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Camp Fuji, 1960

Camp Fuji, 1960

In previous newsletters, Camp Fuji has been discussed. I came across some photos taken there in 1960. My time in HQ-4-12, Camp Hague, Okinawa, included two trips to Fuji, one in August and one in Dec. 4-12 did live-fire exercises there with the 105's. The top 2 photos are in Aug., note no snow on Mt. Fuji. Also note the Japanese meatball flying alongside Old Glory. The next picture is of yours truly, sleeping off a hard night of liberty in Tomaho and Gotemba. We lived in 8 or 10-man tents, can't remember which, and our sleeping arrangements consisted of a fold-up cot, rubber air mattress, and sleeping bag. There was no need of brooms for housekeeping, just a rake, as the floor of the tents was volcanic ash and sand. Very easy to keep tidy. The next picture was taken the day we arrived in Dec. Note the snow on Fuji. We were issued (2) green wool long-sleeved shirts, and a parka hood that fastened onto our field jackets. They had some kind of fur around the edges, and were quite warm.

The first few days in camp were a frenzy of putting up tents, stringing wire, establishing the comm. center and fire control center, etc. After that things calmed down and were fairly routine. The last picture is of the LST Tom Green Cty., loading us up for the return trip to Okinawa. The Tom Green was based out of Yokusuka, and was the local taxi, shuttling troops all over westpac. Overall, living was good at Camp Fuji, but it was always good to get back home to our humble Quonset huts at Camp Hague.

Paul Lindner
Cpl. 1959-1963​

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Comments

Carl Rynard - September 30, 2023

I was stationed at the base camp 1961

Cpl. Byron Arnold - May 31, 2023

I was stationed at Mctureous on Okinawa 1960-61. I took 3 trips to Camp Fuji. We set up a motor pool with mechanic tents to work on vehicles. The pictures of Camp Fuji today are totally unreal. Gotemba and Takagahara, spelling???, and the google pictures today are mind boggling, the then and now. While on Okinawa Kennedy was elected, I went to bed a Sgt E4 and woke up a Cpl E4 with the addition of Lance Cpl.

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