In February 1949, Tun Antonio Cruz Artero (right) received the Medal of Freedom for helping US Navy Radioman George Tweed (next to Artero) during the Japanese occupation of Guam in World War II.

While Tun Antonio was happy to help Tweed and never regretted assisting him during the war, he nonetheless felt the award to be hollow, since at the time he received it, the US military had taken most of his family’s lands for base construction. He and his family spent decades seeking the return of some of their family’s lands or just compensation for what had been taken by the US military.