of print but can be found. It is about Radioman 1st Class George Tweed who was at Agana when the Japanese took the island in early 42. He and 5 or 6 more escaped into the jungle. He was the only one that lasted until we took the island back in 44. He did have the help of a lot of the islanders, but the Japanese were actively looking for him most of that time. Good book if you can find it.
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We moved to Andersen in June 1964 and the last two Japanese prisoners were found in October 1964…not too far from our house on base! Also, that book Robinson Caruso USN…..one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read!
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I wouldn’t quarrel about the number being 8. After 63 years, I think it’s just amazing to come across someone who even recalls that event.
Funny, but when I get on this site, trivial recollections seem to come tumbling out of the dark corners of the mind–a bit dusty like the difference between 6 and 8, but nevertheless, still quite vivid mental images.
Back in the Guam of the early 50s there were still no snakes on the island so
monitor lizards and coconut crabs proliferated. One of our Filipino houseboys was quite adept at trapping and converting them from boondock residents to table food. I won’t go so far as to suggest that monitor lizard tastes like chicken, but they were edible and serving them at dinner parties made my
mother somewhat of a celebrity hostess because of her offbeat menus which also featured freshly harvested heart-of-palm salad, courtesy of Ibali’s magical machete.
When we first got to Guam in December 1948, we lived in a standard Quonset at the Coast Guard base a few hundred yards from NCS. We were the only dependent family on the base, and my four year-old brother was sort of adopted by the crew and he had the run of the base–including access to the EM club (unbeknownst to my mother and father). Apparently the crew got so used to their little mascot that they didn’t think much about what was said in his presence–until the night when our family was gathered in the mess-hall along with the officers and men for the nightly movie. They only had one projector so there were at least a couple of pauses while reels were changed. During one of these reel breaks, there was a low buzz of conversation until my brother suddenly informed my mother in a loud voice that: “I’m going out in the boondocks and f—one of those gook bitches until I can’ stand up..” All of a sudden there was a deathly silence as the crew contemplated the fates in store for them–a silence finally broken when my father–“the old man”– burst into laughter. Needless to say, however, my brother’s career as the EM club mascot came to an abrupt halt.
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I went to Hilaan with Judd White.
I remember all of that stuff
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My father was a Protestant chaplain (Lt. Col. Gene (Mike) Mikesell) and we were stationed at Andersen AFB from June 1964 to June 1966. We arrived soon after Typhoon Karen demolished a large portion of the island and there was significant rebuilding everywhere. The base chapel had recently been completed and was reinforced with steel beams along with the BX-indoor base theater and entertainment complex. We lived at 1307-A Ponape Drive, at the base of Suicide Cliff, where many Japanese committed suicide by crashing their planes into the cliffs when they found out Japan lost WW II. I (Dee) was a naive 17 year old who had just graduated from high school and my brother (Bob) was a sophomore in high school. We had a little brother who was six and our mom was pregnant and had our baby sister at the Naval Air Station hospital in Jan 1965. My brother and I spent a lot of time at various beaches on the island….primarily Tarague Beach. My brother was known to be quite the sand surfer and ended up falling into some poison coral….not a happy story. We had huge magnifying boxes that we would hang on to all day long and watch the beautiful sea life until we were a couple of prunes! We spent much time at the Officers Pool and my brother was known as quite the diver….hmmm…he got a lot of “water” attention. I, on the other hand, had a lot of “boy” attention and Dad nearly got a couple of soldiers court marshalled for their strong pursuit of me…ha! Guam was almost totally uncommercialized during our stay. I remember going down to Agana to welcome the first commercial tourist ship, the Himilaya. I believe there was an A&W and that was the fast food restaurant of the island! I loved the outdoor, sit-down movie theaters where we had to take large sheets of plastic to cover ourselves because of the rain! In fact, I remember pretty much taking an umbrella with me everywhere! I DID NOT like the millions of frogs and the huge snails that we stepped on or drove over, but I eventually got used to them. AND Guam had the largest cockroaches I’ve ever seen to this day. I’ll end this novel by saying I had gone to the movies with this cute guy and thought he was tickling my arm. I thought that was odd, but then I was naive. I was too embarrassed to ask him to stop, but I finally got the courage to look down to my arm and saw the biggest cockroach in the world….that guy made fun of me the rest of our tour. I am on FB “Dee Mikesell Higuera” if you would like to visit!
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Great to hear about your time in Guam back in the 60’s. Guam is such a special place now but I can imagine it was wonderful then when it was so remote (uncommercialized). Thanks for sharing!
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My soon-to-be wife, Becky Gibson, and I were Air Force Brats at Andersen from the summer of 65 until the summer of 67. Both our dads were part of the bombing effort that started in 1965 under General Crumm. Still married after all these years and very attached to those Guam days. We organized a big reunion in Phoenix in 2000 and 150 Air Force and Navy “Kids” showed up. It was a real time machine. I lived on Ponape Street and Becky lived on Rota Drive. Rhea and Becky Cooke, San Angelo, Texas
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Rhea: I love to hear stories about those who lived on Guam and loved it. And yours sounds like a sweet love story! We were only there one year but it’s very special to our family as well. We would like to go back sometime soon but… Have you been back since 67?
