| The Guy Pennington Story United States Marine Corps |
Chance Web site encounter identifies Guam liberator
By Petty Officer Second Class Nathanael T. Miller
Naval Media Support Center, Marianas
For the "Pacific Navigator"
A 60-year-old war photograph and a chance encounter over the Internet has resulted in the identification of one of Guam’s 1944 Liberators. This series
of events has led me to engage in correspondence with the daughter and grandson of a man who helped to free Guam and the Chamorro people 61years
ago, and get to know this veteran who passed away shortly before the only war reunion he was interested in attending—Guam’s 60th in 2004.
Born in Richland, Texas, on June 11, 1925, Guy Pennington was only 16 years old when Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, drawing the
United States into World War II. His mother signed an age release form so he could join the Marines while still 16. Mrs. Gaye Teague, Pennington’s
daughter, recalled what her father had related about his choice of service.
“My dad went with two friends of his to join the service...My dad’s father had been in the Navy in WWI. It seems like the others had relatives who had
served in the Army, so they sort of compromised and picked the Marines. That’s the story we were always told.”
Pennington ended up in the 3rd Marine Division and saw action in three major areas—Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. Pennington’s grandson, Justin
Teague, said his grandfather spoke little of his war experiences, but did pass on some stories. “He said that of all the combat that he saw during World
War II, Guam was the only time where he actually felt pretty good about what he was doing in war,” he said. “On Bougainville and Iwo Jima, it was just
the Marines and the Japanese trying to kill each other, but on Guam, they were there to actually liberate somebody.”
As a child, Justin would pull Pennington’s 3rd Marine Division book from a closet and ask his grandfather about the pictures in it. While Pennington was
on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, waiting to head toward the fighting on Bougainville, he had to endure continual night bombing by Japanese
forces. “I can remember him telling me how you dug your foxhole right next to your cot, so that when you hear either the air raid siren or sometimes
just the aircraft itself, you just rolled off your cot right into your foxhole.”
On July 21, 1944, Guy Pennington landed on Asan Beach, Guam, as part of the fourth wave of the American liberation. It was during this landing, while
he and his comrades were hunkered down right at the water’s edge that a combat photographer took a photo that shows the Marines crouched down
with Pennington at the far right looking directly into the camera. Over sixty years later, a chance encounter with this photo would spark the chain of
events that resulted in Pennington’s story finally being told.
Of all his war experiences, Gaye Teague said her father was always open about his time on Guam. “He spoke of how appreciative the Guam citizens
were to be liberated from the Japanese. He never forgot the horrors of how the Guam people had been treated at the hands of the Japanese—the
beheadings and torture. He said how beautiful Guam was despite the war scars on the island.”
Justin said his grandfather had told him he came ashore on Guam in the fourth wave of the invasion. “I can remember asking him if the first wave got
shot at a lot, and he said that generally wasn’t the case. The Japanese would let several waves land before they really cut loose, so that they could inflict
more casualties before revealing their positions.”
Pennington and the 3rd Marine Division eventually ended up bound for Okinawa. The division, however, was diverted to Iwo Jima to act as
reinforcements during the battle for that island. Justin said his grandfather spoke little of Iwo Jima, but not because of any trauma he had experienced
there, “He never liked to take credit for Iwo Jima since he said the Marines on the island suffered the most during the first two weeks of the fighting,
which was before his unit arrived to reinforce them.”
Pennington would be discharged from the Marine Corps in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 18, 1946, a veteran of heavy combat at only 21 years old.
While in the service, he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and earned ratings as “expert marksman” with both pistols and rifles, as well as being
rated a “bayonet expert.”
Gaye said her father first encountered the photo that would ultimately reveal his story in a 1950’s Collier’s book on World War II. A copy of that photo
later ended up as part of the display in Naval Base Guam’s museum. This photojournalist saw it during a project to create a digital database of historic
photos for the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation in 2004. I was struck by the fact that this one, unknown Marine’s face was so clearly visible in the
heat of combat. I also wondered if the expression this young Marine wore was incredulity that the photographer was clearly standing upright in the heat
of battle?
