North Camp Drake

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In May 1958 I transferred from HQ ASAPAC, "Oji Campu," in Tokyo to JCRC-J (an ASA communications center) at North Camp Drake on the northwest border of the city. For anyone who served in the army there or in its successor unit USASACU-J, this thread is for you. If you have any stories or photos to add, please contact me and I'll be glad to put them on this thread. Click here for my personal story about life in JCRC-J. The photo above is of the "Little Pentagon," a building that housed our operations, among other things.

The organization was actually formed a month earlier, in April 1958, at "Oji Campu." At that time it consisted of exactly three people: Major Edward Meares, 1st Lieutenant Edwin Hutchins, and PFC Me. We had desk space in the personnel office next to the headquarters building. They planned, I typed.

In May, sections of the Communications Center at Oji were reassigned to North Camp Drake, as HQ ASAPAC was moving to Hawaii. For technical reasons part of its mission had to remain in the Tokyo region, thus the creation of JCRC-J.

The Joint Communications Relay Center - Japan (JCRC-J) was originally to be a joint venture with the Air Force Security Service and the Naval Security Group, both of which were also affiliated with the NSA. This never worked out very well, although we did at times have some Air Force and Naval personnel. A year or so after I left in late 1959 the name changed as they finally realized that the fly-boys and sailors had departed for good. The new name was ASA Communications Unit - Japan, or USASACU-J.

When we first moved to Drake, we had no billets of our own and were housed with another army outfit, ACRAPAC (Army Command Reconnaissance Activity Pacific) (upper right corner on photo above, behind the motor pool, seen from the 3rd floor of our new quarters). This was a disaster, and we quickly moved into a modern building that was previously used by counterintelligence.

The new home (photo, above) was much better suited to our needs as our operations went on every day, around the clock.

Just for laughs, here's a view of how we lived in those luxurious surroundings. Well, not everyday — just weekends.

And here's a corner of the room I shared with one or two other guys. The stereo is mine, as is the shirt hanging on the right.

This is another scene from the 3rd floor of our living quarters. It wasn't far to the movies.

 

This is me in the entrance hall of our building, taking a picture. I had hair then.

And here is a photo of a highly contrived scene that I took to decorate our annual report. The girls are from our office.

This was my bunk at JCRC-J. I think the guy on the left was named Paul, and the other one might be my roomate Boylan.

CLICK HERE for Page 2, views of Asaka, the village just outside North Camp Drake. AND HERE for Page 3, a new map of North Camp Drake. AND HERE for Page 4, photos of the guys at JCRC frolicking.

And please, if you have anything to add, Contact Me.

And for memories of "Oji Campu" CLICK HERE.

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Comments

[DON THOMPSON]

HI, WAS JUST BROWSING AND FOUND YOUR ARTICLE AND MAN DOES IT BRING BACK THE MEMORIES OF 1961-1963 WHEN I WAS STATIONED AT CAMP DRAKE..MY OUTFIT WAS USASTARCOM LONG LINES..LATER IT BECAME USASTRATCOM AND YES WE WERE MOVED FROM THE OLD CK BLDG NEXT TO THE MENTAL HOSPITAL ON THE STRIP TO THE NEW "PENTAGON EAST" BLDG AND RAN AN TORN TAPE RELAY WITH A TERMINAL COMCENTER..WHEN I SEEN THE TWIN SMOKE STACKS IN ONE OF YOUR PICTURES, IT BROUGHT BACK GOOD MEMORIES..AND YES THE "BARRACKS" THAT US SIGNAL PEOPL LIVED IN WAS A CONVERTED HORSE STABLE WITH THE LIVING QUARTERS UP STAIRS..AND YES, I DID FREQUENT THE "CORNER BAR", ROSES BAR ON THE STRIP OUTSIDE OF CAMP DRAKE AND ALSO "JR'S" BAR AND RESTURANT LOCATED OUTSIDE OF GRANT HEIGHTS HOUSING AREA..WE USE TO GET OFF SWINGS AT MIDNIGHT, SHOWER AND MAKE IT DOWN TO "JRS" FOR A BIG EGG AND CHEESE SANDWITCH AND A COOL BEER..HIS SANDWITCHES WERE OUT OF SIGHT..HAD THE GREATEST FRESH HOMEMADE LOAFS OF BREAD AND WOULD CUT IT REAL THICK FOR THE EGG AND CHEESE...THE OLD ASA COMPLIMENT OF COMMUNICATORS WERE DOWN THE HALL FROM US IN THE NEW BLDG AND WE GOT TO KNOW SOME OF THEM DURING SNAK BAR BREAKS AND AT THE OLD NCO CLUB..THANKS FOR POSTING SOME OF HISTORY FOR US OLD FARTS....DON T

