Vicente T. Blaz

Vicente Tomás Blaz Garrido ( Ben Garrido Blaz; born February 14, 1928 in Hagåtña, Guam, † January 8, 2014 ) was an American politician and general. Between 1985 and 1993 he represented Guam as a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Vicente Blaz is also known as Ben Blaz. This is connected with traditions of different languages ​​in the Spanish- and English-speaking area. Garrido was his mother's name. He grew up in Guam and lived there during the Second World War three years of Japanese occupation. During this time he was committed by the Japanese for forced labor. Then he studied until 1951 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Between 1951 and 1980 he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, where he rose to brigadier general. He was awarded a Bronze Star, among others, and the Order of the Legion of Merit. During his military service, he continued his education. By 1963, he studied at the George Washington University in Washington, DC; in 1971 he graduated from the Naval War College in Newport (Rhode Iceland ). In the years 1983 and 1984 he was a professor at the University of Guam. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party.

In the congressional elections of 1984, Blaz was elected as a non-voting delegate for Guam in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, where he became the successor of Robert A. Underwood on January 3, 1985. After three re- elections, he was able to complete in Congress until January 3rd, 1993 four legislative sessions. In 1992 he was not re-affirmed. After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he withdrew into retirement. Most recently, he lived in Ordot.