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.

In their 1984 rematch, Blaz bested Won Pat. At the beginning of the 99th Congress (1985–1987), the freshman class elected Blaz as its president, marking the first time a Territorial Delegate held this informal leadership position. Blaz received two committee assignments: Armed Services and Interior and Insular Affairs. Blaz retained these two assignments during his eight years in the House. In the 100th Congress (1987–1989), he also had a spot on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which he kept until he left Congress in 1993. From 1985 until 1993, he served on the Select Committee on Aging. Throughout his tenure, Blaz’s most consistent and fervent cause remained improving Guam’s political status. He routinely introduced legislation to establish Guam as an American commonwealth rather than an unincorporated U.S. territory. He supported statehood for the District of Columbia and increased sovereignty of the U.S. territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Democrat Robert A. Underwood defeated Blaz in the November 1992 election. After leaving the House, Blaz resumed teaching at the University of Guam. He died on January 8, 2014, in Fairfax, Virginia.