Being attached to Naval Media Support Center Marianas has let me explore the war history of this island. In order to share my adventures, I established a
Web site, the Digital American Heritage Trail at www.airdaleamericanhistory.com. Although it encompasses many places I’ve visited, the site was
founded expressly for me to display “Project Guam.”
As I began to publish the site in early of 2004, I used that photo of the unknown Marine on Asan Beach for the masthead of the Project Guam section. It
was at this point in time that Guy Pennington’s daughter, Gaye, happened across my Web site. “I cannot begin to tell you how floored I was when I
came across your Web site with my dad’s picture highlighted at the top,” she wrote to me. “This all started when my mother read an article in a local
paper about a man who had been on Guam. He had received a package given out in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Guam’s liberation.”
Gaye Teague found a contact in Guam, and that same commemorative package was sent to her mother. Gaye’s mother, Mrs. Mary Wilene Pennington,
later called and told her the photo of Pennington from Asan Beach was in the Asan Beach Guide, which was included in the packet. “That was the same
picture that had been in Collier’s book of WWII,” Gaye Teague wrote to me. “So, I thought maybe it’s also on the Internet. I started looking around,
never dreaming I would find the guide, along with the picture of my dad that you have posted on your Web site.”
Pennington’s grandson, Justin Teague, is now an officer in the United States Air Force. “Him having served in the Marines during World War II had a
direct impact on my decision to join the military,” Justin emailed me. “I gave very serious consideration to joining the Marines for a long time. He gave
me a Guidebook for Marines when I was six years old, and I still have it today. Even at a young age I was able to comprehend what he had done and
been through, and was absolutely amazed by it.”
Pennington told his family in the spring of 2004 that the “Big Sixty” of Guam’s Liberation was approaching. Gaye Teague said her father indicated he
was looking forward to that anniversary. “He did tell his family that if he ever decided to attend any of the Marine reunions of WWII, that he would
want to go to Guam.”
This was not to be. Guy Pennington passed away from cancer on May 23, 2004, just a little under two months before the one anniversary he seemed to
be interested in attending. He was 78.
After Gaye stumbled across my Web site, she called her son Justin, who tracked me down here on Guam. We had a series of phone calls in which he
related his grandfather’s story. With the sixty-first anniversary of the Liberation approaching, I emailed him several questions about his grandfather. He
very graciously forwarded this correspondence on to his mother. Over a period of about three months, they helped me get to know Guy Pennington.
Gaye related an interesting anecdote to me regarding that photo of Pennington on Asan Beach. I wondered what he thought of the photographer for
standing upright in the heat of battle. Gaye wrote me that when Pennington saw that photo in the 1950s Collier’s book, he remembered the photographer
taking it. Pennington told her mother that he did what the photographer was doing standing up in battle. “You captured what he was truly thinking when
he saw the photographer,” Gaye e-mailed me.
Gaye said her father, while proud of his service, was never comfortable with being called a hero. “He always said that the heroes were the ones who did
not make it back from the war. I just wish he could have seen your Web site,” she emailed me in June of this year. “He would have been embarrassed
and proud at the same time.”
By Petty Officer Second Class Nathanael T. Miller
Naval Media Support Center, Marianas
For the "Pacific Navigator"
A 60-year-old war photograph and a chance encounter over the Internet has resulted in the identification of one of Guam’s 1944 Liberators. This series
of events has led me to engage in correspondence with the daughter and grandson of a man who helped to free Guam and the Chamorro people 61years
ago, and get to know this veteran who passed away shortly before the only war reunion he was interested in attending—Guam’s 60th in 2004.
Born in Richland, Texas, on June 11, 1925, Guy Pennington was only 16 years old when Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, drawing the
United States into World War II. His mother signed an age release form so he could join the Marines while still 16. Mrs. Gaye Teague, Pennington’s
daughter, recalled what her father had related about his choice of service.
