place

Chaqui'an Massacre Site

1944 in GuamChamorro peopleGuam Registered Historic Place stubsGuam geography stubsMassacres committed by Japan
National Register of Historic Places in GuamWorld War II massacresYigo, Guam
Chaqui'an Massacre Site Memorial
Chaqui'an Massacre Site Memorial

Chaqui'an Massacre Site, at Chalan Emsley in Yigo on Guam, was the site of a massacre in 1944 by Japanese soldiers of 45 native Chamorro men. The men were from 15 to 76 years old, and were dressed in civilian clothes. They were tied and were beheaded. The site, a 1.94 acres (0.79 ha) area, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The NRHP nomination states:Chagui'an represents the intense suffering and hardship endured by the indigenous population (Chamorros) of the U.S. Unincorporated territory of Guam during the 31 month Japanese wartime occupation of the island. Of the many incidents of Japanese military brutality on Guam, the largest known single act of violence is the beheading of 45 Chamorros by the Imperial Japanese Army at Chagui'an. The massacre site exemplifies the atrocities committed on Micronesian populations in the Pacific Theater of Operations and epitomizes the tragic extremes that can be inflicted on small, marginalized, native populations without political authority or the prerogative of military sanction in global conflicts. Chagui'an is one of only a handful of war-related massacres of civilians that occurred on U.S. soil during World War II.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Chaqui'an Massacre Site (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Chaqui'an Massacre Site

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Chaqui'an Massacre SiteContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 13.571291 ° E 144.888899 °
placeShow on map

Address



Guam, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Chaqui'an Massacre Site Memorial
Chaqui'an Massacre Site Memorial
Share experience

Nearby Places

Mataguac Hill Command Post
Mataguac Hill Command Post

The Mataguac Hill Command Post, near Yigo, Guam, has significance from 1944 during the Battle of Guam. It was the location of "the last organized resistance by the Japanese to the American liberation of Guam during World War II and therefore is considered a highlight of the invasion of Guam.": 3  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The listing's two contributing structures are two concrete bunkers built by the Japanese military early in 1944, in a small gully at a location where fresh water was present and where thick bamboo groves may have concealed the area from American military air reconnaissance and attack. The smaller bunker is 12.4 by 5.8 metres (41 ft × 19 ft) and about 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) tall. The main portion of the larger bunker, about 10 metres (33 ft) away, is 15 by 4 metres (49 ft × 13 ft) and about 4 metres (13 ft) tall; it is L-shaped. It was used as a command post by Japanese Lt. Gen. Hideyoshi Obata. The position was attacked on August 11, 1944 by the 306th Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. "Throwing white phosphorus grenades and using pole charges and more than 400 blocks of TNT, they blew up the front of the caverns, closing them." The bunkers were opened by American engineers three days later and 60 bodies were found, including that of General Obata. There are other abandoned concrete structures to hold water from Mataguac Spring, not far away, that were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after World War II.