Camp Fuji '55-'56

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Phil - April 16, 2021

Got to Middle Camp Fuji probably the end of ‘56, stayed through ‘57 and then off to Okinawa with F-2-9. Company Commander was one Jack Westerman who changed my entire life – a real Marine’s Marine. Will never forget him. Went back to school, majored in Japanese, did graduate study in Japan and lived and worked in Japan and S.E. Asia for 12 years. Took a couple trips to Gotemba and visited the base, but the Japanese “Self Defense Force” – jieitai wouldn’t let me past the front gate. The first time – Arriving at the base after that long bus ride from Yokosuka,and 11 days and ,lousy chow from California and then being greeted by the local “working girls” who lined up outside the gate was pretty exciting for a bunch of 18 and 19 years who thought they were salty Marines. I remember the supposedly last red line brig in the Marine Corps on base, and the “rec”
Center where everyone who joined the periodic “smokers “(where one time getting my ass kicked was enough) would get relieved from guard duty. We trained hard, and probably played harder, but being an 0311 in the Marine Corps meant a lot to me and still does. It is with the upmost respect that I look up to those fellow Marines who served before me in Korea and the Pacific and those later in Nam, and Iraq and Afghanistan. They were and are the “real” Marines. We just played at it, but we were ready, which is why at 84, where ever I go wearing a USMC cover, I’l always be
approached by someone who is a Marine veteran, or has a family member who is, or was.

Semper Fi Brothers(and Sisters)