[B]WASHINGTON, D.C.[\/B]\u2014Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU) issued yesterday the following statement on the passing of former delegate Vicente \u201cBen\u201d T. Blaz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am truly saddened to hear of the passing of Congressman Ben Blaz. Ben was a longtime family friend and was particularly close to my late husband, Ricky,\u201d said Bordallo. \u201cBen was an outstanding leader of our community having served as the first Chamorro to achieve the rank of Brigadier General and was a trailblazer for those in military service. He was elected in 1984 to serve the first of four terms as a Member of Congress representing Guam. He was a distinguished individual whose wartime experience, knowledge, and passion for Chamorro history made him a great role model throughout generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my tenure in Congress, he was a strong source of support and guidance on issues important to our community and the people of Guam. I will always be grateful for his presence and participation at our Liberation Celebrations in Washington, D.C. Ben truly lived an American life with the heart of a Chamorro wherever he went. Today, our island has lost a hero, a leader, and a great friend. My thoughts and prayers are with his sons, Mike and Tom, and their families and I join the people of Guam in extending my condolences during this time.\u201d [B][I](Office of the Delegate)[\/I][\/B]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU) issued yesterday the following statement on the passing of former delegate Vicente \u201cBen\u201d T. Blaz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}