Okinawa, 1966 - 1967

I entered the U.S. Air Force shortly after graduating from Franklin & Marshall College in 1964.  After 3 months at Officer Candidate School in San Antonio, TX and a year studying Meteorology at Texas A&M University I received my first assignment to Naha Air Base on Okinawa as a weather forecaster. 

 Naha AB was the smaller of the two main USAF facilities on Okinawa at the time, the larger being Kadena AB.  Naha AB was located in the southern portion of the island next to the city of Naha, which is the capitol and the largest city on Okinawa.  Naha AB had several missions when I was stationed there.  It provided the air defense of the island, was home to a C-130 air transport wing,  hosted a number U.S. Navy aircraft, and was the civilian air terminal for Okinawa.

Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu chain, an archipelago stretching between Japan and Taiwan.  Although Okinawa has its own unique culture and the population is ethnically neither Chinese nor Japanese, the island has been dominated throughout its history by either China or Japan.  For most of its modern history Okinawa was under the control of Japan.  The culmination of that control was the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, which resulted in the Ryukyu Islands coming under the administration of the U.S.  This administration lasted from the end of the war until the early 1970s, when the islands were once more made part of Japan. 

It was during the later years of the US administration, in 1966 and 1967, that I was assigned to Okinawa.  I am some what ashamed that during the time I was on the island I really didn't learn a great deal about the culture and history of this place and these people.  Like most military personnel I spent the bulk of my time on the Air Base, and had little contact with the native population.  I hope some day to re-visit Okinawa, as it is a beautiful sub-tropical island and the people are among the most friendly and hospitable in all of Asia.
Here is a collection of some of the pictures I took on the island between February, 1966 and August, 1967.  Unfortunately the quality of the original slides degraded over the intervening 35 years before I scanned them on the computer.

 

Here are some scenes in and around the city of Naha, the capitol of the Ryukyus.
The Naminoue Shrine is a Buddist temple in Naha overlooking the East China Sea.  It appeared to be used primarily for weddings, and was one of the most picturesque locations in the city.  Like nearly every other building on Okinawa it was built after the war.  Virtually every significant structure on the island was destroyed during the battle.  The shrine has apparently been re-constructed recently.   
 

On the day I took these pictures a wedding was taking place at the shrine.  In the picture on the left the wedding party is breaking up after a group picture

 

On the left and right the bride is assisted down the steps to the shrinefollowed by, I assume, her parents, below

 

 
The Naminoue area of Naha, at this time, was in stark contrast to serene appearance of the shrine and its immediate surroundings.  Naminoue was the bar district of Naha serving the U.S. military with bars,  prostitutes and sex shows (although prostitution was illegal in Okinawa and Japan).  Evenings the streets of Naminoue were filled with drunken soldiers and sailors.  Little of this was evident during the day.  On the left and right are a couple of shots of the streets of Naminoue during the day.

 

 
  Below is a monument, to what I never knew, next to the Naminoue Shrine.

 

 

  
The shrine was located on a precipice overlooking the East China Sea.  Below there was swimming area used by Okinawa children, and what appeared to be a small boat rental business.  I believe today this area has been converted into a large public beach.  This must be a man-made beach, as there was no evidence of sand along this shoreline when I was on Okinawa.  Just volcanic rock and coral reefs.

Tomari was the civilian port at the time I was on the island.  This served the local fishing fleet and commercial freighters.  At the time, the larger port on Okinawa, Naha Port, was located south of here and served the U.S. Military and was administered by the U.S. Army.