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Secretary Jewell to make first official visit to Guam
WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will visit the U.S. Territory of Guam on Monday, July 6, to further the United States’ commitment to insular areas and Guam’s importance to the region. Accompanied by Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia’aina, Secretary Jewell will meet with Governor Eddie Calvo, address Guam business and community leaders and lay a wreath at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park.
Sally Jewell
The trip will be Secretary Jewell’s first official visit to the Western Pacific island, which serves as the regional transportation, communication and educational hub of Micronesia and hosts U.S. naval and air bases that are being upgraded as part of the Obama Administration’s rebalance of U.S. forward deployed forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
The War in the Pacific National Historic Park, a unit of the National Park Service, honors the bravery and sacrifices of all those who participated in the Pacific Theater of World War II, including the indigenous Chamorro people of Guam, many of whom suffered starvation, torture and death during the Japanese occupation of the island from December 1941 to July 1944.
With a population of about 165,000 people, Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands chain, which is about 3,850 miles southwest of Hawaii and 1,200 miles southeast of Japan. The Marianas also include the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. (PR)
