PEACE MEMORIAL

Back in the 1960s, a Catholic monsignor who lived through the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II, and Japanese Buddhist associations collaborated in the building of a Peace Memorial so that we never have to suffer what they went through in the war.  The site chosen was the last battle ground on Guam of World War II, in Mataguac, Yigo.  Every year, both Buddhist monks and Catholic clergy take turns praying for the war dead at this annual occasion.

This year, Fr Raphael Iannone, a Capuchin visiting from New York, went out of personal interest to the annual ceremony.  He is seated in between a Buddhist monk on the left and the Lieutenant Governor of Guam on the right.

The Peace Prayer of St Francis was said in Japanese by almost everyone, lead by Fr Santiago, a Japanese-speaking Catholic priest on Guam.