M14 Forum

DevilDog3381

Just wanna hear some Stories of the good 'ol island Of Okinawa from the Marines past and present. i am currently stationed on Camp Kinser on the Island part of III MEF 3D MLG CLR-37

any good ghost stories or legends are appreciated as i hear this island has alot of ghost stories!


just a place to talk about the island, post pictures, anything about your Oki experience!

Hawk

Was there from august 72 to july 73 and then again in Novemeber of 96 for a 5 day visit while leaving my wife at friends of ours in Funabashi, mainland Japan..... if ya get a chance go visit Nakagusuku castle. Kinser wasn't there when I was there the first time.

At the castle there is a deep well where you used to be able to go down to the bottom and imagine how the Japanese used to hide out and get their water there.

We did attend a nice party there once where the sake and orion beer was flowing nicely. Never liked the beer, but I did partake in some sake though.

Just exactly where is Kinser? I was stationed at Foster which at the time right up the hill was Camp Buckner (Army) which I believe is now Camp Butler. Is Kinser across the road? I vaguely remember a 105mm Howitzer there.

Just a note: The finest Sake in the world comes from Okinawa.... It's called awamori. It's not brewed but distilled. I have a bottle that was 8 yrs old when I was there in 96, that is still unopened to this day..... It's supposed to only improve with age. now 21 yrs old.... I wonder when I'll get around to opening it.

M1A's r BEST

Not a Marine, but I lived on Okinawa in 1959/60. Part of the time at Bucknerville and part of it on the Air Force Base at Naha.

I was a little kid but I have a lot of memories of our time there.

I remember dad coming home from work with a lantern and duct tape. My dad would go around duct taping up the inside of the windows/window frames and the inside of the doors and we'd set there till the typhoon knocked out the power lines and then he'd turn on his flashlight and light the lantern. That wind really made some noise.

I remember going for walks on the hillsides behind the houses at Bucknerville and seeing the Okinawan kids running and playing. One day they were tossing something back and forth and I remember dad getting real excited and telling them to lay down and go home. I don't remember what happened after that but dad told me later (years later when I asked him about it) that it was grenade. We went home and he called in and some guys came out and picked it up.

I remember sitting in the back of the car ('53 Chevy Bel Air - dark blue with a white top) on the way back from a visit to some of my parents friends. On the radio they were playing that thing they do on Christmas eve around Air Force bases where the report that the base radar has just picked up and unidentified flying object and they are scrambling fighters to go up and see what it is. Then the conversation between the radar operators and the pilots where the pilots tell that they are following a little fat guy with a white beard in a red suit riding along in a big sleigh pulled by a bunch of reindeer. I remember looking out the windows of the car trying to see that sleigh and those reindeer all the way home.

Being an Air Force brat had it's advantages. Lots of good memories. Sorry, I don't remember the heat, humidity, bugs or smell, but my folks do.

CAVman

I took a 2nd R&R/Leave from RVN to Okinawa in 1969...
Caught a C-130 back-hauling Cargo from Cam Ranh to Naha...
Just another guy from the 1st Cav and Me...and a Big Jet Engine! About 10,000' over the South China Sea...we got Cold! Sitting there in sling seats on the bulkhead in our Jungle Fatigues...we looked around...No Blankets, No Pillows...
So we took down the Insulation on the Bulkhead and wrapped it around us!
So...the plane landed, and taxied up to a hanger...and we asked the AF Crew Chief...Where do we go?
He said damned if he knew...but right through an unguarded gate there was a Taxi...so we took it !
We spent the next 10 days in a, uh, 'house of ill repute'...
And every day we headed downtown and drank beer and tease the bar girls until we went back to the 'house'...secure in our knowledge we would 'get lucky' THERE...
And the rest of our money, we wasted!
We did the tourist thing up into the mountains, saw all the WWII battle sites...
The high point had to be...the 'Madam' had a daughter by an American G.I. Now an Adult, and not 'in the business' herself...She was marrying a Navy Lt. there on Okinawa, who was also Half-Japanese. The Wedding was very traditional at a Shinto Temple there and we got to attend! Then the Reception was held at the Navy Officer's Club...and all the 'working girls' attended in what I understood were, even back then...like $5,000 Kimono's!
And the Navy Officers...were asking us dumb Cav Guys...
So, How Does a Guy hook up with these beautiful Japanese Girls? (We Were Gentlemen...and Said Nothing!)

Ah...Memories of Naha Naminoue...

CAVman in WYoming

DevilDog3381

Kinser is about 10Km south of Camp Foster, its southern most Marine base before you hit Naha airport and Naha port. its about 1km north of Naha City its self. as for the sake, ive tried the Habu Sake with the Habu snake in it. i dont really remember what it tasted like, but it was a great night!

kevin

I was there in '86 and again in'89. Kilo 3 / 7 1st MARDIV both times.
I was at Camp Hansen both times. I remember the humidity, sweating just standing still. No AC in the squad bays, just open windows and mosquito nets. We had a soda machine in the squad bay filled with Bud and Miller for $.50 a pop. of course it was under lock and key until liberty was sounded.
A typhoon was forcast to hit the island one time. The PX ran out of beer not long after the forcast. They brought in cases of MREs and water had us push our wall lockers up against the windows. It wasn't that bad, minor damage and some down trees.
Some other memories of Hansen, the mama sans with their laundry service, and the poor bastards in CC running all over base.
I sure don't miss the mud of NTA.
Always had a good time out in Kinville, you had to mindful of the local cops....

