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Partnership, preservation, protection: Camp Blaz epitomizes U.S. commitment in Guam, alliance with Japan

FORUM Staff

Steeped in history and fortified by Indo-Pacific partnerships, United States Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz on Guam’s northern plateau will play a crucial role in regional security and collective defense, U.S. military leaders and regional allies said during a January 2023 reactivation and naming ceremony for the base.

“Forward, persistent presence is key to the regional security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz is a critical part of that,” said Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David H. Berger.

Named for Brig. Gen. Vicente Tomas Garrido Blaz, the first Indigenous Marianas Islander to earn the rank of Marine Corps general, Camp Blaz, pictured, is the only U.S. Marine Corps base built in the past 70 years. It serves as a testament to the U.S. alliance with Japan and the U.S. commitment to its territory of Guam. The location was chosen as part of a 2012 agreement between Tokyo and Washington to relocate U.S. Marines from the Japanese island of Okinawa. The base was administratively activated in October 2020 with a smaller ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Named for Brig. Gen. Vicente Tomas Garrido Blaz, the first Indigenous Marianas Islander to earn the rank of Marine Corps general, Camp Blaz, pictured, is the only U.S. Marine Corps base built in the past 70 years.
Named for Brig. Gen. Vicente Tomas Garrido Blaz, the first Indigenous Marianas Islander to earn the rank of Marine Corps general, Camp Blaz, pictured, is the only U.S. Marine Corps base built in the past 70 years.

The Japanese government has contributed U.S. $3 billion toward the ongoing construction at Camp Blaz, Kimura Jiro, pictured, parliamentary vice minister of defense for Japan, said during the January ceremony. “The governments of Japan [and] the U.S. are working side by side for the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific,” he said, noting that moving Marines to Guam will be crucial to deterring aggression in the Pacific. “I am looking forward to seeing our bilateral accomplishment serving as a foundation for peace and stability in the region and further deepening the alliance,” Kimura added.

Marines have been in Guam almost continuously since U.S. forces landed in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, according to the Marine Corps. “The future of Guam is inseparable from the future of the broader Indo-Pacific, and the success of the Marines is inseparable from the success of Guam’s people,” Gov. Lourdes Aflague Leon Guerrero told service members, Japanese and U.S. officials, and descendants of Brig. Gen. Blaz gathered at the base in January. “Together we are an island and an ocean united. Together we are always better and always stronger.”

The U.S. Marine Corps is prioritizing environmental and cultural stewardship in the construction of Camp Blaz, including safeguarding protected plants and animals and their habitats. A team also increased native plants grown in the camp nursery, providing plantings for a 400-hectare forest enhancement project, part of the largest forest restoration effort in the island’s recorded history, the Marine Corps said.

Marines from Camp Blaz have partnered with the University of Guam since 2019 to remove invasive plants, restore forest habitat and rebuild animal populations, such as the federally protected Mariana eight-spot butterfly. Among their restoration methods: using birds and bats to spread native ficus tree seeds over invasive tree species. The animals eat the ficus fruits and disperse the seeds. Ficus trees will grow downward and eventually kill the nonnative host trees, researcher Jim McConnell told the U.S. Marine Corps.

A cultural resources team identified hundreds of native trees and plants at sites slated for construction and donated them to local artists and practitioners of traditional medicine, the Marine Corps reported.
In areas considered significant by the Guam State Historic Preservation Office, archeologists supervise construction and halt work if notable artifacts are unearthed. A burial site discovered in 2020, containing graves that could be 500 to 1,000 years old, is now preserved in the Sabånan Fadang Memorial on Camp Blaz. The memorial was dedicated to the people of Guam in January 2023 and will open to the public once the base is complete.

“Just as true as we are to the Marine Corps’ mission of being the nation’s premier warfighting organization, we will likewise remain faithful to our duty to protect and preserve cultural resources under our stewardship,” Maj. Gen. Stephen Liszewski, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations Pacific, said during the dedication.

IMAGE CREDIT: GARRETT GILLESPIE/U.S. MARINE CORPS

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