Orote Field is a former

air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

in the

United States territory In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

built by the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

with Chamorro forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Guam (1941-1944). It is separate from the Marine Corps amphibious airplane base at located at Sumay village that was operational from 1921 to 1931. Following the liberation of Guam in 1944, the U.S. military repaired the field for further use in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

. Located on Naval Base Guam, Orote Field was largely abandoned after World War II except for occasional training exercises. One major event in 1975 was

Operation New Life Operation New Life (23 April – 1 November 1975) was the care and processing on Guam of Vietnamese refugees evacuated before and after the Fall of Saigon, the closing day of the Vietnam War. More than 111,000 of the evacuated 130,000 Vietname ...

, when a tent city for tens of thousands of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

ese refugees was erected at the field. The field was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1975.

History

On August 6, 1941, Naval Governor George McMillin sent a letter reporting surveys indicating that the Orote Peninsula could sustain a -by- landplane runway. However, the U.S. did not actually start construction of a runway. During the Japanese occupation of Guam,

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

were required to supply levies for able-bodied men to work on airfields and other defense projects. Orote Field was the first of the Japanese airfields on Guam to be completed by Chamorro laborers, largely by hand, in 1943. From May 1944 through the second Battle of Guam, the airfield was attacked by US aircraft. American troops established their

beachhead A beachhead is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. Th ...

on either side of the Orote Peninsula on July 21 in order to seize the airfield and the adjacent deep water

Apra Harbor Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwat ...

. The airfield was recaptured on July 30. The

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

of the 3rd Battalion 19th Marines LLP, 25th Naval Construction Battalion, got the airfield operational. The airfield was one of many U.S. airfields on Guam during the

and was closed permanently in 1946. It still sees some use as a touch-and-go training strip used by

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

crews located nearby at Andersen Air Force Base. and The old airfield housed 50,000 evacuees from

during

in 1975. It was used as a

tent city A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable te ...

for the 1999 Tandem Thrust military exercise. It is now part of Naval Base Guam.

References

External links

*
Orote Airfield
at the Pacific Wrecks history website Defunct airports in the United States Airports in Guam Military installations of the United States in Guam Airports on the National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam Historic American Engineering Record in Guam World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam Orote 1921 establishments in Guam Orote Peninsula {{Guam-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links