Roman Tmetuchl (February 11, 1926 – July 1, 1999) was a Palauan political leader and businessman. He grew up in Japanese-controlled Palau and joined the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, during World War II. After the war, he became the leader of Palau's Liberal Party. He worked in the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1964 to 1978 and advocated for Palau gaining a separate status from the rest of Micronesia. He became governor of Airai and engaged in three unsuccessful Palauan presidential campaigns. As a businessman, Tmetuchl led several construction projects for his business holdings and for the Palauan community, including the Palau International Airport (which was later renamed in his honor) and a Seventh-Day Adventist clinic. Early life Tmetuchl was born in the Eloklsumech clan of Airai in 1926. He grew up in Koror while Palau was under Japanese control. He attended a Japanese elementary school in Koror and excelled in mathematics. During this time, he worked as a janitor and paperboy. Tmetuchl was also a sprinter and jumper and was, according to William Vitarelli, regarded as the fastest sprinter in Palau and Guam in 1949. Later in his life he would coach teams and sponsor Palau's athletes in the 1969 Micronesian Games. In 1943, he was recruited to work for the Kempeitai, the Empire of Japan's military police in World War II. He started with various cleaning jobs and then worked for Lieutenant Colonel Aritsune Miyazaki. He participated in military drills and exercises, and learned about the war's status at police headquarters. After the war, he returned to Koror and started working for the United States military at a quarry. Tmetuchl, who at that time could speak Palauan and Japanese, started learning English. He was recruited in a teacher training group and learned more English. In 1948 he traveled to Guam for further training and testified at a war crime trial for twenty Imperial Japanese Army personnel. At the age of 23, he was placed in the 11th grade at George Washington High School in Guam. He graduated in 1951 and was one of the top ten students of his class. Political career Early political activities Tmetuchl was a leader of Palau's Liberal Party throughout his political career. In 1950, he led Palau's second workers' strike to raise wages. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s he worked in Trust Territory of the Pacific