US Naval Station Guam MI Patch

Semper Fidelis Adjutor, the Latin stitched along the bottom of this patch, means Always a Faithful Helper, and it was the motto of the U.S. Naval Station on Guam. The station's job was to back up the flag officer on the island, Commander Naval Forces Marianas, and keep Apra Harbor working. It coordinated harbor movements, assigned berths and pilots, and kept track of every ship in port. Behind that sat about 1,000 acres beside the harbor with barracks for roughly 2,000 men. A sailor whose ship pulled into Guam went through the station's hands one way or another.

The Navy's history on Guam goes back to 1899, when a U.S. Naval Station was established along with the island's formal government, and until the Japanese captured Guam in December 1941 its commanding officer also served as Governor of Guam. The Navy came back in 1944, the year Naval Base Guam and Commander Naval Forces Marianas both date from, and Naval Air Station Agana operated on the island from 1944 to 1995. In March 1952 the Naval Station was reestablished as a component of the Naval Operating Base. By 1963 its dispensary was treating about 3,000 people a month, and the station ran beaches, pools, hobby shops, ball fields, a commissary and a Navy exchange. Today the Apra Harbor installation is Naval Base Guam, under Joint Region Marianas, which since 2009 has covered Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

This is a 4.5 inch round patch with a thick gold rope border, and the edge is cut to follow the rope. Inside it a white ring carries U.S. NAVAL STATION across the top and Semper Fidelis Adjutor along the bottom in light blue, with a small blue star at each side. A ring of gold anchor chain encloses an ocean-blue field, and on it lies the island of Guam in green, long and narrow, with GUAM M.I. stitched in white along its length. M.I. is the Mariana Islands, the chain Guam sits at the southern end of. Rope and anchor chain are both deck gear that any sailor who handled lines at Apra would know on sight.

Guam is a long way from anywhere, and the station was what made it a working port: a berth, a pilot, the mail, the exchange, a beach on a day off. Its sailors moved ships in and out of Apra Harbor year after year while the fleet came and went. Shore duty on Guam was its own world, part island and part forward base, with the harbor at the center. The motto puts the station in a helper's role, and the work fit it. Sailors who served there tend to remember Guam longer than most of their ports.

It fits a shadow box next to a Western Pacific cruise book and a photo of the ship tied up at Apra, or a jacket worn to a ship's reunion. It also makes a good gift for a parent or grandparent who was stationed on Guam. The backing is iron-on, and a few stitches make it permanent. Always a faithful helper, in gold rope and blue thread.