Some people get one view of Kolonia Town and are instantly bored. Initially, only the surface is evident; an apparently one-street town lined with rusting and often dilapidated storefronts. But it only takes a second look to realize that Kolonia has character. After all, a town that has been held hostage twice, seen four colonial governments come to power, been completely flattened---once by a typhoon and once by aerial bombing raids---and then bounced back to usher in the birth of a new nation, deserves a chance and some careful attention. As if Kolonia had not already taken enough beatings, in 1944, repeated American air strikes against the Japanese (who took over in 1914) laid waste to the area a second time. Every structure in the town was destroyed with a three major exceptions. The oldest is the bell tower of what was once a Catholic church built in 1909 by the Germans. The church itself is long gone, ironically destroyed by the Japanese before the bombings. But the tower remains, a familiar monument to the past.