Tumon Bay

"Guam had the unusual distinction of being the first American soil lost to an enemy action."

  When visitors look at Tumon Bay it appears as the ultimate tropical paradise � sparkling blue ocean, fringing coral reef, white splashes on a beach of glistening coral sand. It is now, but it wasn�t on July 21, 1944 when Guam�s got its turn for invasion in WW II.

  Tumon Beach was the scene of the 3^rd Marine Division�s landings which immediately came under fire from the Japanese who were dug in on the high ground overlooking the beaches. The 77^th Army Division landing further south at Agat Bay was similarly opposed in their amphibious landings.

  American plans to invade Guam were timed to take place shortly after the Saipan invasion, but the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the extra heavy fighting on Saipan delayed the Guam invasion. The soon-to-be adversaries used the delay in interesting ways. The Marines rested up at Eniwetok after their Marshals effort; the Army needed the time to get its 77^th Division from Hawaii and the Japanese shored up their defenses using Guamanians and Korean slave labor as their work crews.

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