[david brew]

i was stationed at camp drake 249th general hospital from oct 66 to aug 68; many great memories of the place, we army people always wondered what went on in that large concrete building that stood in the center of camp and was run by the air force(it had a great snack bar-one of the best cheeseburgers and cherry cokes could behad there) rumors abounded about the big cement building, rumor had it that the air force personnel would be locked inside a giant safe every day and told not to associate with army personnel. i hated the south exit, just a bunch of bars with girls trying to relieve you of your yen; outside the north gate tho was real japan, narrow streets and shops and a short walk to asaka train staion and a whole new world, just got back today from japan and my wife and i decided to see whats left of camp drake: it has literally turned into a mile square of jungle surrounded by barbed wire with on sign of a building within. google army brats and see some pictures taken of the post in 98 (buildings still there) and 2005. cant find em? e mail me. dave

[davidabbrew]

i recently left a message about my days with the 249th general hospital; anybody out there got pictures of camp drake of about this time and want to share stories (email me at davidabrew@yahoo) with some friends i have finished a map of the camp and all the building from that period if anyone interested.

[Harland Eastwood]

Hi,
I served with the 249th at North Camp Drake from December 8, 1965 to April 6, 1967. I had been assigned to the same unit in August of 1965, when it was located at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. I was with the andvance party that arrived in December of 1965. We went to work getting the hospital operational. Our guys worked 24 hours a day for about 3 or 4 weeks. I worked mostly nights. I have great memories and pictures and there is a lot more I could say, but they can all wait for another day.
Cheers and regards to all the vets who served with the 249th and North Camp Drake.
Harland Eastwood

[Michael McLaughlin]

I was stationed there from July 1972 - Feb 1974. I was just looking at your pictures, and the one of the movie theater caught my eye. I was living on the third floor of a brick barracks and the view of the movie theater is almost exactly the way I remember it when looking out our barracks window. I have a picture taken from a similar angle.
As I remember it, there were two very large rooms between the stairs and the fire escape on that side of the building. Four of us had these two rooms, and we used one room as a sleeping area and the other room as a living room.

I really enjoyed my stay in Japan, and have many fond memories of the place.

USAF - 1967 communications squadron.

[Paul Guyatte]

Was at North Camp Drake spring and summer of 65, ASA Primary Criticom Relay Japan if I remember the designation correctly. Worked in Com. Center, AF and Navy had their own Com. Centers in same building. Late summer went TDY-Helomano Hawaii 4 months. Then 2 weeks Xmas leave home to AZ. Back to Drake Jan 66 to get my stuff and PCS to 508th Grp, Korea. Drake had a Convalescence Hospital for Nam wounded when I got back. Was only back there 3 days before heading to Korea, was very happy to leave North Camp Drake and Japan.

[Billy J. McMullin]

Hello one & all;
I USAF was stationed at Camp Drake from 1967 to 1969. I have several vague (drunken) memories of making the ASAKA - Shinjuku - Shibula - Ikebukuro drinking stops. I have a 25 year old son that is teaching english in South Korea and he met my wife and I in Japan between 09/10/08 & 09/20/08. I really wanted to swing by the old base and take some current pics but ASAKA has changed so much that not only could I not find the base from the train station nut I could not find anyone that knew which way to go.
My memory tells me that the walk from the main gate to the subway station took less than 30 minutes so I though it should have been fairly close.
I would be interested in communication with other personnel from that era.
Bill

[JIm Turner]

I was stationed at Camp Drake from November 1968 through June 1970. Was with the 249th Hospital Dispensary. It was located at the front gates. My wife came over the spring of 1969 so we lived out side the base.
Sargent Carter was over the dispensary during that time.

[Greggory Gannon]

I was an E-5 medic at the 249th in septic ortho and psyche from Dec68 to Jun70. I was trained as a combat medic and was waiting to go back to VN, having worked there as an 18 yr. old in 1966 but stayed 18 months in Japan. I was also the hospital photographer at the end of my tour and the photos I took went to the Army archive.

