U.S. Army photographer Frank Louis Buchman captured images of Guam – the people, the villages and the landscape – after the island’s 1944 liberation from Japanese forces.
When his military service ended, he went home to Pittsburgh and put the photos in box in the attic.
They sat there for almost 80 years, with Buchman occasionally pulling them out to show family and friends.
“They were very special to him,” said his daughter, Jane Buchman Tweedlie. “And you know, as kids, he told us, ‘Don't mess with the pictures.’ We didn't mess with the pictures.”
The discovery
In 2024, a young relative brought a CHamoru woman, Taylor Gutierrez, to visit Buchman. As Buchman was showing her the photos, Gutierrez saw a picture of a woman who looked familiar. She texted a photo to her grandmother and learned the woman in one of Buchman’s photos was Gutierrez’s great-grandmother.
It was the first of many discoveries involving the photos, which are on display at the Guam Museum through Aug. 18.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Manny Crisostomo, retired journalist Rob Perez and California Superior Court Judge Johnny Cepeda Gogo, all sons of World War II survivors, coordinated the exhibit, "So We Leapt - Para I Hinanao-ta Mo’na.”
During the pandemic, Gogo started collecting signatures of Guam World War II veterans and survivors on Guam flags. So far, more than 230 people have signed, with more adding their names during the exhibit. The flags, along with portraits of those who signed them, are also on display.
Buchman, who died in May at the age of 103, was one of the veterans who signed a flag. He arrived on Guam shortly after the island’s liberation from Japanese forces in 1944.
“In his off hours, he would go in his Army jeep and drive into the villages and just mingle with locals and look for interesting people to photograph and interesting things to photograph,” Perez said.
The photos provide a glimpse into the daily lives of CHamorus rebuilding after a devastating wartime invasion and occupation.
The wedding
Color pictures were rare in the 1940s, but inside the box, Buchman had a color photograph of a 20-person wedding party. None of the people were identified in the undated picture, and no location was given. Buchman could not recall any details.
“It was just an amazing photograph, and we didn't even know when it was taken. We didn't know where the wedding was on the island. We didn't know any of the people in here, and so we just had to basically put on the reporter's hat and just try to figure out what's going on,” Perez said.
He reached out to friends and relatives on Guam and learned that Francisco Francisco Perez, then 24, and Rosita Cepeda Suzuki, 22, were married at 8 a.m. Oct. 7, 1945, in Hagåtña. Future Gov. Ricardo “Ricky” Bordallo, then 18, was one of the groomsmen, as was future federal Judge Cristobal Duenas. Vicente Aflague, uncle of Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, and Ricardo Camacho Flores, brother of future Guam Archbishop Felixberto Flores, are also in the photo.
The twin flower girls, Sylvia Perez Artero DeLong and Melvia Perez Artero Cafky, then 6, were later located and photographed by Crisostomo.
On Saturday, war survivors visited the exhibit, viewed the photos and signed a flag.
One of them, Antonio Cruz White, now 84, was just a month old when the Japanese invaded. White, who now lives in Colorado Springs, attended the opening with his son, Alex White.
Two other signing events will be held, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 15 and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 17.
Any war survivors who have not yet signed the flags are invited to add their names, Perez said.
The museum is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
