On Friday afternoons, Rob gets out of work at noon. Since his weeknights are busy with work almost until sundown, we take advantage of this daylight time to get out and see something new. This week we chose Asan Beach.
Asan Beach has a long history on Guam, the most notable thing is that it was one of the two beaches where the US landed to push back the Japanese in WWII. Agat, right across the road from where we lived four years ago, is the other place. Here is a link to the National Park Service's view on the history of Asan Beach. Here is a link to more about the attack at Agat Beach, and some oral histories of the Chamorro People in the war.
It is hard to believe on a beautiful day like this one, that this was the site of war, with young soldiers dying on both sides. You can find photos of how it looked in 1944 here.
Waves crash on the reef, not far from the shore. The pipe on the right of the above photo used to carry sewage out off the island. Thankfully this method is no longer used.
Beside the beach is a small hill that was full of pillboxes and lookouts and one of the sources of gunfire during the war. Today we could take a peaceful hike, but while I walked, I thought of those who fought to make this place free. Each one had mothers and families far away worrying about them and hoping they would come back home alive.
Along the peaceful , nicely groomed trail, we saw all kinds of jungle foliage.
I found this tiny green flower climbing over a rock. The flowers are about as big as my pinkie finger tip.
It has little blue berries too. I wish I knew what it is.
Near the top we found this little cave like hole. It had a dirt floor just inside, and a lookout hole. You couldn't cram more that two people in there, at the max. I'm guessing there would be a gun poking out that hole in 1942.
The picture above shows the view from that little hole in the lookout cave.
The long walkway and the circular shaped structure would not have been there in the 1940's, but is there today. It is called Piti Fish Eye, a place for tourists to come see what lives under the water. You can go snorkeling there without a tour, and watch them feed the fish for the Japanese visitors.
In the distance you can see some orange colored smoke in the sky. That is the color of very expensive electricity, made by the Piti Power Plant, using fuel shipped in by tankers.
Further on we found a hole in the ground with caution tape warning of you of falling in. Beside the hole was a little trail down to the ocean, where we found this Japanese Pillbox, now with extra reinforcement for some safety. Inside is a large gun mount, that has almost rusted away.
The view from the pillbox tells nothing of what happened here in the past. But this history remains. I hope no one needs to fight here again.
When I first read this post, I thought it in my mind but forgot to say that the tiny green flower seems like it looks similar to a passion flower of some kind. Do you think it could be in that family?
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