Wednesday, December 26, 2012

AGAÑA CATHEDRAL, GERMAN CHOIR


Crew members of the German ship SMS Cormoran

From December 1914 till she blew up and sank in Apra Harbor on April 7, 1917, Guam was the home of the officers and crew of a German Navy ship, the Cormoran.

From 1914 till the U.S. declared war on Germany in April of 1917, the German sailors were more or less free to roam about the island.

Some of them were Catholic, and one of the blessings for the Catholic church on Guam was that these German Catholic sailors formed a choir and sang at the Agaña Cathedral for Christmas Mass.

The above photo shows some sailors of the Cormoran celebrating Christmas and New Year.  The man at the bottom in the middle is holding a sign that says "Prosit Neujahr," which is German for "Happy New Year."

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