Memories of War: Micronesians in the Pacific War

Chapter 12. Greetings and Farewells

186 Chapter 12 GREETINGS AND FAREWELLS Anyone who has lived on a Pacific Island treasures memories of poignant welcomes and leave-takings. Small islands, by their nature, make vivid settings for ceremonies of arrival and departure. Ships or planes are sighted at a distance and watched into port; songs, dances, and feasts often mark the start and finish of visits. Even the ordinary comings and goings of travel off-island to work, to school, or for medical care are never routine. One never knows—and certainly in the years of war this was even more true—when or whether relatives or friends will meet again. Island songs and stories reflect this uncertainty and the fraught scene of parting. In a larger sense, the comings and goings of colonial powers mark Micronesia ’s recent history: first came the Spanish, whose long presence began with the arrival of Magellan in Guam in 1521, extended to other parts of Micronesia , and ended in 1885; then Germans, then Japanese, then Americans arrived as conquerors. These official regime shifts were marked by the ritual of raising and lowering of flags and other ceremonies. Micronesians also note the changing of colonial orders, but with attention to their own concerns rather than the bureaucracy of empires. HAILTOTHE NEW CHIEFS: THE AMERICANS ARRIVE As Japanese victory seemed increasingly doubtful, Micronesians had begun to ask new questions. What would happen to them if Japan lost? Would the Americans consider Micronesians to be enemies, indistinguishable from Jap- greetings and farewells 187 Admiral DeWitt C. Ramsey greets the chief of Ngulu, Yap. (U.S. Navy photo, National Archives photo no. 499123) anese? Would Islanders be treated as prisoners of war, harmed or exploited by the invaders? Would Americans kill them all, as the Japanese claimed? Such rumors and fears fill Micronesian accounts of this era. Many stories from this period are devoted to working out what Americans were like, how they differed from Japanese, and why they had come to this part of the world. Several factors shape how Americans are depicted. First, storytellers differed greatly in their familiarity with Americans. Residents of Guam or the Marshall Islands had a longer history of interactions with Americans both before and after the war, whereas people from the Central Caroline Islands had few encounters on which to base their views. Also, many speakers note that their opinions changed during the war, when U.S. military power undermined Japanese claims of invincibility. The exact timings and contexts of Islanders’ wartime encounters with Americans are also significant factors. The distribution of much-needed supplies in the wake of battle is routinely 188 chapter 12 mentioned in recollections of early interactions with Americans. The personal fortune of the speaker’s family is a major factor in a narrator’s assessment of the Americans in relation to the Japanese. Stories about Americans also reveal how Micronesians understand their recent histories and current political situations vis-à-vis the United States. American governance of Micronesia has had both failures and successes. After sixty years of experience with Americans in postwar Micronesia, many of the elders who told these stories do not see the Americans unambiguously as “the good guys.” Yet even when describing how American bombs and bullets killed Islanders (sometimes in deliberate or near-deliberate ways, as in the Marshall Islands or the bombing of Pulap), stories about Americans are interestingly varied and complex; very few blame Americans for wartime destruction. In their stories of World War II Micronesians frequently express forgiveness toward both the Japanese and the Allies. People say that the wartime activities of both parties were due to the circumstances of war; they were not intended to harm local people; rather, as one resident said, “We simply got in their way.” Indeed, in many cases, Islanders excuse the Americans, claiming that they deliberately avoided targeting Islanders, or commenting that harm to Islanders was an accident of war. Respect and politeness are important elements of the Micronesian social code. Given the face-to-face interaction in these small communities, formal apologies and forgiveness are important components of ongoing mutual respect and a mechanism to both recognize and restore hierarchical status relations. Cultural mechanisms exist throughout Micronesia by which an offending party can and should formally apologize for a wrong. Once an apology has been properly made, there is strong social support for its acceptance. Once a grievance has been formally...