Guam natives fear for their home
Worry about family within reach of missiles
Christina Illarmo, 33, came to Boston from Guam in 2001 to attend Emerson College and went on to get a masters from Wheelock College. She lived in the Boston area for 10 years and now resides in New Orleans, but she told the Herald’s Chris Villani the escalating war of words between the U.S. and North Korea has put her home — and her family — in the crosshairs.
“I am pretty terrified but I have been trying to keep it under wraps. I have a job and I have to go work every day. The people around me don’t understand what I am going though and what I am carrying with me.
“I talked to my mom last night for the first time since all this started. I was avoiding calling home because I know it would be emotional,’ it’s hard to cry in front of your parents or hear your parents crying. I was afraid of that.
“I talked to my mom and it sounded like she was putting up a brave front. Homeland Security is assuring the people of Guam if missiles were fired there would be a 14-minute warning. She said there would be sirens going off and, if that’s the case, I would be her first phone call.
“Just the weight of that, just thinking about what that phone call could be like. ‘ The alarms went off, I have 14 minutes.’ What do you say?
“My mom said ‘you can’t live in fear, you have to live your life,’ but every time I hear my phone going off I’m wondering if this is going to be that call.
“With all of the stuff that is going on, I am thinking now is the time to go home. If any of this stuff goes down, I want to be there with my parents and be there to support my family. The thought of being there is really scary, but the thought of not being there is even scarier.”
“My feelings run the gamut. First, you kind of laugh it off, but then it sinks in that it could potentially be an actual possibility given the current leadership. It just seems like one of those things that has been so quick to escalate.
It’s a strange thing because Guam is located almost in a middle-ground area, it would be easy for them to attack it to prove a point.
“I’ve talked to different people I know who live there, I still have a bunch of cousins, friends from school, my half-brothers and sisters. They laugh it off but it’s always in the back of their mind. They don’t let it get in the way of their day-to-day life because there isn’t much they can do about it on a civilian level.
“It’s like walking on eggshells and being aware that there are steps that can make things go kind of in a positive direction and some which would swing things in the opposite direction.
“They are definitely hoping for the best. They’re not ramping up Y2K style or anything, it’s more just playing it by ear ...
I don’t think there is a warning system that can do anything. A lot of it ends up being a discussion about ‘what do you do in your final minutes’ and each answer gets dumber than the one before.”