Editor's note: The invasion, occupation and liberation of Guam had a lasting effect on the island's people, government and institutions. Each week leading up to the 75th anniversary of Guam's liberation, the Pacific Daily News will examine how the events of 1941-1944 continue to affect life today. We'll share stories from survivors, family members and historians. Do you know a person we should profile, or do you have a family story you'd like others to know about? Is there a topic we should address? Share your suggestions with us atnews@guampdn.com.
Many of Guam's children grew up doing hard labor instead of going to school during and after World War II, and some didn't realizetheir dream of walking the stage in a graduation gown to receivea high school diploma until some 60 or70 years later.
“It was very emotional for me,” William MendiolaRoberto Sr. said about the day he received a surprise honorary high school diploma at 82 years old.
A Vietnam War veteran, Roberto was supposed to earn his high school diplomain the 1950s.
But World War II delayed his education and he left George Washington High School as a freshman to help feed the family and join theNavy.
More than 60 years later, he came back toGeorge Washington High School inMangilao, and joined the graduating class of 2018 as an honorary graduate.
"Daddy was nervous, kind of embarrassed because, of course, it was with younger graduates. You could tell though that he was very proud and happy. His honorary graduation and the reason was announced, and the audience all cheered and applauded," according to his daughter, Venesia, now a captainin the Army.
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Human suffering around him
Instead of learning how to count or read at a young age, Robertowas learning about survival, deaths and other forms of human suffering in a time of war.
His parents died before the war, when he was 3 years old,so he and his older brother Herman grew up with theirgrandmother, Rosa Castro Mendiola, and step-grandfather, Vicente Rosario Lujan.
All theirother siblings died under the age of 3 because of influenza, he said.
"I guess I got lucky," Roberto said. His brother Herman died in 2009 at the age of 68, he said.
When the Japanese started bombingGuam on Dec. 8, 1941, Robertowas 5 years old. They moved from San Ramon in Hagåtña toa ranch in Didigue, Sinajana.
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One day, he said, Japanese soldiers came to the ranch andone of them took out a sword and poked a pig on the back with it to take with them, along with all the chicken eggs they could get.
Toward the end of the Japanese occupation, the family was forced by the Japaneseto marchfrom their ranch tothe Manengon concentration camp in Yona.
While staying there, three American soldiers came upon themand asked them to followthem to safety, he said. As the group was walking down a river, they saw two Japanese soldiers.
Roberto paused and heldback his emotions as he described what he saw —a Japanese soldier was stabbed in the belly with a bayonet, and one other was shot in the back.
Going to school for the first time
He didn't see a classroom until he was already 10 years old, after the war. At the time, he said he could only speak and understand CHamoru.
"It was hard for me because, you know, I never speak English and all that, just CHamoru. I had to start from the bottom up, maybe like A-B-C or 1-2-3," Robertosaid during a Jan. 19, 2019, interview.
Many of his family members came to the interview to show their support and encouragement.
"I'm proud of my family and I got good kids," hesaid. "Without them, I wouldn't be able to get this diploma."
His daughter, Renee, led the applicationfor the diploma.
Roberto, who's turning 83 on March 22, said he has 10 children, 26 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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'Honoring our elderly'
Roberto is one of at least 28 World War II survivors on Guam who have received an honorary high school diploma since 2016 courtesy of a law signed two years earlier.
Public Law 32-115, signed by then Gov. Eddie Calvo on Feb. 10, 2014, grants honorary high school diplomas to senior citizens whose education was interrupted or cut short by the Japanese occupation of Guam. It also applies to those who, as young people, needed to work to help feed their family and rebuild after the war, therefore unable to start or continue school.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann, the brain behind the honorary diploma law, said helping some of the most senior citizens realize their dream of getting a high school diploma, even if an honorary one, is a meaningful way to honor those who survived the war and those who helped rebuild Guam after the war.
"They are dying," the mayor said of Guam's war survivors. "It's our way of saying we have never forgotten about our manamko', our elderly, and their sacrifices."
Hofmann suggested the idea to then Speaker Judith Won Pat, who introduced a bill. During a Nov. 25, 2013, public hearing on Won Pat's bill, only Hofmann showed up totestify on behalf ofwar survivors.
The idea, according to Hofmann, came upwhen he was trying to help a woman in her late 70s who lost the job she held for so long becausethe qualifications changed, requiring at least a high school diploma.
"She was ashamed to tell me that she didn't have a high school diploma, and I told her that's nothing to be ashamed of because she lived during a time of war. She's a survivor, she helped the family rebuild and in a way helped the island rebuild," Hofmann said. "To me, it'slike having adiploma and much more. She's trustworthy and hardworking, even whenshe's already in her late 70s."