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Our son was stationed at Misawa AFB in Japan about ten years ago and we wanted to visit him there and do a side trip to Guam. The deal fell apart. It was just way too expensive. I am retired now and Becky will soon be also. We are not opposed to taking a Civil Service job on Guam and may consider that if there is still demand for such. In the sixties there were many Civil Service “Statesiders” on Guam. When we arrived, the Teen Club was still in an old Quanset Hut but was soon replaced by a brand new building near the NCO Pool. We attended the Superfort Theater often, plastic sheet and all. I know a lot of others will know what I am talking about.
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I loved my time on Guam!!!! What an experience! We were so happy with the people of Guam and all the that they had to offer us with their awesome island!!!!! I would live there again in a heartbeat!!!!
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Thanks for the wonderful memories. My Dad was stationed at Anderson in 1957-1959, and we too spent every Sunday we could at Tarague. Glad to know the tradition goes on. There were still Japanese soldiers hiding in the boondocks then, waiting for the war to end. Can’t say that I blame them. It was a lovely place to be. There are real rewards to being a military brat, and this was one of them.
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My dad was also stationed at Anderson AFB from 1958-60.
I loved it there and have always wanted to go back.
I attended Tumon junior senior high from 1959-60.
Bill Hanke
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I lived on Guam from June 1958 until June 1960 on Andersen AFB. The base teen club was active and I have many happy memories as a teenager at Tarague Beach enjoying luaus and shelling with my friends.
I attended Tumon Junior-Senior High the year it open in 1959 as a high school junior. It has been renamed as JFKennedy High School.
When my son was stationed on Guam aboard the USS Frank Cable in 2002 as a Navy dentist, I returned for the first time in 43 years and retraced my footsteps. Revisitng Tarague was a memorable and special event. I brought the Tarague Beach shells that I had saved for many years and returned them to their rightful home. The beach was still as beautiful and as pristine as I had remembered.
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Vicki
So glad the photos are bringing back childhood memories for you. It’s a special place. I’ll let you know if I hear from other Navy Brats from the same time period.
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I lived in Guam in the mid 60’s while my dad was stationed there in the Navy. I’m reliving my childhood by looking at your pictures. If any other navy brats see this and were living in navy housing during that time, let me know. I still remember some dear friends back then when I went to New Piti School.
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John Moawad
Wow! Thanks for your comment and information about Guam. That must have been something else to see Tarague back in the late 40’s & 50’s ~ it’s still so beautiful as are a lot of Guam’s beaches.
There are still no fences on Andersen which allows people to roam between the yards.
Have you been back to Guam lately?
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Should have read Tumon Bay “..had no hotels etc.”
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I lived on Guam from 1949 to 1951 with my mother who was a Dept of the AF civilian on North Field, later Anderson AFB. I was in the 5th grade in 1949. Our scout troop would camp at Tarague Beach often. We would go in Jeeps. tokk little food as we ate fish, crabs and made stew with coconuts. I also used to go spearfising with my Hawaiian sling and loved to see the beautiful schools of tropical fish. The colors were brilliant and there were hundreds of them. We lived in harmon Village and I would also hitch hike to Tumon bay which at that time had hotels etc. There were pillboxes and at time an UXB would be uncovered and ordance would come to remove it. There was still .30 and .50 cal ammo that would wash up and I would find the same in our “yard” in Harmon Village. There was an old Navy Hellcat in the jungle near Harmon Village that we would play in and also a Japanese tank. We also spent a lot of time at the base hobby shop
and a youth club. I delvered the Guam news and made $.05 a paper. I had a “Doodlebug” motor scooter that I used to deliver the paper. There were no fences so I could go straight across the front yards and throw on the go.
Living there was a great part of my life that at times I wish I could re-live.
I went to Hilaan Elementary School and one of my best friends was Juan Delgado.
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I too lived in Harmon Village from 51 to 52. I was in the 4th grade at Hilaan. The best year of my life. I haven’t been able to find out what happened to Harmon Village or Hilaan School. I know they are gone, just don’t know when or how.
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Must have been interesting to be in Guam during the 50’s ~ so unspoiled, I’m sure. Harmon Village is still there but not sure about Hilaan School. My daughter went to school on the Air Force Base so I didn’t get to know the other schools.
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Here’s more information about surfing on Guam: http://www.guamportal.com/guam_surfing.html
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OMG! My breath was just taken away. I’m an Army wife in Germany who happened upon your blog by reading other Army wife blogs. You seem to know the secret to a good life – thanks for sharing it! Happy trails! T
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Patti thanks for the response. We will be relocating to Anderson in November and looking forward to living on the island. How is the housing off base, it is safe or is on base the better bet. Any info you can provide would be great.
Jeff
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The surfing around Andersen is non-existent but here’s a link to surfing on other parts of the island: http://www.destination360.com/australia-south-pacific/guam/surf-guam.php
The Guam newspaper, Pacific Daily News, lists ‘swim advisories’ (due to high bacterial levels in the water) for certain beaches and, unfortunately, Talafofo is often on the list.
Guam is great for diving and snorkeling!
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I will be arriving in Nov. How is the surfing around Anderson?
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Those pictures are gorgeous. I was actually lucky enough to see a hermit crab change shells once–kinda’ cool. The part that’s inside the shell just looks like a worm!
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I agree with KBG I am soooooo jealous.
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Oh my – I’m still so jealous. It’s good that you’re enjoying it while you can!
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