Hawk

Would that be down by Machinato? That used to be a Army supply base when I was there the first time. I used to leave the messhall every monday mornin at o'dark thirty to go down and pick up meats in that back of a 6X. Strange thing.... The guys in the Army messhalls drew from the same place and if they ordered 1000 steaks for 500 men, they would get 500 steaks. We on the other hand could order 1000 steaks for 250 men and we'd get 1000 steaks. We had trouble getting stuff like plasticware, napkins and other paper goods. So every Friday I would call the mess sgt from one of the Army messhalls and ask him what he needed and he'd ask me what I needed.

First time we did the exchange, I went down to Machinato and there was an extra case of steaks on the pallet. Told the NCO in charge that and he recounted and said Nope..... no extras that I can see. I took the case back to the messhall and fed myself and the other two GIs as well as the Okinawans that were on duty and still had enough to take some home as well as pass along some to my Okinawan cooks to take home.

We weren't supposed to feed the Okinawan that worked in the messhalls, but I did anyway as they never stole anything from us while I was there.

One of my cooks "Seiki" came up to me one day before going home and asked me if he could have a little bit of chocolate milk to take home to his kids. He held out a pint sized jar. I asked him how many kids he had.......4..... asked him if he had a bunch of kids in the neighborhood......of course I already knew the answer, Took him to the reefer outside and handed him a 6 gallon container and told him to take it home and share with the neighborhood. Don't tell anyone though as the statute of limitations on feeding Okinawans may not have run out yet

Hawk

I never tried the Habu sake...... tried a bunch of other brands both there, here and on mainland Japan while visiting my wife who attended Chiba University back in 95.

Down in Naha, you can walk down Kokusai street after dark and the place is usually booming with people going to the various open markets. I bought my Awamori there. You'd walk into a shop on the right and they had a barrel of it there with a ladle for anyone that wanted to try it free. After tasting that, other sake taste like dishwater.

That reminds me of the open markets down in Agena when I was at then Camp Butler (McTureous). I was at A co at that time and would walk out the back gate into the ville. That was before my wife got over there. Bullfights are held there also.
In fact, there is a large cement mural on the side of the road that has two bulls fighting.

Hawk

Ahhh Kinville..... back in the day we weren't too popular as we gave the island back to Japan just before I got there. You didn't walk the back street of Kinville after dark unless there were a bunch of you.

siefly

I was on Okinawa Feb 73-Feb 74 Camp Foster. Remember the Habu-mongoose fights, the heat and humidity. Sunny and hot one minute and raining buckets the next. I remember we stayed on the trails because of unexploded Ord. from WW II.
There was one guy playing with a parachute on the beach and
a gust of wind picked him up and dropped him in the South China Sea. He didn't make it.
Also, recall the Japanese Police patroling Naha with night sticks as tall as they were.. The Orion beer came in very large bottles---lots good memories.


Siefly

Hawk

What bldg were you in on Foster? I was in 1153. Each barracks had their own messhall. Our company was Bco MCB Camp Butler. We were the first to claim ownership of the 3rdFSSR food service award plaque given out each month after food service inspections to the nesshall with the highest marks. The first to win the plaque 3 time got to keep it.

2336USMC

Spent some time on Oki when I was on the 31st MEU(SOC) aboard the Belleau Wood (LHA-3). Whenever we weren't afloat we were on Oki.

Spent a little time at Kinser, but mostly at Hansen.

One thing that used to crack me up was how wherever you were on base, there was a well-worn footpath going directly through the jungle to wherever you wanted to go. Very few guys on Oki have cars so the bootleather express is the way to travel. There was a path that led straight to the PX, or the package store, or the chow hall... Used to chuckle as I walked the old paths wondering how many PFCs it took to cut that path over the years.

I got my PADI open water dive ticket on Oki. What a gorgeous place to dive.

GoingDeaf

I was on Oki in the late '70s. Plenty of good memories. I heard of one ghost story that I remember at Camp Hansen and a back/side gate that they closed down because too many people reported seeing a ghost, and no one wanted to be posted there. I also remember if someone walked off base to Kinville, you would be searched before leaving the base. This was when a lot of the racial crap was going on.

I remember how hot the messhalls were. The large fans just blowing the hot air around. It seemed the Marines were at the end of the food chain over there. We would go weeks with powdered eggs and milk, before the fresh food would come in. The Air Force had it made, and we would try to stop off at Kadena to go to one of theirs.

Some more memories are of BC Street and Whisper Alley. I'm sure it's all cleaned up now. Saw a lot of different shows on BC Street I'm sure every unit had their 'liberty risks'. We had ours. You knew there were going to be fights/trouble when they were with you.


Hawk mentioned McT. When I was over there, the large messhall was closed, and the old officer's club on top of the hill was used as the messhall. Would always try to go there on Wednesday night to eat because it was steak and beer night. You could get two beers with your meal. Out the back gate was a hole-in-the-wall bar (a lot of those over there) called 'El Cid's', I think. One of the ladies there was called 'frieght train'.

It was hot, but I would have to say the Philippines was hotter.

Aw......so many memories.

DevilDog3381

Where you a cook? idk what they called them back in the day but now we are Food Service Specialist, 3381. i work in the Messhall on Kinser, and also worked in our Field Mess along with the Food Service Company HQ.

siefly

Hawk-----I can't remember what the Barracks number was.
We were on the hill, could see the South China Sea
from my window. I was in H&S Co. Supt. Bn. 3rd
FSR. Worked in the Co. Office and checked a lot of
guys back in that were TAD Nam Phong.
We probably crossed paths, being on Foster at the
same time .

Siefly