HOM: Guam Days

After we got to Guam, there was a lot of free time & we were able to eat on the base instead of getting the cook's miserly servings. Morale of the crew skyrocketed. A few memorable events still stick in my mind. Three of us went exploring along the beaches. The paved road down to Gab Gab beach had a switch-back, so we decided to to take a shortcut down through the jungle and hit the road down below. It might have been better to go the long way, and would have definitely been much better if I had been wearing shoes instead of flip-flops. It was a hot, sweaty, spider-webby, footsore trip and the beach was a welcome sight when we finally got there. There were Blondes there! We explored and waded down the coast from the main beach & I found an old Japanese pillbox -- a little concrete cubicle with a firing slit facing the ocean and a doorway on the back. The bullet-pocked concrete shell was all that was left, but it gave me an odd feel for the history of the place. The Japanese were tough little guys and great soldiers. When an enemy has the mindset that it is better to die than surrender, they are hard to beat. I have a hunch the defender in that little block house died there. The other guys waded on ahead, and when I was catching up to them, I met a new critter -- a Sea Snake. It was probably five feet long, banded with black and white stripes, and it was swimming toward me. I still don't know if it was poisonous or not, but I froze till it leisurely passed by about five feet from me. i was happy to be ignored! There was a bowling alley on base, and we spent a bit of time there. I managed to get score a 200 game, my best ever. I also pulled my first Shore Patrol duty -- the Navy version of MP -- while I was on Guam. I felt like I was at a costume party wearing the paraphernalia. It was . . . interesting. I'd never handled a nightstick before. I wouldn't mind visiting there again, to sack out on the beach in the sun with a good book and a cold drink. It seemed like Paradise. TBC (Me) (Home)