I was 11 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor! We had just come through a terrible depression, and the country was just beginning to recover from that. Now we were at War!
Several years before the war we had a naval station near our town and the young sailors were often around. My Father’s sister, Mary, had recently divorced and she and her young son were living with us when she met and started dating a naval radioman named George Ray Tweed. When George came to our house he was always so patient with us children. Many times he would sit down in front of our big console radio and take down the messages for us, that came over the radio in Morse Code. We all liked him and ultimately he and Aunt Mary were married. He had been given his shipping orders and was to leave for Guam and could take his family with him. I don’t know how long they were together in Guam, several years though, as they had a baby boy while Mary was over there. I don’t remember how old he was when the Navy began evacuating civilians from Guam. I know Mary did not want to leave, but had no choice in the matter.
It was not too long after this that the Pearl Harbor bombing occurred. I was very young, but I began to wonder if it was really the surprise everyone seemed to think it was. Why else would they suddenly make the families of the servicemen come home?
I believe the Japanese took Guam the next day. They came ashore and took all the military men prisoners. Some few escaped capture that day, and George Ray Tweed was one of them!
Uncle Ray was the only one who managed to avoid capture, and with help from some of his friends, the natives, he was able to survive the balance of the war. The Japanese knew of his escape and they spent a lot of time, looking for him. He said that there were times when he was hidden in the woods and they came within a few feet of him. At one point he was hidden, for a while, in a leprosy hospital. It nearly broke his heart when he learned that several of those friends who helped hide him, were beheaded by the Japanese. After he found out about the harsh treatment given to his friends, he decided that he could no longer put their lives in jeopardy and he hid out in a hard to get to cave until the war was almost over. The cave was well hidden and the owner of the land would bring him food and supplies as often as he could. He spent the rest of the time in isolation. I read once that he had a “Readers Digest” tucked in his back pocket when he escaped. He said that he had managed to keep it, and while he was in the cave, he would read aloud from it, in order to keep his voice active.
From his high perch, he was able to see the American fleet when it approached. As I understand it, he was able to send a signal to them, and after they confirmed that he was really an American, he was able to help in the recapture of Guam, because of his knowledge of the island. Guam is a very small Island and Tweed knew it well.
He became quite famous after the war and a movie and a couple of books were written about him. When he returned home there was a huge parade in Los Angeles, given in his honor. I remember that his hair had turned completely white during his ordeal.
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