 Tweed had arrived on Guam in August 1939; his family, along with other American women and children, were evacuated in October 1941.The Americans faced the Japanese invasion with 155 Marines, a 200-man native insular force, and 400 Navy personnel who were untrained for combat.He and five other men (Al Tyson, Yeoman First Class Yablonsky, Chief Aerographer Jones, Chief Machinist's Mate Krump, and Machinist's Mate First Class Johnston of the USS "Penguin") slipped into the Guam jungle rather than become prisoners of war.