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‘Massacre at Atåte’: WWII resistance fighter releases memoir
»A survivor’s story of a Chamorro uprising in the last days of the Japanese occupation of Guam
Jose M. Torres of Malesso’ will have a book launch and signing for his new World War II memoir, The Massacre at Atåte, on Feb. 24, 2015, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, at the University of Guam CLASS Lecture Hall. The memoir is published by the Micronesia Area Research Center with the Chamorro Studies Program. The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
The book launch will include a reading from the book and presentation by Torres as well as a panel discussion with the author, UOG president Dr. Robert Underwood, and Chamorro Studies program director Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua. The Massacre at Atåte will be available for purchase, and the author will be available to sign copies and meet with the public.
Underwood wrote the introduction to the memoir, and Bevacqua wrote a scholarly essay on the historic import of the uprising at Atåte, which is included with the memoir.
About the memoir
Jose M. Torres was part of an uprising against the Japanese occupiers in the closing days of World War II, with American bombs dropping around the island and Chamorros being herded into concentration camps. The Japanese had committed two brutal massacres in the southern village of Malesso’ (Merizo), killing 46 Chamorro men and women at the sites of Tinta and Faha.
Hearing of the threat of yet another massacre, Jose “Tonko” Reyes organized an uprising of men from the village. Although very young, Torres joined the group also. In broad daylight, these Mighty Men of Malesso’, with almost no weapons except one rifle, launched a brave attack on the Japanese occupiers, killing most of them in personal combat. They liberated themselves and their families and village.
A group of six, including Torres, sailed to find help and discovered a U.S. fleet on the western coast. They provided military intelligence on Japanese defenses and reported on the situation of the Chamorro people.
This book is a groundbreaking memoir of a young man during war time, caught up in one of the most exciting and—until now—largely forgotten moments in Guam’s World War II history. (UOG)
