For months after US Forces recaptured the island of Guam in August of 1944, US Marines regularly discovered and captured Japanese soldiers hiding in the caves and tunnels across the island. These Japanese prisoners were assigned to assist US forces in their work rebuilding the island nation. Here, one of the Japanese POW’s gained the attention of young Ivan Williamson, a member of the Navy’s Construction Batallion, the Seabees. Ivan was just shy of his 18th birthday when he left his home in Le Roy, Illinois, for the Great Lakes Naval Station and had to ask his mother to sign the paperwork necessary to allow him to enlist earlier than the 18-year-old age limit. After observing one of the Japanese POWs sketching with a stick in the sand, Ivan and the Japanese prisoner communicated through motions and rudimentary hand gesture and the Japanese prisoner requested some white cloth to draw on. Though Ivan was assigned to the company stores where he worked with the Sixth Fleet’s supply chain, the only white cloth he could locate was a pillowcase, which he gave to the Japanese prisoner. The Japanese POW returned later with a colorful drawing of Betty Grable in a star-patterned bathing suit standing before an ocean dotted with two tropical island trees. Williamson continued to supply the artistic POW with pillowcases and even allowed the use of his office to create the artwork.