What Is Hagåtña Pillbox?
This concrete battery is a well preserved leftover of Japanese occupied Guam during World War II!
What Makes It Historical?
Pillboxes originated with the German army during World War I, fortified block houses for trench warfare, which allowed snipers to fire through loopholes while being mostly protected against guns and grenades. No one knows for sure whether they were named after medical pill boxes or a shortened version of pillar boxes, a type of mailbox with a small slit for letters, but the name stuck, and pillboxes spread around the world, even to the remote islands of the Pacific! After seizing Guam in 1941, the Empire of Japan installed pillboxes all around Guam for coastal defense, including this one in the capital of Hagåtña! It has six reinforced concrete walls between 1.5 and 3 feet thick with two rooms and as many gun ports, plus a “crown” of coral rocks cemented to the roof!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Volunteer with the Guam Preservation Trust!
- Donate to the Guam Preservation Trust!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
500 feet north of Route 1 and Paseo de Susana
Hagåtña, GU 96910
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
Whenever the mood strikes you!