My Army Experiences, Part V
LIFE AT CAMP OJI, JAPAN
The story continues after our near disastrous experiences with the evil Studebaker (CLICK HERE TO VIEW):
Late Fall 1957 to early Spring 1958, Camp Oji, Tokyo, Japan. I'm settled into my job at the Personnel Processing Detachment, Headquarters, U.S. Army Security Agency Pacific. Having avoided being sent to Korea by convincing the captain that I alone could solve a rather delicate problem they had wherein they completely lost track of over 100 soldiers, at least on paper, over a period of about 10 years, I now had to make good on the promise.
So I got ahold of all the old "morning reports" dating back to the occupation, got thousands of 3x5 file cards, and proceeded to type. A card for every guy who ever came through there. As their status changed, their card moved to an appropriate file. By late fall only about 200 cards remained. Roughly 100 of those names could be accounted for, so they were eliminated. I now had the other hundred to check by sending TWXs (teletype messages, the precursors of e-mail) to the Pentagon, asking for traces or records of discharge. Our communications center was by this time a bit upset with me, so they suggested I cease stamping "Priority" on everything and perhaps use the mails instead. Anyway, by January the list was down to 4, a reasonable number to write off as MIA. No one was actually killed in this excercise. The photo above is of the headquarters building, mine was not so grand.
While all this was going on, a few of us traveled on weekends, seeing as much of central Japan as we could. After the Studebaker disaster all of our journeys were by train. On one such trip, my fellow worker Jim Webb and I were riding the rails when an infant kid across the aisle kept waving at us and giggling. His parents thought this was hilarious, and so struck up a conversation. In the end we got invited to the little boy's first birthday party. After shopping for a toy that moved and made sounds, we went and had a great time. And drank beer with the parents. That's Jim with the kid in the photo on the right. The gift we got him is on the far right.
Occasionally we had dates with some of the nicer local girls, not the ones who worked as "hostesses" at bars just outside camp. That's Jim, two young women, and me enjoying a dinner of sukiyaki.
In January it was announced that the Pacific Headquarters of the Security Agency would be moving to Hawaii. The process was gradual, so every week or so Camp Oji had fewer and fewer people, and I had less and less work to do. By March my detachment was reduced to just myself and a lieutenant. While Hawaii sounded enticing, it had its downside. Much, much more expensive, an isolated location, lack of "overseas" pay, and the possibility of being in the "real" army where soldiers marched, had inspections, and did other fun things. Like shine boots and make beds (we had houseboys).
As a result of my "solving" the missing troops problem, I began to receive other offers. The one I liked most was a posting in Manila. That's me (photo, above) in my room around this time, listening to cool jazz on the tape recorder. Radio buffs will notice the nifty Zenith Transoceanic set on the radiator, liberated from the Signal Corps.
One day in late March our lieutenant invited me to dinner at the officers' club, in civilian dress of course. I was still only a PFC. Over dinner and a few beers he told me about a new Security Agency outfit that was remaining in Tokyo, a joint venture with the Air Force and Naval security units to be called (what else?) the Joint Communications Relay Center Japan. He was to be the adjutant, and wanted me to be the unit clerk. I was thrilled! The next day I had an interview with a major who was to be the commander of the new unit, and got the assignment. The three of us then moved into a small office, where the major and lieutenant made plans and I typed them up. Hey, someone had to do it.
Moving day came in late May 1958. About 90 other guys, mostly from the communications center, were joining us in the convoy out to North Camp Drake on the very outskirts of Tokyo. As soon as they shut down operations at Oji, I was handed the "heart" of the encryption machine, wrapped in a blanket and about the size of a big typewriter, and put in a car with four armed guards. This I delivered intact to our new operations center in a modern office building called the Little Pentagon.
I always like to read accounts of former vets because you learn so much about other countries and what military life is really like. The reality is often so different than what a young man idealizes what it may be. You are an extremely handsome man and certainly shows well in those photos. I haven't heard too much about Korean War times so this is well received by me. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by:Evelyn | July 13, 2006 at 03:16 PM
Hi,
I have been trying to track down the friend of a family I have become close with in Japan. My family and I live here in Tokyo currently. The man's name is Harold D'Antleman, although since it has been many years and the Japanese family wasn't quite sure of the spelling, I could be off on the name. Apparently his nickname was "Frenchy" and he was a master sergeant at Camp Oji in the late 50s. I just thought maybe you would have heard of him and could tell me anything. The family had really fond memories of him and just thought it was a shot in the dark to try to get back in touch with him or his family. At any rate, I have enjoyed reading your blog! Thank you!
Posted by:Alanna Foxwell | May 18, 2008 at 10:10 AM
I was a SP2 (E5) / 3year "RA." with the 29th Engineers (Topo),34th Company, Army Map Service Far East from June 1956 to December 1957.We were located at Camp Oji,Tokyo.There was a Harold D'Entremont who was promoted to Sgt (E5) about the same time that I was promoted to Specialist 2nd Class. Later the rank was changed to SP5 after I returned to civillian life. D'Entremont had been in the Marines prior to Army enlistment & was a career soldier. He was classified as a Section Chief as I was too. We did photo mapping work. I recall that Frenchy was from Mass.USA.Had a Japanese Jo-San & roomed off Post.One of my fellow 34th veteran's advised me that Frenchy was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer in later years.It figures,he was quite good with politics & hung with the top NCO's & Officers.
Hope this reaches whoever wanted to know.
Richard "Dick" Shortt
Va. Beach,Virginia
Posted by:Richard Shortt | June 17, 2008 at 02:28 PM