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Reviewed by:
  • Memories of War: Micronesians in the Pacific War
  • Cecilia Lizama Salvatore
Memories of War: Micronesians in the Pacific War. By Suzanne Falgout, Lin Poyer, and Laurence M. Carucci . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. 275 pp. Softbound, $27.00.

The authors of this book have provided a valuable telling of the story of the Pacific War during World War II by Micronesians—that is, the Pacific Islanders—who [End Page 264] lived through the war. The book is a result of an oral history project in 1990-91, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The authors collected approximately four hundred oral histories from Micronesian elders—an impressive number. Most importantly, however, the book is fundamentally valuable because—as the authors themselves emphasize—it presents the missing voices of Micronesians amidst the significant literature about the Pacific War (and—I would add—films about the Pacific War).

Having worked as a librarian at the library at the Micronesian Area Research Center at the University of Guam—a world renowned library of materials related to Guam and Micronesia—in the early 1990s, I recognize the authors as noted anthropologists who focus on Micronesia. It makes sense that they would remedy the historical gap related to Micronesia, especially as it would influence Micronesian culture.

Having participants talk about the war within a chronological framework, beginning with the Japanese colonial period and ending with the initial American occupation, the authors organized the book in this chronological fashion. The book is divided into five "parts," beginning with Part I on "backgrounds." The chapters that follow are grouped under headings that illustrate the important themes that emerged in the oral histories. Chapters on "the meaning of war," "the shock of war," "hardship and suffering," and "combat experiences" were grouped under "Micronesian understandings of the Pacific war" (Part II). The chapters under "Micronesian vantage points" (Part III) discuss Micronesian responses to wartime pressures, "the typhoon of war," Micronesian loyalty to the perpetrators, and their notion that the war was not their war. "Cultural themes in Micronesian wartime narratives" were discussed in Part IV, whereas Part V consists of chapters providing conclusions.

The authors are to be applauded for letting Micronesians speak for themselves about their war experiences. The vivid recollections and stories illustrate the struggles and tribulations of islanders who were innocently caught in the war. As a child of parents who married right before the war and who were forced to run from hideout to hideout with their families while two outside powers were fighting each other in their land, I recognize the stories as powerful and at the same time painful. Although the stories seemed repetitive at times, I might attribute this sentiment to my having heard similar stories before. The repetitive, almost shopping list, retelling of these stories, furthermore, can portray participants as inanimate. Having heard similar oral histories myself, I was able to identify what is missing in the retelling of these oral histories. Even though the authors point out that they asked open-ended questions, and although it is true that the book is a presentation of oral histories, the experience of these Pacific Islanders would have been more poignant had there been more discussion [End Page 265] about who they were. The authors state, ". . . we must understand more than the simple facts of their experiences, of 'what happened to them' during the war years. We must also understand the culture in which the memories were encoded and in which they are recounted" (219). Providing more cultural and social context would have helped the authors achieve that goal.

The authors noted the importance of discussing the Micronesians' memories of the Pacific War through song, poems, and commemorations, as well. This is commendable because Micronesians have a rich oral tradition, and storytelling in the form of songs (including interactive songs), poems, rituals, and artwork has a central place in this tradition and culture. A distinct difficulty in retelling Micronesians' stories of the Pacific War lies in the friction between the linear textual approach in the book and the more fluid oral tradition of the interviewees.

It should not be ignored that the Pacific War in Micronesia was between the...

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