Chamorro Steward's Service Rediscovered

Born in 1919, Albert Edward Taitano Carbullido, son of Antonio and Maria Carbullido of Agat, Guam, had always seemed larger than life. Physically big and with a smile to match his size, he rarely said much about his time in the Navy during World War II. Photos of the time, however, reveal a much trimmer, almost gaunt-looking young man, but still with that huge, charismatic smile.

After graduating from Guam Institute in 1938, he Though Guam was still a combat zone, Carbullido lived in Agat worked a series of jobs and was in Canton Island with his parents in a thatched roof home built by the Navy on the working for Pan American Airways when the beach near Ga’an Point. He was honorably discharged in 1945. Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Guam and Wake Island. After transporting to San Francisco, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Carbullido married his former classmate, Nieves Martinez, February 21, 1942, some two months after the start of the war. the daughter of Juan and Rita Martinez of Agana. Though the As a Chamorro enlistee, he was assigned as a mess attendant adopted eight children of Nieves’ two brothers. on the battleship Maryland shortly thereafter. He recalled marriage did not produce children of their own, the couple that the ship’s commander Rear Admiral Harry Hill was so Carbulido’s post war life included a combination of public and impressed by his smile he ranked the previously unrated community service. He was active in Guam politics and worked steward as a Third-Class Petty Officer. Carbullido then went for the Government of Guam and other civic organizations. He on to serve aboard the cruiser Wichita and traveled to the passed away in 2001 at the age of 82, proud to be an American and Solomon Islands and the Philippines. He was on the Wichita Chamorro. during the American invasion of Saipan and Guam in the summer of 1944. But that duty station to his home would prove bittersweet. Recently, a few chance events led to the recovery of a 1997 interview by Guam historian Dave Lotz. The interview presented a missing piece in our family history –and my uncle’s experience He learned his sister Evelyn had been killed by the Japanese. during the battle for Guam--was finally brought to light. He is Overcome with grief, Carbullido found it difficult to speak. honored in the Congressional Record as the “quintessential public He returned to his family every few days, though, bringing servant,” but for his family, he was “Uncle Daddy,” a man with a food provided by his fellow Wichita sailors. big heart, quick wit and deep love for all of us. When the Wichita left for the Philippines, Carbullido put in Although his story is still not completely known, it is comforting for a transfer to Admiral Chester Nimitz’s newly established to remember him again but with a new understanding of his headquarters in Guam. He returned to the island as a First military service. Class Petty Officer in December 1944 and was placed in charge of the Bachelor Officers Quarters Central Office. * The author wishes to thank Dave Lotz, Edward San Agustin and Paulina San Agustin for their assistance with this article.