# Orote Field > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Orote_Field > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Orote_Field.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orote_Field > Source revision: 1308723836 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Former air base in Guam}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Orote Field | image = Orote Field.jpg | caption = Orote Field in 1945 | coordinates = {{coord|13|26|13|N|144|38|30|E|display=inline,title}} | location = [Orote Peninsula](/source/Orote_Peninsula), [Naval Base Guam](/source/Naval_Base_Guam) | locmapin = Guam | nearest_city = [Santa Rita, Guam](/source/Santa_Rita%2C_Guam) | area = | built = 1943 | architect = | architecture = | added = June 18, 1975 | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | refnum = 75002149{{NRISref|version=2010a}} | mpsub = }} '''Orote Field''' is a former [air base](/source/air_base) in the [United States territory](/source/Territories_of_the_United_States) of [Guam](/source/Guam) built by the [Empire of Japan](/source/Empire_of_Japan) with [Chamorro](/source/Chamorro_people) forced labor during the [Japanese occupation of Guam](/source/Japanese_occupation_of_Guam) (1941-1944). It is separate from the Marine Corps amphibious airplane base at located at [Sumay](/source/Sumay%2C_Guam) village that was operational from 1921 to 1931. Following the [liberation of Guam](/source/Battle_of_Guam_(1944)) in 1944, the U.S. military repaired the field for further use in the [Pacific War](/source/Pacific_War). Located on [Naval Base Guam](/source/Naval_Base_Guam), Orote Field was largely abandoned after World War II except for occasional training exercises. One major event in 1975 was [Operation New Life](/source/Operation_New_Life), when a tent city for tens of thousands of [South Vietnam](/source/South_Vietnam)ese refugees was erected at the field. The field [was listed](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_Guam) on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) in 1975. == History == On August 6, 1941, Naval Governor [George McMillin](/source/George_McMillin) sent a letter reporting surveys indicating that the Orote Peninsula could sustain a {{convert|4500|ft}}-by-{{convert|400|ft}} landplane runway. However, the U.S. did not actually start construction of a runway.{{cite web |title=Building the Navy's Bases in World War II; history of the Bureau of Yards and Docs and the Civil Engineer Corps, 1940-1946 - Volume II (Part III, Chapter 26) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/building-the-navys-bases/buidling-navys-bases-vol-2-chapter-26.html#1-28 |website=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher=U.S. Govt Print. Off. |access-date=March 10, 2021 |date=1947}}{{rp|345}} During the [Japanese occupation of Guam](/source/Japanese_occupation_of_Guam), [villages](/source/villages_of_Guam) were required to supply levies for able-bodied men to work on airfields and other defense projects. Orote Field was the first of the Japanese airfields on Guam to be completed by Chamorro laborers, largely by hand, in 1943.{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Property Documentation Form: Japanese Defense Fortifications on Guam |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64000141.pdf |website=National Park Service |access-date=March 5, 2021 |page=3 |date=January 25, 1991}} From May 1944 through the second [Battle of Guam](/source/Battle_of_Guam_(1944)), the airfield was attacked by US aircraft. American troops established their [beachhead](/source/beachhead) on either side of the [Orote Peninsula](/source/Orote_Peninsula) on July 21 in order to seize the airfield and the adjacent deep water [Apra Harbor](/source/Apra_Harbor). The airfield was recaptured on July 30.{{Cite web |url=http://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/marianas/orote/index.html |title=Pacific Wrecks}} The [Seabees](/source/Seabees) of the 3rd Battalion 19th Marines LLP, 25th Naval Construction Battalion, got the airfield operational. The airfield was one of many U.S. airfields on Guam during the [Pacific War](/source/Pacific_War) and was closed permanently in 1946. It still sees some use as a [touch-and-go](/source/Touch-and-go_landing) training strip used by [C-130 Hercules](/source/C-130_Hercules) crews located nearby at [Andersen Air Force Base](/source/Andersen_Air_Force_Base).{{cite web |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/oro.htm |title=Orote Field |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=2013-08-22 |archive-date=2006-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211203447/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/oro.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=75002149}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Orote Field |author= |date= |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NRHP url|id=75002149|title=accompanying photos|photos=y}} The old airfield housed 50,000 evacuees from [South Vietnam](/source/South_Vietnam) during [Operation New Life](/source/Operation_New_Life) in 1975.{{Cite book|last=Dunham|first=George R|title=U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Bitter End, 1973–1975 (Marine Corps Vietnam Operational Historical Series)|publisher=History and Museums Division Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps|year=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/TheBitterEnd|isbn=9780160264559|pages=225–7}} It was used as a [tent city](/source/tent_city) for the 1999 Tandem Thrust military exercise. It is now part of [Naval Base Guam](/source/Naval_Base_Guam). ==See also== * [US military installations in Guam](/source/%3ACategory%3AMilitary_installations_of_the_United_States_in_Guam) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{commons category-inline|Orote Field}} *{{HAER |survey=GU-1 |id=gu0001 |title=Orote Point Airfield, Apra Harbor Naval Reservation, Orote Point, Guam, GU}} *[http://pacificwrecks.com/airfields/marianas/orote/ Orote Airfield] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610201152/http://pacificwrecks.com/airfields/marianas/orote/ |date=June 10, 2015 }} at the Pacific Wrecks history website {{National Register of Historic Places in Sånta Rita-Sumai, Guam}} {{authority control}} Category:Defunct airports in the United States Category:Airports in Guam Category:Military installations of the United States in Guam Category:Airports on the National Register of Historic Places Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Guam Category:World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam Orote Category:1921 establishments in Guam Category:Orote Peninsula Category:Military airbases established in 1943 Category:Military airbases closed in 1946 {{Guam-geo-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Orote Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orote_Field) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orote_Field?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.