“My dad went with two friends of his to join the service...My dad’s father had been in the Navy in WWI. It seems like the others had relatives who had
served in the Army, so they sort of compromised and picked the Marines. That’s the story we were always told.”
Pennington ended up in the 3rd Marine Division and saw action in three major areas—Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. Pennington’s grandson, Justin
Teague, said his grandfather spoke little of his war experiences, but did pass on some stories. “He said that of all the combat that he saw during World
War II, Guam was the only time where he actually felt pretty good about what he was doing in war,” he said. “On Bougainville and Iwo Jima, it was just
the Marines and the Japanese trying to kill each other, but on Guam, they were there to actually liberate somebody.”
As a child, Justin would pull Pennington’s 3rd Marine Division book from a closet and ask his grandfather about the pictures in it. While Pennington was
on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, waiting to head toward the fighting on Bougainville, he had to endure continual night bombing by Japanese
forces. “I can remember him telling me how you dug your foxhole right next to your cot, so that when you hear either the air raid siren or sometimes
just the aircraft itself, you just rolled off your cot right into your foxhole.”
On July 21, 1944, Guy Pennington landed on Asan Beach, Guam, as part of the fourth wave of the American liberation. It was during this landing, while
he and his comrades were hunkered down right at the water’s edge that a combat photographer took a photo that shows the Marines crouched down
with Pennington at the far right looking directly into the camera. Over sixty years later, a chance encounter with this photo would spark the chain of
events that resulted in Pennington’s story finally being told.
Of all his war experiences, Gaye Teague said her father was always open about his time on Guam. “He spoke of how appreciative the Guam citizens
were to be liberated from the Japanese. He never forgot the horrors of how the Guam people had been treated at the hands of the Japanese—the
beheadings and torture. He said how beautiful Guam was despite the war scars on the island.”
Justin said his grandfather had told him he came ashore on Guam in the fourth wave of the invasion. “I can remember asking him if the first wave got
shot at a lot, and he said that generally wasn’t the case. The Japanese would let several waves land before they really cut loose, so that they could inflict
more casualties before revealing their positions.”
Pennington and the 3rd Marine Division eventually ended up bound for Okinawa. The division, however, was diverted to Iwo Jima to act as
reinforcements during the battle for that island. Justin said his grandfather spoke little of Iwo Jima, but not because of any trauma he had experienced
there, “He never liked to take credit for Iwo Jima since he said the Marines on the island suffered the most during the first two weeks of the fighting,
which was before his unit arrived to reinforce them.”
Pennington would be discharged from the Marine Corps in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 18, 1946, a veteran of heavy combat at only 21 years old.
While in the service, he was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and earned ratings as “expert marksman” with both pistols and rifles, as well as being
rated a “bayonet expert.”
Gaye said her father first encountered the photo that would ultimately reveal his story in a 1950’s Collier’s book on World War II. A copy of that photo
later ended up as part of the display in Naval Base Guam’s museum. This photojournalist saw it during a project to create a digital database of historic
photos for the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation in 2004. I was struck by the fact that this one, unknown Marine’s face was so clearly visible in the
heat of combat. I also wondered if the expression this young Marine wore was incredulity that the photographer was clearly standing upright in the heat
of battle?
Being attached to Naval Media Support Center Marianas has let me explore the war history of this island. In order to share my adventures, I established a
Web site, the Digital American Heritage Trail at www.airdaleamericanhistory.com. Although it encompasses many places I’ve visited, the site was
founded expressly for me to display “Project Guam.”
As I began to publish the site in early of 2004, I used that photo of the unknown Marine on Asan Beach for the masthead of the Project Guam section. It
was at this point in time that Guy Pennington’s daughter, Gaye, happened across my Web site. “I cannot begin to tell you how floored I was when I
came across your Web site with my dad’s picture highlighted at the top,” she wrote to me. “This all started when my mother read an article in a local
paper about a man who had been on Guam. He had received a package given out in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Guam’s liberation.”
