JULY 10, 1944
GEORGE TWEED, USN IS RESCUED
The film clip above begins with the rescue of Tweed, and then goes on to talk about the American invasion.
George Tweed was a Navy radio man who decided to hide from the Japanese, rather than surrender. He was not the only Navy man to do so, but he was the only one who made it, thanks to the many Chamorros who sheltered him at great risk to their lives. A number of Chamorros were punished, some severely, because they either aided Tweed or were simply suspected of doing so.
The last people (and the longest) to hide Tweed were none other than my grandmother's sister Josefa and her husband Antonio Cruz Artero. The Arteros owned a lot of land up north and Uncle Ton, with his father's blessing, hid Tweed in a cave along the northwestern cliffline on Guam. Auntie Epa cooked his food, which Uncle Ton delivered once a week. The silence the Arteros kept about Tweed saved their lives but only God knows what would have happened if the Americans had not come when they did. Would the Japanese have finally figured it out? Apparently right at the end they did. But it was too late. Tweed was gone and the Arteros went into hiding.
On July 10, Tweed, using a mirror and signal flags, successfully caught the attention of the American ships getting ready for the invasion of Guam in less than two weeks. An American boat went and fetched him.
Tweed wrote a controversial book about his years in hiding, which was made into a movie that was not liked by the Chamorros at all, since non-Chamorro actors were used to portray us.
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| warmovieblog.com |
The Tweed Movie We on Guam Don't Like
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