Talafofo
The Eastern Coast
Jeff's Pirates Cove Restaurant sits on the site of a WWII Pilot Rehabilitation Camp where the Navy and Marine Corps sent pilots to rest up during the final months of the drive across the Pacific.
7 August 2004.
Talafofo's biggest claim to fame with WWII on Guam is Sgt. Yokoi. A straggler who hid in the Guam jungles until he was captured in 1972, Yokoi returned to Japan a hero. He lived in a cave near Talafofo, and would come out at night to hunt. He was not the last Japanese hold out, however. In the Philippine's southern islands another soldier named Onada held out until 1974. Onada, however, not only survived and hid, as Yokoi did, Onada continued to actively wage war against the Filipinos until he was talked out the jungle with an order from the Japanese military command.
There is a cave billed "Yokoi's Cave" at the Talafofo Falls area, and a fee is required to enter. Do not be fooled, however. This is a reconstruction, and not even advertised as such. Yokoi's cave collapsed years ago, and the site is inaccessible except by the hardiest adventurer.
Japanese pillbox on the Talafofo beach (left is a close up, above looking out to the Pacific Ocean). In 1945 Japanese soldiers would stand up inside this low-sunk concrete bunker and fire at the enemy through the gunports. No major combat happened here, however, and the decades have seen the beach sand fill up the bunker so only hermit crabs can stand up inside it now.
7 August 2004.
This odd stretch of beach, looking inland just a few yards north of the Japanese bunker above, is the vicinity where five American Marines were killed in August 1945. What makes these deaths significant is that they happened after the Marine Corps declared Guam secure. However, Marines were under standing orders not to go exploring the jungles because the danger of Japanese stragglers was very real. Sure enough, Japanese soldiers surprised and killed the five Marines and their Chamorro guide here. The original action report can be read at the Naval Base Guam Museum. 7 August 2004.
