Blaz, Ben, 1928-2014

Vicente Tomás Garrido Blaz (February 14, 1928 – January 8, 2014), also known as Ben Blaz, was a Chamorro United States Marine Corps Brigadier General from the United States territory of Guam. After retirement, he was elected the delegate to Congress from Guam in 1984 as a Republican. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 until 1993.

Born in Hagåtña, Guam, he left Guam after earning an academic scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where he majored in physics and chemistry and earned a BS in 1951. While in school, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at the onset of the Korean War. After graduating from Notre Dame, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Blaz served two overseas tours in Japan and one in Vietnam. In 1963 he earned an MA in management from The George Washington University, and in 1971 he graduated from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Blaz rose to the rank of brigadier general in 1977, becoming the highest-ranking Guamanian to serve in the U.S. military. Blaz retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of Brigadier General in 1980. After retirement, he was a professor at the University of Guam. In 1982, he ran for Congress against Antonio Borja Won Pat, nearly defeating him with 48 percent of the vote.

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