The following editorial appeared in the Louisville, Kentucky COURIER-JOURNAL November 16. It is reprinted here as a tribute to the Guamanian people.
Thousands of Americans who served in Guam during wartime and after will be sorry for the heavy blow that has struck that island. Typhoon Karen paid an unwelcome visit, trailing winds of the incredible speed of 167 miles per hour. Deaths have been held remarkable low, but thousands of families are homeless, and losses are estimated in the hundreds of millions.
Thus weather has for the moment proved an even harsher foe than war. The gentle, friendly people of Guam had only recently finished repairing the ravages of World War II.
Their little fortress in the sea, smaller then Jefferson County, was a military target because it housed an important U.S. Naval base. It was the first American territory to fall into enemy hands in 1941. Its towns were damaged by bombardment before the Japanese landing on December 12. Three and a half years later, the process was repeated on a bigger scale, as the Americans attacked the Japanese installations from sea and air before their own landing. That event, on July 20, 1944, was followed by a week of furious fighting in which still more damage was done. There were 1,437 Americans killed in that engagement and more than 5,600 wounded.
YEARS OF PROGRESS were wiped away with the 170 mile an hour eraser winds of Typhoon
Karen a little over a week ago on Guam. With the storm's passing, washing machines and dryers were
smashed, homelaundry facilities wiped out. And the practical Guamanian women returned once more to the communtiy laundry facilities they knew and left 20 years ago.
Agana Springs, a few miles from the capital city of Agana, was once such a location.
In those days Guamanian homemakers welcomed the chance to gather at the stream to talk about new births,
pending marriages, and other village news. Typhoon Karen brought those days back in just five short
hours. (ComNavMar Photo)
These events were only painful memories until this week. Now they must seem real all over again to the people of Guam, as they survey their smashed homes and business houses. American aid in all forms will surely be quick and generous. We owe much to the people of this island, who came under the American flag only in 1898, but who showed a hardy loyalty during the days of Japanese occupation. History records no Quislings among the population of Guam.
