Marching toward the Guam invasion, July 16, 1944

Stateside editors were clearly swamped with competing war news this day, but the Paris (Texas) News put the continuing Guam 'softening up' operation on its front. Not so the august New York Times, which given all the war news and couture advertising it had to find space for, bumped this part of the war to page 15.

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Meanwhile, the Associated Press was monitoring Tokyo radio: "Sounding a note of pessimism on the Pacific war situation, the Tokyo radio reported today that American planes continued their relentless attacks on Guam while two heavy U.S. bombers attacked targets closer to Japan. The broadcast said 85 planes raided Guam and that two Liberators, undoubtedly flying from a Saipan airfield, struck Iwo Jima, an island about 750 miles south of Tokyo."

Want to watch a silent movie? U.S. Navy ships have free rein of off-shore Guam. They prepare artillery rounds, enjoy a band concert aboard and then start bombarding the island. Strangely, the archives have left the time code on the video, which takes away some production value.