I have some photos from the 60s and also from my visits there from years of working in Japan...some from the late 80s when I snuck into the ruins of the old camp and photographed our old hospital headquarters. I aslo shot the remains of the barracks and some of the ward buildings and walkways from the chopper pads to the wards.

I was back there the last time in 2004 and it's all gone now with a new elevated rail-line running over the north side street that leads to the Asaka train station. I've been able to see it change over the past 19-20 years and even I have trouble figuring out "what was where" sometimes. With the help of Google I'm able to reconstruct some of the old base, and I've managed to find some old aerial photos online but I haven't found anyone who is putting all of this stuff together.

One of the last things that I did for Col.Scott as the unit photographer in 1970 was to put together a photographic unit history. I sent a request to the National Archive (signed by the Col.!) and I got back a stack of photographs and information about the history of the 249th Gen. The coolest things were the photographs of the hospital in WWI in France...Verdun I think. I still have some of those photos in deep storage but have written the archive again to request a research pass to go back in to get more material and haven't heard back from them. Also, the unit was in New Guinea in WWII and there are excellent photos of medical personnel and patients from both war deployments. The unit was at Fitzsimmons in Colorado during Korea.

Anyway, I would like to trade photos if anyone has any. I'm looking for pilots who might have taken any aerials while coming in for landings at our chopper pads but I imagine that they were very restricted about shooting photos over an ASA base...the spooks would never have given permission for those photos. As a photographer however, I KNOW somebody took some snaps on the way in or out of there!!

Regardless, going back there has been therapeutic for me as I've had some problems with memories of working on the wards as well as my time in VN.

Keep in touch and best to all out there...

Doc Gannon

[John Cowger]

Thanks for posting pictures of Camp Drake on the net. My father was stationed at Drake from 52 to 54, then worked on base til 58. I was born there in 58 and we moved back to the states the same year. I have been looking quite a bit to finds pictures on the internet and showed them to dad today and he recognized a couple of the places. We used google earth and brought up the base and he remembered where the motor pool, bx and a couple of other places were located.

[Lou Wolf]

I was assigned USASA-CU-J: 66-68 Camp Drake
There are indeed some stories to be told. George Buddy, Lou Wolf and Joe Elliott will never forget the place. Plnety more name.
How about SGT. Henderson with the red chisai Honda?
How about that Tennessean who introduced me to toruko?
How about Craig - who introduced me to learnng the language and living off base.
And loved the cheeseburgers and clam chowder Manhattan style at the NCO club.
Tricks, torn tape, criticom and the Pueblo.

[R J Rutherford]

March 1965-August 1967 249th ambulance jockey. Stayed in the old jail ( without cell doors ) when we first arrived. The helipad got real busy when the wards went online. Drove sixteen litter bus to Tachikawa AFB to pickup wounded when weather kept Hueys grounded. June 15th, 2008 posting by Harland Eastwwod was good to see. He might remember "RUT". Good health to all who have served.

[Harland Eastwood]

Hey Rut, I sure do remember you. We were in the same room for over a year. How could I forget? I tried to find you about a year ago, but couldn't. Contact me if you want. I would love to hear from you.
I put together a little book of 249th memories. I still have a few copies left. I even have a picture or two of you in the book. Jeff Eddy is still living in Ohio, Fred Washer is deceased, Dwight Joelllbeck lives in Illinois and Dave Brew is still in L. A. Great Memories!!

[Gonzalo T. Chua M.D.]

I was stationed at 249th Gen Hospital from July 1, 1969 to Jan. 1971. I was one of the two radiologists there. I was a 2 year doc and we had to live in the portable housing in Grant Hts.It was a most remarkable tour of duty that out of PG training, I was suddenly given the responibility of not only taking care of our boys who were wounded and also learned how to run a crew of X Ray technologist. I grew up fast. I had a great crew there. Have not heard or seen any of them since I got out.

[Don Burchette]

I was at Drake Dec 1970-Feb 1972 USASACU-J as a 32F in the comm center, a year at the ASA 177th OPS CO Korea the year before that. My brother was also at Drake 67-70 in the comm center. I never did take pictures and would have loved to go back and see the place. I remeber John Brzozowski from Phila. and Roy Hawkins from NC but that is about it for names. Get in touch by email and share some memories.

