I live in Guam and have been a long time lurker/seldom poster here in these forums. I'm a WW2 enthusiast and do a lot of exploring in the jungle. I enjoy getting off the beaten path and to search for WW2 history away from the tourist type destinations. After 60+ years in the jungle, not much is left except for bottles. That's what ultimately led me to this forum. I wanted to share what it is like to go exploring for bottles here on Guam.
For some background, Guam is a tropical island in Micronesia, with year-around temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s. We get two seasons - a winter dry season and summer wet season. This time of year - January/February - is nice because of lower humidity and drier conditions. Guam has been a US possession since the Spanish-American War, and about 15,000 people lived here in 1941, mostly local Chamorro with a few Americans, including a small Marine detachment. Shortly after December 7th, Guam was invaded and occupied by Japanese forces. In July, 1944, American forces began liberating the island from the Japanese. When the battle was over, more than 1,200 US and nearly 17,000 of an estimated 18,000 Japanese defenders would die. In early 1945, Guam was transformed into a huge forward supply base, with nearly 250K soldiers preparing for an invasion of Japan when the war ended.
My interest is in WW2 history, and more specifically, I have been doing research on WW2 era Coca-Cola and Japanese bottles. I have found that there is not much information on the web about either topic, and I am in a unique position to have access to both. Much of Northern Guam is still jungle, and I enjoy spending time researching and looking for potential WW2 sites with Google Earth, then exploring those sites to see if I can find anything.
Today I decided to explore a site on military property, something I am able to access as an active duty member of the USCG. Since it's federal land, collecting is not allowed, but the hunt and "catch/release" is just as much fun for me. To get to this site, I first have to ride my bike up a jeep road to get into the vicinity.
My gear includes a large backpack with 3-liter Camelbak (absolutely necessary due to the heat), long sleeve white shirt, a pair of military BDU pants, comfortable disposable sneakers, gloves, bug repellent, a couple towels for wiping off sweat, a compass, and my Nexus tablet. The tablet is critical because of the built in GPS function that allows me to see where I have been and where I'm going. Getting lost is easy when you're looking for bottles on the ground!
After a 7 mile bike ride from my home, I get close to the site I located earlier on Google Earth. I hide the bike in the jungle, lock it up to a large tree, and I'm off on foot, using my tablet to navigate. It does not take long to find stuff.
This is a large scatter of beer bottles, with a few hobbleskirts mixed in. I have been able to determine that this area of the jungle was occupied by local Chamorro ranches before the war, and after the liberation in 1944, was used as a military bivouac site. There are bottles scattered everywhere, the vast majority from 1944 and 1945.
Further in the jungle, I come across a large former dump site.
The photo does not do justice - there is stuff piled up everywhere.
For some background, Guam is a tropical island in Micronesia, with year-around temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s. We get two seasons - a winter dry season and summer wet season. This time of year - January/February - is nice because of lower humidity and drier conditions. Guam has been a US possession since the Spanish-American War, and about 15,000 people lived here in 1941, mostly local Chamorro with a few Americans, including a small Marine detachment. Shortly after December 7th, Guam was invaded and occupied by Japanese forces. In July, 1944, American forces began liberating the island from the Japanese. When the battle was over, more than 1,200 US and nearly 17,000 of an estimated 18,000 Japanese defenders would die. In early 1945, Guam was transformed into a huge forward supply base, with nearly 250K soldiers preparing for an invasion of Japan when the war ended.
My interest is in WW2 history, and more specifically, I have been doing research on WW2 era Coca-Cola and Japanese bottles. I have found that there is not much information on the web about either topic, and I am in a unique position to have access to both. Much of Northern Guam is still jungle, and I enjoy spending time researching and looking for potential WW2 sites with Google Earth, then exploring those sites to see if I can find anything.
Today I decided to explore a site on military property, something I am able to access as an active duty member of the USCG. Since it's federal land, collecting is not allowed, but the hunt and "catch/release" is just as much fun for me. To get to this site, I first have to ride my bike up a jeep road to get into the vicinity.
My gear includes a large backpack with 3-liter Camelbak (absolutely necessary due to the heat), long sleeve white shirt, a pair of military BDU pants, comfortable disposable sneakers, gloves, bug repellent, a couple towels for wiping off sweat, a compass, and my Nexus tablet. The tablet is critical because of the built in GPS function that allows me to see where I have been and where I'm going. Getting lost is easy when you're looking for bottles on the ground!
After a 7 mile bike ride from my home, I get close to the site I located earlier on Google Earth. I hide the bike in the jungle, lock it up to a large tree, and I'm off on foot, using my tablet to navigate. It does not take long to find stuff.
This is a large scatter of beer bottles, with a few hobbleskirts mixed in. I have been able to determine that this area of the jungle was occupied by local Chamorro ranches before the war, and after the liberation in 1944, was used as a military bivouac site. There are bottles scattered everywhere, the vast majority from 1944 and 1945.
Further in the jungle, I come across a large former dump site.
The photo does not do justice - there is stuff piled up everywhere.