African American Aviation Engineering Battalions. Army Air Forces B-29 bombers flew from Northwest Field and North Field on Guam to attack targets in the Western Pacific and on mainland Japan. Guam's native Chamorro population had suffered considerably during Japanese occupation, and the Japanese soldiers began to commit atrocities during the preparation for the invasion. In what became known as the Maneggon March, the Japanese soldiers forced most of the island's population to march into six concentration camps in southern Guam. The sick and starving were left for dead along the way, and Japanese troops massacred about 600 civilians out of Guam's population of roughly 20,000. As many as 2,000 may have been killed during the occupation. Liberation Day continues to be celebrated on Guam every 21 July. Unit awards Navy Unit Commendation: 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 21 July to 10 August 1944 Medal of Honor recipients Four Medal of Honor recipients of the Battle of Guam: Captain (later General) Louis H. Wilson, Jr., USMC Private First Class Leonard F. Mason, USMC (posthumous) Private First Class (later Corporal) Luther Skaggs Jr., USMC Private First Class Frank Witek, USMC (posthumous) See also 18th Infantry Regiment (Imperial Japanese Army) Agana race riot – Violent confrontation between white U.S. Marines and black U.S. sailors Battle of Guam (1941) Pacific War Museum Return to Guam, 1944 documentary and propaganda film about the battle The War in the Pacific National Historical Park George Ray Tweed Nimitz Hill Notes References Further reading Manchester, W., 1980, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., , pp 278–302 External links "The Marianas and the Great Turkey Shoot", World War II Database. Lodge, Major O.R. USMC Historical Monograph: The Recapture of Guam, Historical Branch, United States Marine Corps, 1954. O'Brien, Cyril J. Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam, Marines in World War II Commemorative Series, Marine Corps Historical Center, United States Marine Corps, 1994. Photos from the Liberation of Guam The Real Revo Pacific War Museum National Park Service site Conflicts in 1944 Guam, 1944 Battle, 1944 Battle, 1944 World War II operations and battles of the Pacific theatre Guam (1941) Guam (1941) Guam 1944 Amphibious operations of World War II July 1944 events August 1944 events Amphibious operations involving the United States Military in Guam