Skip to content

US Naval Era

Heritage Sites, Historic Eras of Guam, US Naval Era, Villages, Heritage Sites and Island Life, Wars and Factors of Peace, WWI

SMS Cormoran II Memorial

 

Located in East Hagåtña on the beachside of Marine Corps Drive is a small cemetery maintained by the United States Navy. There are 254 listed graves in this space, nestled between a local car dealership on one side and Padre Palomo Beach Park on the other. The earliest grave marker is dated 1902, and the most recent 1955. US military personnel, Chamorro service members, and civilians—even children—are buried in this hallowed ground. Among the neatly laid rows of cambered or arc-shaped grave markers closest to the beach is a small white obelisk dedicated to the SMS Cormoran II and the seven crew members who died in the first skirmish between the US and Germany in World War I.

SMS Cormoran II Memorial Read Post »

e-Publications, Guampedia Resources, Historic Eras of Guam, US Naval Era, Wars and Factors of Peace, WWI

SMS Cormoran II: Partial Crew List

 

The partial list presented here that researcher James Oelke-Farley compiled for Guampedia, indicates only 108 crew members. The list was cross-checked with message traffic from the US State Department and prison records. However, Oelke-Farley explains that when the men arrived in the US they often were no longer referred to by the ship upon which they served as crew members (the crew of the SMS Geier which had been interned in Honolulu was combined with the Comoran’s crew on the way to the prisoner of war camp in Fort Douglas, Utah) but rather simply as “POWs” or “German Navy,” which has made an exact identification of every man difficult.

SMS Cormoran II: Partial Crew List Read Post »

e-Publications, Historic Eras of Guam, MARC, US Naval Era, Wars and Factors of Peace, WWI

Cormoran-Südseefahrer: SMS Cormoran Crew Annual Meetings

 

By 1920, after the end of World War I, the men of the SMS Cormoran II who had been taken as prisoners of war by the United States were returned to their home country of Germany. The experience of being interned In Guam and then in US POW camps bonded these men together in a significant and personal way. Even though they went their separate ways back to their families the men of the Cormoran met yearly for over 40 years to remember, share stories, mourn lost comrades and stay in touch.

Cormoran-Südseefahrer: SMS Cormoran Crew Annual Meetings Read Post »

Historic Eras of Guam, People, People and Places, US Naval Era, Wars and Factors of Peace, WWI

Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt

 

Adalbert Zuckschwerdt (1874 – 1945) was the captain of the German raider SMS Cormoran and its successor SMS Cormoran II which sailed to Guam from Tsingtao (Qingdao), China in 1914 in the early months of World War I. For more than two years, Zuckschwerdt and his crew remained in Guam until the United States entered the conflict in April 1917, and the SMS Cormoran II was scuttled by the Germans in Apra Harbor.

Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt Read Post »

Civic Society, Governors, Governors of Guam, Historic Eras of Guam, People, People and Places, Politics and Government, US Naval Era, US Naval Era: Politics, Wars and Factors of Peace, WWI

Governor William John Maxwell

 

US Naval Captain William John Maxwell (1859 – 1934) was Governor of Guam from 28 March 1914 – 29 April 1916. Maxwell relieved Acting Governor Alfred Walton Hinds and continued previous Naval Government infrastructure projects. In addition, he reorganized government agencies, established financial institutions, petitioned the US Navy Department for Guam’s US citizenship and to open the port for commercial use.

Governor William John Maxwell Read Post »

Heritage Sites, Historic Eras of Guam, US Naval Era, Villages, Heritage Sites and Island Life

US Naval Cemetery

 

The US Naval Cemetery, along side Marine Corps Drive in East Hagåtña, was first opened by the US Naval government in 1902 and is currently a part of the Hagåtña Heritage Walking Trail. In 2003, the Department of Parks and Recreation’s (DPR) Adopt-a-Park program formed a partnership between the US Navy and the community of Guam to maintain the site.

US Naval Cemetery Read Post »

Business Pioneers: Economics, Civic Society, Economics and Commercial Development, Historic Eras of Guam, People, People and Places, US Naval Era, US Naval Era: Economics

Pascual Artero y Saez

 

Businessman, rancher, patriarch. Don Pascual Artero y Saez (1875 – 1956) was a prominent Spanish businessman, rancher and patriarch of the Artero family in Guam. Born in Mojácar, he served with the Spanish military in the Western Pacific, married on Yap and settled in Guam at the turn of the 20th century.

Pascual Artero y Saez Read Post »

Scroll to Top