Everything was nice and peaceful when I was there...except for the riot at Four Corners and around the area on New Year's Eve 1970-71. Not a racial thing, just a bunch of drunks fighting...P's had a busy night...

Never made Iwakuni, I was due south at beautiful Futema by the sea.

A bunch of us ran into a similar situation in the "Gut" of Naples on liberty but with no guns.
There was about 8 of us and 10 or so of them, we had a pretty good tangle. Got a bloody nose but then again, so did the fellow what sucker punched me Ended up we were all from the same rust bucket and we ran into each other afterwards, no more was made of it tho.....

So what happened that fateful night?

Volfandt

Once Treffert instructed everyone to leave "shorty" alone, he went though our entourage pushing and shoving everyone, and when noone got into it with him, it allowed several of us who were in the front to run in and get a number of 533 guys out of their rooms in Block 8 to deal with the 15 or 20 aggressors that were now throwing punches, but being met with somewhat equal adversaries. After all, we ha all had the same training. The guns they had stolen from the MP's that they mugged were never fired at anyone, just pulled out and waved around. After about 10 minutes of dukeing it out, the MP's, who were not in good moods, pulled up in trucks, and these guys ran in several different directions. I was with one MP who was chasing two guys who ran through Block 8 and up the outside stairway into the Special Services barracks behind Block 8 (the two story narrow ones). I followed him into the outside door as he had his sidearm out. Choppers Carruther was behind me, when we went in, the lights had been turned out. The MP flipped the lights on, and there were a couple guys in the rack, one with the blanket pulled over his head. He pulls down the blanket and you would never have guessed who was laying there, fully clothed.
I can't say his name here, but he had no front teeth when he grinned at the MP who then put him in cuffs and took him away. I'll give you a hint, though, he fought Ali in 1978, I think it was, and took the heavyweight title in an upset bout.

JB

Leon Spinks?

I was assigned to '533 from July 1970 to July 1971...Ordnance Shop.
'211 was next door...East. The 'Hamsters' (H&MS-12) was West...other side. Both squadrons had A-4s...HAMS had the TA-4s.
Our NCOIC was MSgt Ezekiel Davis, ANCOIC was Gy Welch...both of them were my AO"A" School instructors back in 1969, of all things.
I do recall Block 8...not too fondly, either...
'533 was at Iwakuni until May of '71 when we deployed to NAF Naha...start of the Typhoon Season, high temps, water shortages, and the Okinawans uneasy, as the jurisdiction (governmental) was being transferred back to the Japanese...they were none to happy.

Still remember those days...
4 corners, Skivvie Bridge, Bar Snoopy, JN Police on the prowl...didn't pay messing with them...
Last. but, not least...damn taxi drivers...

It's been so long, I find myself wondering if any of it really happened. At the time, it sure seemed like a bad dream. When I read the posts in this thread about how this was great, and that was the best time, and Iwakuni was the best duty station, etc., I'm thinking, either I wasn't at the same place they were, or maybe it just didn't take place at all. But if it didn't, then the "Kintai Bridge Leapers Association" didn't exist, either. Anyone else jump from that bridge, not the old wooden one, the one downriver from it. I actually have a picture of me jumping from it someone took...

JB

You know your old when the jet you once worked on now sits at the main gate..A/C 01 OA-4M Skyhawk. I was in H&MS-12 OMD May '84 - May '86. I have been back 4 times since then..it just aint the same and never was..

Smitty

Hey Smitty,

You know your older than old when you remember seeing an A-4 start without a huffer behind H&MS13 for the first time. For an A-6A wrench like me, hearing an APU kick up on a scooter was just an act of wonder, as in how did that just happen with no yellow gear around (circa 1972, El Toro).
On the Iwakuni front, GySgt Joey D., who got out only a few years ago, tells me that "Iwakuni is not the garden spot of Marine Corps aviation. Block 8 is now classrooms, no longer being used to house anyone."
Do they still have slot machines in the E Club? I knew a guy, a BB stacker named "Duke" Pelkey, who figured out how to beat them. Sent a lot of money orders home...

JB

Does anyone remember when 4 corners had a stop light on a post in the midd;e of the street. The taxis would fly around the thing and your first trip was really fun. I had the opportunity to fly with the last enlisted pilot in the Marine Corps. Can't remember his name but he flew the DC6 for H&MS15. Couple of flights to Atsugi for ECM school. That was back in '66. I had a great time in Iwakuni. The only problem was cinderella liberty for E4 and below. You could get weekend passes and do some traveling but we usually went to Hiroshima. Remember the train tracks through town. A train hit a car and the crew jumped out pushed the car off the tracks and kept on going. Someoen explained that the railroad had to keep to schedules and the passengers woudl get reimbursed for every minut the train was late. Life was good at 360yen to the dollar. Beer was 50 yen and Torres and mesu was even cheaper. The last night before going south I invested the last two dimes in a slot machine. Won $20 but couldn't do anything with it so the I bought drinks for everyone in the e-club.

Great reading all of these stories!
I was there for a year and a half until about the middle of 1982.
My mother recently mailed all my photos from the U.S. to where I now live in Taiwan.
Making a move now but will scan and post some pics in a few weeks.
For now, here's a picture I found off the internet some time ago.