Graduates 77 to 95
Five Duenas siblings who survived the war graduated togetherduring a family reunion on July 1, 2017.
"It was a joy and an honorto see five siblings getting their diplomas together," according to former Guam Education Board Chairman Peter Alecxis Ada, who led the awarding of honorary diplomas for nearly all of the war survivors, from 2016 to 2018.
The Duenas siblings — Lucy, Julia, Ignacia, Vicente and Joaquin —were already 77 to 92 years old when they became honorary graduates of George Washington High School.
Ada, as education board chairman, also recalls awarding an honorary diploma to 92-year-old Cecilia Santos Yatar on May 12, 2017.
Yatar, according to Ada, was the first one to get an honorary diploma from Southern High School in Santa Rita, her place of residence since the 1950s. Ada said Yatar was one of many former residents of the pre-war village of Sumay, which is now part of the Naval Base Guam in Santa Rita.
"I'm hoping and praying that someday, they would rename it 'Naval Station Sumay, Guam'. We got to respect the area, this is our land," Ada saidin a Feb. 2, 2019 interview.
At 95 years old, Maria Lizama Gumataotao became the oldest war survivor on Guam to receive an honorary high school diploma onJuly 14, 2017. She died less than a year later.
"My grandmother would always talk about education, and how successful and how lucky we are that we're able to finish school, unlike her. I want to make her dream come true," Gumataotao's granddaughter Melissa Terlaje said during the 2017 awarding in Santa Rita.
Mayor: Use the law
While the honorary diploma law was signed in 2014, it wasn't until 2016 when the Guam Education Board and the Guam Department of Education started receiving applications from families who wanted to honor their parents or grandparents.
Ada, as chairman of the education board, made it a point to attend each one of the awarding ceremonies held mostly in families' homes.
"Since they were our manamko', I asked fellow board members if we can do something extra, if we could ask the graduating class to escort the honorary graduates when the elderly can still attend the school ceremony," Ada said.
Hofmann said he wishes more families would use the 2014 law to honor their parents or grandparents.
"Just looking at the names of those who applied for war claims, more than 3,000, maybe there's a lot more who would have finished high school were it not for the war. I wish there'd be more manamko getting a high school diploma," the mayor said.
The honorary high school diplomas may be awarded posthumously.
Honorary graduates
PDN compiled a list of those who received an honorary high school diploma and the date they received it, based on information from the Guam Education Board and interviews with the families of recipients.
- Julia Camacho, posthumously, May 2016
- Benjamin Meno, May 2016
- Tomasa Espinosa Grecia, Oct. 27, 2016.
- Jesus C. Babauta, April 6, 2017
- Concepcion San Miguel Quintanilla, April 13, 2017
- Gonzalo Mendiola Quintanilla, posthumously, on April 13, 2017
- Cecilia Santos Yatar, May 12, 2017
- Catalina Hernandez Tarusan, May 17, 2017
- Maria Tudela Tenorio, May 21, 2017
- Guadalupe Perez, May 30, 2017
- Carmen Iglesias Alconaba, June 2017
- Isabel Iglesias Manibusan, June 2017
- Lucy Perez Duenas Anderson, July 1, 2017
- Julia Perez Duenas Borja, July 1, 2017
- Ignacia Perez Duenas Siguenza, July 1, 2017
- Vicente Perez Duenas, July 1, 2017
- Joaquin Perez Duenas,July 1, 2017
- Genoveva Meno Manglona, July 10, 2017
- Juan Chargualaf Manglona,July 10, 2017
- Maria Lizama Gumataotao, July 14, 2017
- Rita Cruz Carr Camacho, December 2017
- Ricardo M. Camacho, December 2017
- Teresita Agualo Lujan Aquino,December 2017
- George Cepeda Ulloa Sr.,January 2018
- William M. Roberto Sr., February 2018
- Maria Taitano, March 17, 2018
- Agnes Duenas Perez, April 2018
- Josefa Cruz Garrido, June 2018
How to apply
Families can apply for an honorary high school diploma on behalf of their relatives, including those who have died, by contacting the Guam Education Board at tel. # 300-1627.
The war survivor being applied for an honorary high schooldiploma needs to meet thefollowing criteria set byPublic Law 32-115:
- Doesn't possess a valid high school diploma;
- Resided on Guam during World War II, from Dec. 7, 1941, to Sept. 2, 1945;
- Would have been eligible to attend school, but his/her education was interrupted with the occupation of Japanese enemy forces; and
- Didn't continue his/her education after World War II in order to work and rebuild their homes and lives or assist in the care of family members.
Reporter Haidee Eugenio covers Guam's Catholic church issues, government, business and more. Follow her on Twitter@haidee_eugenio. Follow Pacific Daily News onFacebook/GuamPDNandInstagram @guampdn.
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