Siguenza, the first Chamorro commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, died May 17 at the age of 87.

There are not enough Marines on Guam to conduct a full military funeral for Siguenza, so the island's 3rd Marine Division Association and Delegate Madeleine Bordallo asked the Marines to send a detail for today's funeral.

Scheduled to arrive from Hawai'i were six pallbearers, a bugler and an officer-in-charge.

Also participating in the funeral will be a rifle squad from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base.

"His faithful duty and dedication to the United States of America, the Marine Corps and the island of Guam were admirable and it is only fitting that he be provided one of his last requests, to have a Marine Corps funeral," Bordallo said.

"(Siguenza) shattered the ridiculous myth that Chamorro sons of Guam were only qualified to serve as men servants in the Navy," retired Marine Gen. Ben Blaz stated in a letter to the Pacific Daily News. "He blazed a trail for others to follow. I did."

Lee Webber, president and publisher of the Pacific Daily News, and a member of the 3rd Marine Division Association, which Siguenza helped start, said Siguenza had a strong interest in community issues.

"We communicated back on forth on various issues," Webber said.