[Michael R Iacovella]

I was stationed at Camp Drake from Jul 66-68, trick D 72b, had many memories of SFC Stinson, Sgt Wologmott, Dearolf, Martinson and many more. Living off base for a month, NCO club , the Pubelo, Tet offensive, Scavenger Hunt, great 2 years of my life. Would love to reunite with relive memories.

[Raymond J. Guzman]

I was stationed at Camp Drake with JCRC-J from Jan 1959 to March 1961. Some of the names I remember are "Doc", "Frenchie" from La,Coombs, Christopher, Huey Short, Bartos, Phibbs, Sgt Russian, Sgt Riley (I later ran into him in Vietnam. Maj Meares and Lt. Hutchinson, Cpt Morgan and Mr.Blackburn were the officers I remember.

[Lou Wolf]

Michael, I think I remember you. I was new and the newbies were administered some weird initiation rite where we puinched while talking down a down 2 lines of you so-called vets(jerks really)punching us.
Some several nights later on the trick, ths guy whosefirst name was Mark was harassing the new guys because we were not fast enough.
This Mark B. guy started using a 2X4 about 3 ft long to smack us.
He smacked me and I ripped the lumber from his hands and smacked the crapp out of him.
He did not bother me again.

remember SSG Tempe? Lt Franklin(S-2) and the Major?

[Joe Wicks]

I passed through Camp Drake in 1951 and 1952, as left there for the 3rd Inf.Div.(Korea), and as I left there to return to the States. I remember the road from the south gate and "Chicken" a well-remembered, new-found friend who helped me face the reality of leaving behind several close friends who never made it back to exit from Camp Drake.

[Joe B. Woods]

I was at Camp Drake ASACU-J from 1966-1969 on Trick C (72B20) before going to Nha Trang Vietnam. Those three years in Japan were a great adventure for me, especially when we got off duty. I've lost contact with most of you but I hope everyone is doing well.

[Bob Nelson]

I was stationed at the 249th from January, 1967, to March, 1969. I worked four months on 811C when it was ENT, before it switched over to head wounds. Then eight months on 811B, the septic ward. Then the last fourteen months in the laboratory. I remember when the Tet offensive hit we divided the twelve lab techs into four crews, and every four days we worked all day, all night, and all the next day. It wasn't long before one crew volunteered to work every night, and the rest of us worked days. Dave Brew, good to hear from you. Glad you're alive and kicking after 40+ years.

[Rudy Sanchez]

I too was with the 249th Gen Gosp and was in the advance party from Denver. Worked in ENT clinic,ENt ward, and then stayed on head inj ward next two years. I was SP5. Have good and bad memories. Mostly played fastpitch softball for recreation and drank beer at club. Many fond memories of that place. Contact me at E-mail address or write: Rudy Sanchez, 1717 NW 50th St, Lawto, OK 73505. Cell 580-704-4802 Retired as 1SG, 1984.

[Rudy Sanchez]

If you were with the 249th General Hospital during the Vietnam War, this article and pictures are of patients in the head injury ward. I worked there as a young medic in 1967-68, The article appeared in a popular magazine in 1969.
http:www.mhhmd.com/warfare.html (Click on WARFARE)
Rudy Sanchez 580-704-4802

[John MacCord]

I was with Command & Control Det, 500 MIG, from 12/71 to 12/74. Camp Drake for two years and the last year at Camp Zama.

[Michael J. Niejadlik]

I was stationed at the 249th Gen Hospital from mid-67 to late 69 and worked in the Registrars section of the hospital dealing with the admissions and dispositions of the GI's coming in from Nam. I worked in the building known as 'Little Pentagon'. The chain of command I was under included Col. Scott, Major Gorby, Top-Sarge Delgado, Staff Sgt Scott and I worked with John Barton, Roger Craig, John Quick, Ray LeBlanc and others that I cannot remember right now. I really enjoyed my time there helping the patients and working with all of these fine people. Camp Drake wasn't much to look at but it was home for me. I really enjoyed my time in Japan and traveled extensively when I had time off. I enjoyed playing golf on the golf course that was just outside the base itself... think it was called the Showa-Drake Golf Course but am not positive. If you have heard from any of the people I've mentioned above, please contact me with their information. I have lots of photos taken of the place during my stay including Bob Hope's visit with the USO and Ann Margaret and the Gold Diggers... Hope to hear from some of you guys.