As a result of Supertyphoon Pongsona, the island of Guam is without a museum. War in the Pacific NHP was established in 1978 to "commemorate the bravery and sacrifice of those participating in the campaigns of the Pacific Theater of WWII and to conserve and interpret outstanding natural, scenic, and historc values and objects of the island of Guam". Since the closure of our museum as a result of the natural disaster, we have been trying to accomplish our mission through information posted on this website and through our outreach programs (see webstories Upi Welcomes WAPA, WAPA goes TO the Community, and Ohio School School asks WAPA for assistance).
We have been trying to get back on our feet while we remain without a museum, contact facility, and administrative offices, and have been actively seeking alternative means and methods to accomplish our mission to commemorate, conserve, and interpret. Considering we will be without a museum or permanent facility for at least the next five years, we have begun looking at slowly trying to move our efforts towards web based media as a physical space seems to be an impossibility in the near future.
In an attempt to see our visions of doing our interpretation, education, and conservation missions through the web realized, we have applied for a media grant from a local non- profit organization. The Guam Humanities Council, whose logo is seen on this page, receives the majority of their funding through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). They sponsor programs and offer grants to people, organizations, institutes, and agencies that stimulate thought and encourage critical thinking.
WAPA believes their proposed website will more than fullfill this criteria. We have enlisted the financial support of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association and the Arizona Memorial Museum Association. Support for the development, text writing, image selection, lay-out, and theme and topic selection will come from ALL-STARS on Guam and from around the region. Help will be donated from the Cultural Resource Manager from the Navy, Jennings Bunn; Historian and professor Dirk Ballendorf; Tony Palomo, WWII survivor and Director of the Guam Museum; Hiro Kurashina, Director of the Micronesian Area Research Center; Historian from the Guam Historic Preservation Office, Toni Ramirez; Francis X. Hezel from the Micronesian Seminar, and Shannon Murphy, Editor of the Guampedia OnLine Encyclopedia.
We are grateful to those who are willing to contribute their time, thoughts, energy, knowledge, and financial support to our project.
Final decisions on the grant proposals will be made in the middle of July. WAPA eagerly awaits to gain this opportunity to develop an on-line virtual WWII museum and to fulfill our missions. By using the web, our efforts to educate, interpret, and conserve will not only benefit the island of Guam, but to rather our mission will reach and serve to commemorate and educate for both an American and international audience.
