Guam Rising from the Destruction of War

Guam Preservation Trust awards Guampedia with research grant

Plaza de España after the American recapture of Guam in July 1944.

Photo courtesy of David Morris

With this grant, Guampedia plans to research Guam’s history during the time just after World War II. Guampedia’s goal is to produce entries that tell the stories of our island in its rise from the destruction of war.

This research initiative will span a five-year period. Guampedia will delve into topics that encompass the rapid transformation of Guam’s cultural, political, and physical landscape in the 25 years after World War II.

This is the time when large tracts of land were taken for new military bases. Subsistence lifestyles transformed into a wage based economy. The Naval Government was dismantled and the civilian Government of Guam was formed. The people of Guam elected their own governor and US Congress member for the first time through the island is still a US territory.