History & Culture

Iwo Jima Montage

The Pacific Theater of World War II involved one-third of the earth's surface but only 1/145th of its total land mass. It involved vast distances and new strategy, tactics, equipment, and weapons of war. Moreover, it involved not just Japan and the United States but Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, China, France, and the Soviet Union as well. Caught in the middle were the people of the Pacific islands, upon whose homelands and in whose waters the battles were fought.

The American seizure of Guam and the Mariana Islands hastened the end of the war, but came at a price of thousands of casualties. Click here to view the lists of casualties.

 

Street scene in Asan. The view is likely toward the west since most of the village houses were on the inland side of the road.

Pale" Scott collection, Rlene Steffy

The Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Project (REAP) for the Asan Beach and Agat units of the park documented the mythic landscape, traditional practices, and ethnographic resources of the CHamoru and other traditionally associated people. It included interviews with eight individuals and incorporated existing archival and published information relevant to summarizing traditional cultural practices and cultural resources within the Asan and Agat units of the park.

The project was completed in 2021 as part of the scoping for development of Unit Management Plans for the Asan and Agat units of War in the Pacific National Historical Park. The report is organized in three volumes. Volume I contains the report including the purpose of the study, methodology, environmental and historical background of the areas, and historical and cultural resources based on the archival and oral historical research. It also includes maps and notes on CHamoru spelling of place names. Volumes IIa and IIb contain transcripts of the oral interviews.

Volume I (8.5 MB pdf)
Volume IIa (9.2MB pdf)
Volume IIb part 1 (8.8 MB pdf)
Volume IIb part 2 (7.6 MB pdf)