NAVAL BASE GUAM (July 11, 2025) – As part of Liberation Day events, a memorial Mass and site visit will be held on U.S. Naval Base Guam (NBG).

A Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m., July 18 at Sumai Cemetery on NBG main base and a visit is scheduled for 8:25 a.m., July 19 at Fena Cave located at the NBG Ordnance Annex.

The Sumai Memorial Mass is coordinated with NBG and the Sånta Rita-Sumai Mayor’s Office. Refreshments will be served following the Mass. Access to the cemetery is for guests who have made arrangements through the Sånta Rita-Sumai Mayor’s Office.

Sumai village was once known as the “Pearl of the Island” before World War II. Evolving from a small fishing village to the agricultural and commercial hub for ships in the mid-1800s, it became an economically rich village by the 1930s.

The cave site visit, coordinated between NBG, the Hågat Mayor’s Office, and Navy Munitions Command Pacific East Asia Division Unit Guam, will be held prior to a memorial at Hågat Memorial and Veterans Park. Access to the cave site is for guests who have made arrangements through the Hågat Mayor’s Office.

On July 19, 1944, the Fena Cave Massacre occurred, when Japanese soldiers killed more than 30 young men and women from Hågat and Sumai with grenades and bayonets in the caves near Fena Lake. During the past several years, the NBG commanding officer has invited the victims’ families to visit the cave as part of Liberation Day ceremonies.

Naval Base Guam