In 1944 the US military began occupying privately owned land throughout Guåhan as part of its reinvasion strategy. The US government facilitated this process through the creation of the Land and Claims Commission (GLCC), which accelerated and legitimated the military’s condemning of these lands during World War II and the Cold War. Together, the GLCC, the “liberation” of Guåhan narrative, and the Organic Act of 1950 enabled a process of US settler militarism that resulted in the US military’s occupation of approximately 50% of all land on the island in the early 1950s. Despite these draconian policies, CHamoru land stewardship persisted through the låncho (ranch) and other forms of survival that challenged US military occupation.

Alfred Peredo Flores is an assistant professor in the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies at Harvey Mudd College. He received his Ph.D. in History from UCLA, his M.A. and B.A. degrees in Public History and History from UCR, and an A.A. degree in Liberal Arts from College of the Desert. His research and teaching focuses on Pacific Islander Studies with an emphasis in diaspora, indigeneity, labor, militarization, oral history, and settler colonialism in Micronesia. Dr. Flores’ research has appeared in Amerasia Journal, American Quarterly, Critical Ethic Studies Journal, Brill, and Oxford University Press. His forthcoming book titled, Tip of the Spear: Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944-1962 (Cornell University Press), will be released in September 2023.