The Guam Combat Patrol

By Father Eric Forbes

The Chamorros of Guam could not, by themselves, expel the Japanese occupying forces in the last days of the war in July of 1944, but they did participate in consolidating that victory over Japanese rule once American forces did return to the island. The Guam Combat Patrol was formed in November of 1944, just three months after the American recapture of Guam, for the purpose of capturing fugitive Japanese soldiers hiding in the island’s thick jungles.

Guam may have fallen back into American hands in August of 1944, but that didn’t mean the total elimination of the Japanese threat to Chamorro and American lives just yet. Hundreds of fearful Japanese soldiers refused to surrender and, instead, fled into the jungles to avoid capture. It was considered by the Japanese military a tremendous dishonor to surrender to the enemy and be killed, so they believed, by their hands. If the Japanese soldier were to die, they preferred to be masters of their own deaths.

The Japanese hideouts took refuge in caves, ravines and gullies. Most still had their guns and grenades, and many were not hesitant to shoot at American and Chamorro targets when they thought it was advantageous to do so. Since the jungle afforded meager resources, the Japanese stragglers would raid Chamorro ranches or American depots under cover of night, taking what they could.

American soldiers were being eliminated one at a time, and Chamorro ranchers complained of missing livestock, all due to these Japanese runaways.

The Guam Combat Patrol was formed to respond to these concerns, by assisting in the capture of the remnants of Japanese forces taking cover in Guam’s hinterland. It consisted at first of fifteen members of the civilian Guam Police, especially assigned to this specific task of rounding up Japanese stragglers. “We were manhunters,” said one of the members many years later. The group grew to twenty-some members and was later attached to the US Marine Corps.

Sightings of Japanese hideouts and evidence of their night stalking were already available, but the Guam Combat Patrol actively looked for the Japanese, exposing themselves to the risk of an attack. In one instance, members of the Patrol found a shack on a rocky cliffside, only to be fired on by Japanese soldiers waiting in hiding. Antonio P. Manibusan got hit in the chest right into the heart and died instantly. The other Chamorro patrolmen had to flee the barrage of Japanese gunfire. When they came back the next day to retrieve Manibusan’s body, they saw that his face had been smashed in by the butts of Japanese rifles. Other patrolmen also died or were wounded in the service.

Under the leadership of Staff Sergeant Juan Unpingco Aguon, the Guam Combat Patrol combed every nook and cranny of the thirty-mile-long island. There was not a tunnel, cave or ravine not thoroughly checked-out by the Chamorro patrolmen. The Patrol broke down into two platoons of seven men each, with a sergeant leading each platoon. A point man walked ahead of the platoon, looking for signs of Japanese activity.

As time wore on, the Japanese stragglers succumbed to the difficult conditions of the jungle. Their rifles jammed; their grenades never exploded. Hungry and tired, they began to look more like beggars than soldiers, and the Chamorro patrolmen started to pity them more than fear them. By 1948, the Patrol had done its job. One hundred and seventeen Japanese fugitives had been killed and five captured. Even though a few more Japanese soldiers lived on undetected, the threat was so minimized that the Guam Combat Patrol ceased operations that year.

Every member of the Guam Combat Patrol received the Bronze Star. In 1970, those members still living, or their widows, received $2500 from the Government of Guam in recognition of their service. One patrolman said, “I take pride in saving lives, defending and serving the people of Guam, and for still being alive.” The Patrol allowed some Chamorro men to have a part in the liberation of their homeland from an occupying force they did not want.

*Funding has been provided to Pacific Historic Parks from Humanities Guåhan and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal ARP Act of 2021.*