Gaye Teague found a contact in Guam, and that same commemorative package was sent to her mother. Gaye’s mother, Mrs. Mary Wilene Pennington,
later called and told her the photo of Pennington from Asan Beach was in the Asan Beach Guide, which was included in the packet. “That was the same
picture that had been in Collier’s book of WWII,” Gaye Teague wrote to me. “So, I thought maybe it’s also on the Internet. I started looking around,
never dreaming I would find the guide, along with the picture of my dad that you have posted on your Web site.”
Pennington’s grandson, Justin Teague, is now an officer in the United States Air Force. “Him having served in the Marines during World War II had a
direct impact on my decision to join the military,” Justin emailed me. “I gave very serious consideration to joining the Marines for a long time. He gave
me a Guidebook for Marines when I was six years old, and I still have it today. Even at a young age I was able to comprehend what he had done and
been through, and was absolutely amazed by it.”
Pennington told his family in the spring of 2004 that the “Big Sixty” of Guam’s Liberation was approaching. Gaye Teague said her father indicated he
was looking forward to that anniversary. “He did tell his family that if he ever decided to attend any of the Marine reunions of WWII, that he would
want to go to Guam.”
This was not to be. Guy Pennington passed away from cancer on May 23, 2004, just a little under two months before the one anniversary he seemed to
be interested in attending. He was 78.
After Gaye stumbled across my Web site, she called her son Justin, who tracked me down here on Guam. We had a series of phone calls in which he
related his grandfather’s story. With the sixty-first anniversary of the Liberation approaching, I emailed him several questions about his grandfather. He
very graciously forwarded this correspondence on to his mother. Over a period of about three months, they helped me get to know Guy Pennington.
Gaye related an interesting anecdote to me regarding that photo of Pennington on Asan Beach. I wondered what he thought of the photographer for
standing upright in the heat of battle. Gaye wrote me that when Pennington saw that photo in the 1950s Collier’s book, he remembered the photographer
taking it. Pennington told her mother that he did what the photographer was doing standing up in battle. “You captured what he was truly thinking when
he saw the photographer,” Gaye e-mailed me.
Gaye said her father, while proud of his service, was never comfortable with being called a hero. “He always said that the heroes were the ones who did
not make it back from the war. I just wish he could have seen your Web site,” she emailed me in June of this year. “He would have been embarrassed
and proud at the same time.”
The photograph that started it all. Seeing this image in the Naval Base Guam
museum during a project to scan all the images into a digital library, it quickly
became one of my favorite war photos. When I began to design Project Guam,
this was the natural choice for the title graphics. Months later, the daughter of
this American Hero would stumble on this site, and I would learn the name of this
man: Guy Pennington. Pennington landing on Asan Beach with the 4th wave
of the Liberation of Guam, 21 July 1944.
museum during a project to scan all the images into a digital library, it quickly
became one of my favorite war photos. When I began to design Project Guam,
this was the natural choice for the title graphics. Months later, the daughter of
this American Hero would stumble on this site, and I would learn the name of this
man: Guy Pennington. Pennington landing on Asan Beach with the 4th wave
of the Liberation of Guam, 21 July 1944.
Above: Pennington in 1942 during bayonet
training. Right: Another view of Pennington in
1942, here with his mother and two sisters.
training. Right: Another view of Pennington in
1942, here with his mother and two sisters.
Left: Pennington on Guam
with a captured Japanese
flag.
Right: Pennington's formal
portrait.
with a captured Japanese
flag.
Right: Pennington's formal
portrait.
This is Pennington in 1994 with his wife, Mary Wilene
Pennington. He passed away in 2004; as of this writing, Mrs.
Pennington is still alive. All the photos on this page, except
the photo on Asan Beach, were sent in to me by Mr. Justin
Teague, Pennington's grandson.
Pennington. He passed away in 2004; as of this writing, Mrs.
Pennington is still alive. All the photos on this page, except
the photo on Asan Beach, were sent in to me by Mr. Justin
Teague, Pennington's grandson.
