[Stars & Stripes] The Marine Corps has activated a new base on Guam for 5,000 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force set to move there over the next five years from Okinawa, Japan.
Camp Blaz, near Andersen Air Force Base, is the first new Marine installation since Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany was commissioned in Georgia on March 1, 1952, according to a Marine Corps statement announcing the activation this week.
"As the Marine Corps presence on Guam grows, I am confident that we ... will honor the history of the island of Guam, we will have the courage to defend it, and we will remain committed to preserving its cultural and environmental resources," the camp’s first commander, Col. Bradley Magrath, said in the statement.
The activation comes at a time of rising tensions in the Pacific as China presses claims to sea territory and builds military forces that threaten U.S. forces stationed in the region.
Camp Blaz is named in honor of the late Marine Brig. Gen. Vicente "Ben" Tomas Garrido Blaz, a Guam native. |