Okinawa Tour of Duty 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968

Unit: 18th FMS - I worked in the Jet Engine Shop and spent some time working in Aircraft Records Section. (Somebody found out I could type.) John Mullinax was Aircraft Records supervisor.

I was at Seymour Johnson AFB when the 4th TAC FIGHTER WING took delivery of the F-105B, and stayed with the F-105 until I left Okinawa in August, 1968. I spent 59 months on Okinawa and wish it could have been longer.

KADENA AIR BASE

S-78 SUNABE - Before moving to base housing, I lived in Sunabe, a housing area outside of Gate One. The house was about two blocks from the East China Sea. The reverse cycle air conditioner in the window provided both heating and cooling. Okinawa had a record low temp. while I was there, 43 degrees. The climate was pretty close to that of Key West.

MITZIKO

She was the first domestic help we had on Okinawa and I think she was paid $30 per month. Mitziko lived in Sunabe with her husband and 2 daughters. Domestic help was affordable and most Americans had someone to help around the house.

SUNABE HOUSING AREA

Taken from the window of a T-39 on approach to Kadena Air Base. It was raining hard with a really low ceiling.

When I moved into base housing, it was into one of the "Fish Bowls". With all those windows, it was easy to figure how they got the name. The idea was to open all those windows and enjoy the breeze. The reality was, the windows turned the house into a passive solar heating machine. Aluminum foil in the west and south side windows and a couple of air conditioners solved the problem. The house was roomy enough and comfortable with lots of government supplied furniture.

SUNABE SEWER PIPE
It really was a sewer pipe! When the tide came in, you could see lots of disgusting things floating by. You could also see a rainbow mix of reef dwellers. The Okinawans fished from the pipe and, I would assume, ate the fish they caught. As bad as that seems now, it was still a source of fascination with tidal pools full of strange & colorful creatures.

The Sunabe Sea Wall is a popular dive spot now.

English language television was provided by AFRTS and the programming (especially sports) was a little late. I missed all of the first run Star Trek episodes and the Batman series. We did have thirty days of elevator music (radio and TV) when Kennedy was assassinated.

KSBK provided top forty programming in English and Bob Wales was the morning guy, Chief Announcer, and later on Program Director. Bob practices law in Texas and has a website under construction.

www.bobwales.com

BENJO DITCH

Okinawans dealt with sewage in open ditches, called benjo ditches. This was the primary reason for caution when purchasing raw fruit and vegetables from local markets. The Okinawans would stop to wash produce in these ditches on the way to market.

AZA KUWAE, U.S. ARMY HOSPITAL

Two Bayless children were born in this hospital. Kuwae was the main hospital for American military and civilians working for the U.S. government.

An interesting letter from Dick Risk to Bob Wales, Bill Bayless, and Jerry Heaster

For Bob: I stumbled across your name and website on a website by Bill Bayless, who was in the Air Force stationed on Okinawa for about five years, beginning in September 1963. I was a second lieutenant, fresh out of AFROTC, assigned to Naha Air Base as the assistant IO (Information Officer), from July ’63 to August ’64. Fred Meurer was the IO. My original quest in writing to you was to recall the name of the Air Force major who ran AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) during that period. He smoked a pipe. At one time, he started a show patterned after The Tonight Show, called Okinawa After Hours (I think). His sidekick was a staff sergeant named Don Sturgis. There was also a blonde dependent wife who was also on the show. But, looking at this nostalgia, bringing back memories of my great tour on Okinawa, turned this into a fun thing.

I got a kick out of Bill’s recollection that AFRTS played essentially dirge music for 30 days after the Kennedy assassination, while KSBK played top 40. I was there then. General Douglas Macarthur died a few months later, and we were all relieved that the mourning period lasted only a couple of days. Wasn’t Kyoshi Kabira the owner or GM of KSBK?

This whole inquiry was prompted by an email exchange with Fred Forte, whom I had never met, but with whom I have a lot in common. I never got assigned to AFRTS Okinawa, but later was deputy chief of AFTN, the Thailand network. Fred was chief of AFRTS Okinawa in ’61 and for a few years before that. Maybe you knew him.

I spent every Thursday at the Okinawa Morning star, working with two airmen from Naha, putting out the base newspaper. A1C Martin Lamp was editor and my job was mostly proofreading. We would send a line back to be reset, and it would have another error in the correction. My closest call had to do with a story about a new cargo extraction method being developed for the C-130, involving a pallet extracted by parachute, called the “slingshot drop.” The substitution of an i for an o (caught in the last proof) could have had major repercussions.

My earliest recollection of a major news event was when the Midori Maru capsized. Our base directed the rescue mission, and we had a lot of the survivors in our mess hall that night. There were four Air Force people on that ship, heading back to their radar site. I remember trying to verify their identity for the American press. The PAO for USCAR, Al Liosnoff, demanded that I give him the names and accused me of being uncooperative. All I was trying to do was verify the information before passing it on to him. That took an extra hour or so. He called Maj. Gen. A.P. Clark, our division commander, and the next thing I knew I was the subject of an investigation. I came out exonerated, but I’ll never forget that S.O.B.

I note that you now practice law in Texas. I became a lawyer three years ago, at age 60, and practice in Tulsa.

Can you help me remember that guy who ran the radio-TV station?

Regards,

Dick Risk

For Bill: I remember This Week on Okinawa and that I enjoyed it very much. I remember Jerry Heaster at the Morning Star. (I sent him a note about 1982 when I was administrator of the Southwestern Power Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, asking if he was the same person I knew from Okinawa. He affirmed.) Also, John Servites and Bob Prosser. I was there when “Small Paul” Caraway was USCAR. I also remember the general you mentioned, Lt. Gen. Watson, who replaced him. I escorted eight U.S. dependents and eight Ryukyuan Boy Scouts (of America) and their leader from Okinawa to the National Jamboree in Valley Forge. I got pneumonia and missed most of the events. I was released from the hospital just in time to escort everyone back. We visited General Watson upon our return. I had also taken permissive TDY to serve as a staff member at Camp White Beach for the Boy Scout summer camp.

For Jerry: I sometimes cannot remember why I enter a room, but somehow, in the cobwebs of my mind, I remember that your son’s name is Typhoon Rowdy. Why can’t I remember the name of the AFRTS OIC?

Dick has given his permission to publish his contact information:

Richard B. Risk, Jr.

3417 East 76th Street

Tulsa, OK 74136-8064

(918) 494-8025

dick@risklawfirm.com