I remember the soup soba truck. Sad to hear about Smiley. Though I think someone told me at some point "soba" was Japanese for "soup."

I loved the Mongolian BBQ. Especially that it was free if you guessed the weight within X amount.

The last song at the e-club most every night I was there was Lee Greenwood "God Bless the USA."

I remember having to walk past the chow hall in the morning when I got off duty and would smell the stinch of eggs and that Iwikuni air mixed together. Took a while before I could eat eggs again.

Took the bullet train to Osaka.

Visited some memorial garden or something not too far from base. Wish I could remember the name or had some pictures. There were places where locals would pray and pool{s} where kids would play and beautiful pathways, trees and flowers.

Oh. And the bats! No one else mentioned the bats.

Only spent 3 months there. The other 3 months of our 6 month deployment were in Okinawa. Early 92.

Nov 10th-Marine Corp Birthday Today--
Getting ready to Party down with my DevilDog Bros..and I thought I'd reread some of these old memories first.
** Peace Park, Hiroshima- getting spit on by an 80 year old woman.
** Kinti Bridge Party- Making new Japanese friends that were not bar related.
** Osan,Korea- Operation Team Spirit
** Block 8 Room Partys
** Cruising Creep Street Drunker than Hell
more...to follow...Semper FI MARINES!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I have a fond recollection of Iwakuni. We arrived in February or March of 65. I was with VMA-311. We transpac'd with our new A4Es. Had a few good nights in the ville. We were living in quansets. Next thing I know we were sitting in the sand at Chu Lai and sleeping in tents. Got back to Iwakuni for about a month while the refurbished the birds. I went back in 72 after being commissioned and I was looking forward to a real decent tour. I was handed orders as soon as I got there and was sent TAD as the Adjutant of the 31st MAU. I would have liked to have spent a little more time there. But then I did three tours in Okinawa so I guess that's small compensation.

I was in Iwakuni with 242 in 1980/1981 and again with Q2 in 1982/1983. In 1982 me and another guy snuck out onto the flight line one night and tatooed a bunch of 214s A4s with Playboy bunnies. The next night they got our birds with a bunch of spray painted Blacksheep tatoos. The COs put a stop to the tats soon after.

I was there twice, for about 8 months in 2000 and again in 2002 for a deployment. Memories? Running on the seawall (which is no longer the same as they are expanding the base into the bay), the Soba Shop, the smell, walking all around town, the Chicken Shack, California Chicken, and trips to Hiroshima at all hours of the day and night.

My first wing tour was December 69 to December 70. I was with MATCU-60 as a radar air traffic controller. Lived in Block 8. Second, a station tour October 72 to February 75. Lived in staff barracks until I got married to another Marine, then lived in Kawanishi-cho overlooking Kintai Bridge and Iwakuni Castle.

Went to see The Jackson 5 in Hiroshima in 73. Can't find a better BLT than Sako's. I loved living in Japan and enjoyed the Japanese culture and people. I'd go back in a second!

quote:

Originally posted by Sgt_Henry:

Holy cowsh** batman. I think I have a photo of that very telephone pole in Iwakuni. That photo must be years earlier or later and the bars are different, but I'm sure it's the same pole. I'll point out areas for comparison.

In fact, I'm quite sure. I have one in color and one in black and white. And, it was taken of a Vietnam war protest.

Wait while I scan the photos. This is farking cool. When was that photo taken?

Man! This has been some good stuff reading everybody's experiences. I was in Iwakuni from 87 - 88 (caught Team Spirit 88 in Yechon for five months) and again in 89 - 90. Smiley was still around in 90. I painfully miss the fried rice from his truck. I was with H+MS-15 AVI -990 my first tour. They disbanded while I was in Yechon. I technically had no unit for a couple months. Got to pick my own time to leave the mud. I remember eating almost nothing but hamburger and beans the whole five months. I actually enjoyed my MRE's. Milk was often sour if it was there at all.

I LIVED at Terry's! I went to his first smaller club on New Year's Eve 87. I literally couldn't move inside it was so packed. That bldg burned down I'd heard and he had a bigger nicer club in 90. I'll never forget "The House of the Rising Sun" which Terry would play as his closing song each night. Everybody always tried to steal his mugs. He gave four of us special mugs when my second tour ended. That was a huge honor to us.

I have so many great memories from those years. Too many to tell here. I remember in Yechon, counting out my paycheck in three piles: Long times, short times, and beer. I actually got liberty shut down for three days when I informed the Colonel that the girls had jumped up their prices and the new squadrons were unknowingly being overcharged. We boycotted the whole of A Town and when liberty came back, prices were normal again. Only in the Marines!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mrolympia990,

Look up a few posts to the photo that Sgt_Henry posted. What are the chances this is the same pole?

Ok, here are the photos. What do you think? Same pole?

Pay particular attention to the points of comparison, especially the balcony and the ledge in front of it.

Even has the same friggin buckets in front of the building.

BTW, the B&W photo was of a Vietnam War protest.

Click image for larger view

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ipscone,