Familian Wusstig
To download podcast of this episode and others head to this link.
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Ep. 237 “Sailor, Musician and Forgotten POW: Remembering
George Wusstig” (hosted by Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua and produced by Tom
Maxedon with assistance from Alan Grossman and Robert Wang) aired on 3/11/16.
During the Japanese occupation of Guam in World War II, a
number of U.S. active duty and retired military men were taken as prisoners of
war to Japan. One of those was George Ernest Wusstig who was born in Germany in
the 19th century, migrated to the United States where he became a U.S. citizen,
and settled in Guam in 1904. As a skilled musician, he joined other
recent migrants to Guam such as Marcello Sgambelluri and Ermette Pellicani in
the Guam Navy Band, which afforded young Chamorros the opportunity to learn a
variety of musical instruments and perform at public events in Hagåtña. Wusstig
married into a local Chamorro family and raised a large family. Already
an elderly man when he was seized by the Japanese, he died of natural causes
within nine days of being imprisoned in Kobe, Japan.
This episode features a November 25, 2015 interview
conducted by historian, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua, with two of George
Wusstig’s grandchildren, John and Florence, who were born after the war and
never met their grandfather. Their research into their grandfather’s role
in Guam history began as a student project by Florence while still in high
school. In addition to the oral history shared by their aunts and uncles who
were raised by their grandfather, they discuss the postwar efforts and
difficulties in locating George Wusstig’s body and having his remains
repatriated to Guam.
In honor of George Wusstig’s role in the Guam Navy Band, the
music for this episode are all historical pieces which were played by the Navy
Band prior to World War II. They are (in order of presentation): “Hands Across
the Sea” by John Phillips Sousa, “In Storm and Sunshine” by John Clifford
Heeds, “Under the Double Eagle March” by Josef Wagner.
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