| |
Sumay was originally a small prehistoric Chamorro village located on the southern edge of Apra harbor. The harbor was a natural deep water port long before the building of the Glass Breakwater, and as such attracted ships from Asia, England, France, Germany, Holland, Russia, Spain, and the United States for many hundreds of years. During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries Spanish ships regularly came to Sumay. In the 1820’s, whalers pulled into Sumay to replenish their supplies, and to take a break from the sea for a few days. The port of Sumay is found on the earliest maps of the island of Guam.
In 1904, the Transpacific Telephone Cable was laid from Hawaii to Guam, and on to Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Yap island. The Cable station, which brought the first telephone service to Guam, was located in Sumay. Then in 1921, the U.S. Marine Aviation Squadron and Marine Barracks were established in Sumay. Pan American Airways located their Air Operations Building in Sumay in 1935, and it was there that the China Clipper landed on the way from California to Manila, and points east. Two thousand people lived in Sumay in 1941.
Due to the strategic location of the village of Sumay, that was the first site of Japanese bombing on the island of Guam, December 8th, 1941.
Jennings Bunn
|
|
