The famous song that some Chamorros sang during the Japanese Occupation to keep their spirits up that the Americans would return.
Eight of December, 1941
people went crazy right here in Guam
Oh Uncle Sam, Sam, my dear Uncle Sam
won't you please come back to Guam.
"Went crazy?" This describes the panic that emptied the city of Hagåtña within hours of the Japanese bombardment of Sumay that morning.
I am so fortunate to have known the two people in this short clip.
Ton Pete Rosario (Seboyas) used to sing at many man åmko' events when I was working as a teenager at the Guam Legislature in the 1970s. I will never forget his rendition of the song "Angelina Kolasa sen palak palak." I hope there is a recording of it somewhere.
Tan Maria Garrido lived just behind Bishop Baumgartner School. I was her paper boy when I was younger, and then later in my 20s I would visit her and listen to her stories. Though just a little younger than my grandmother, she would only speak to me in English, as she had been a school teacher and was one of that generation that tried to master English, which, in her case, she did. She spoke very good English.
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