Survivor recalls Asinan camp: Yona detention camp receives little

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She spent some of the years during the Japanese occupation doingforced labor and in a detention camp called Asinan.
Asinan was a camp in Yona on the Pago River.
It's believed that a few thousand Chamorros were forced to march tothe camp and work. There is little written about Asinan, butWilliams offered her view of the occupation and the march acrossthe island to the camp.
Three days after her 11th birthday, on Dec. 8, Japanese planes shotright over her childhood house in Piti, attempting to hit fueltanks on Cabras Island.
"My sisters and I went out the back door and down the back stairsto look at the airplane, because we didn't realize there was morethan one," Williams remembers. "Pan American was already coming inand out of Guam in those days and we thought it was a Pan Amplane."
"It was three or four Japanese planes and they were shooting atthose old tanks on Cabras Island and everything was going blacksmoke," she said. Clear memories
Williams has clear memories of the invasion and occupation by theJapanese on Guam. The things that really stick out in her mind areseeing large beautiful horses and geisha girls all dressed up.
"When you see a movie where all of these girls with their fancyhairdos and beautiful kimonos and those little white socks on andzories -- they were all dressed like that. Even with the whitemakeup," said Williams.
Not all of William's memories are that pleasant.
She recalled the time during the occupation when she and herschoolmates were forced into hard labor.
"We were told that when you come to school, ... bring a lunchbecause we're going to go on a picnic. So we did. ... We wereloaded onto a truck and we were taken all the way down to OrotePoint," she said. "What we had to do, ... cut the leaves and drageverything off that particular area. The other thing that we didwas right there in the Piti area there was a lot of area that wasrice fields. ... We had to plant the rice ... and tobacco andbeans."
It was during the days in the field that Williams remembered seeingAmerican B-29 planes flying overhead. She was forced to stay out inthe fields, in plain sight of the planes.
"We were picking beans and (the overseers) were all running overthere to get under the house, ... and the planes were flyingoverhead, they were B-29s," he said. "(Our foreman) wouldn't let usout of the fields. ... He said stay where you are and he had thisriding crop that he was whipping us." Forced march
Those times weren't the toughest Williams had to face during thewar. She was one of thousands who were forced to march to Asinan, adetention camp located on the Pago River.
Each person on the march was forced to carry his or her own bundle.Williams carried the family's first great-grandchild. Sheremembered that the march took so long because the group wasn'tallowed to travel during the day.
"We didn't walk until night. During the daytime, we all sat in thejungle and waited for it to get dark because planes flying over,"she said. "You could hear those bullets coming."
Williams and others were detained at the camp for a week to 10 daysbefore they were liberated. During that period they had nothing toeat. The group ate whatever people found.
"There's a type of taro that's not edible. We ate it," Williamssaid.
The taro caused their mouths to itch, but other than coconuts,there was little else to eat.
Williams recalled a story that happened to her brother, Herman,shortly before they were liberated from the camp.
"The Japanese ran around and rounded up the young men and mybrother Herman was one of them. Herman had to take the carabaobecause what the Japanese wanted from them was the carabao to carrythe ammunition, because they were being pushed up to the northernend of the island," she said. "They were up by the Ylig River. Theylined them up and shot them.
"Herman was down on the end. He was the next to the last personthere in that line. The Japanese starting shooting these young men.My brother fainted. The Japanese thought they shot him," she said."They shot the guy next to him in the shoulder. They all diedexcept for Herman and this man. They played dead."
Williams said her brother and the other man waited until theJapanese left before they ran out into the jungle. They stayedthere until they heard voices speaking English. It turned out to bea group of U.S. Marines. Recognition
With all that Williams experienced during the occupation and atAsinan, she wonders why no one recognizes the suffering of thosewho were at the camp.
Few people even know it existed. History books tend to mention onesmall line about it before moving on to the horrors of Manenggon.
The memories of Williams and other Asinan survivors will inevitablyfade with time. It is the hope of Williams that they will find somerecognition for those who lost their lives and those who survived,sometime in the future.
Officials for the government of Guam say that the governmentdoesn't take the lead in such matters, but rather the people whosurvived the camps.
"Normally the ones who were involved in the camp are the ones thatcoordinate it," said Joe Quinata, chief program officer for GuamPreservation Trust.
Patrick Lujan, deputy historic preservation officer at theDepartment of Parks and Recreation, said that the governmentdoesn't have to get involved for a site to be recognized.
"You have some areas that are memorialized that aren't on thenational (historic preservation) register," said Lujan.
Lujan said people from the community can nominate sites and theoffice will do the research to see if it qualifies.