Yokosuka Microwave Blog

Yokosuka marina boating season begins Saturday with celebration

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes

Yokosuka marina boating season begins Saturday with celebration

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, March 30, 2005

John Sullivan / U.S. Navy
Servicemembers and civilians from around Japan attended a sailing instructor course over the weekend at Yokosuka Naval Base. Green Bay Marina, which features sailing lessons and boat rentals, opens for the season with a celebration Saturday.

The Green Bay Marina at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, plans to launch the start of this year’s boating season Saturday with a grand opening celebration.

The marina will offer free boat rides, hot dogs, hamburgers and special giveaways. The open house is scheduled for 9 a.m.; refreshments are to be served at 11 a.m.

The marina, open from April until October, offers sailing classes toward American Sailing Association certificates and powerboat lessons.

The marina also rents sailboats, powerboats, kayaks, rowboats and fishing gear.

Last weekend, servicemembers and civilians from around Japan attended a sailing instructor course at the marina, taught by instructors from the United States, according to a marina employee.

Participants came from Yokosuka, Camp Zama and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo in mainland Japan, and from Okinawa, for the training.

The marina offers two levels of ASA sailing certificates and MWR powerboat licenses. About six types of boats are available to rent, including 22-foot Catalinas and 15-foot Boston Whaler skiff powerboats, according to the marina Web site.

The marina also has 18 wet slips with power, water and phone hookups for boat owners, the site stated.

Call DSN 243-4155 for more information on the marina or on Saturday’s event.

John Sullivan/Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Servicemembers and civilians from around Japan attended a sailing instructor course over the weekend at Yokosuka Naval Base. Green Bay Marina, which features sailing lessons and boat rentals, opens for the season with a celebration Saturday.

Yokosuka cave network dug by Japanese during World War II sealed

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes

Monday, March 14, 2005
Yokosuka cave network dug by Japanese during World War II sealed

By Juliana Gittler, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, March 7, 2005

Jim Schulz / S&S
A Shinto priest offers a purification blessing during a ceremony Friday to close the network of caves under Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. The priest's father gave the initial blessing for the caves' opening during World War II.



Jim Schulz / S&S
                
Guests take a tour of the caves under Yokosuka
Naval Base, Japan, after a ceremony officially
sealing the caves on Friday. The caves most
recently were used for a command center for
Commander, Naval Forces Japan.

Jim Schulz / S&S
A Shinto priest offers a purification blessing during a ceremony Friday to close the network of caves under Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. The priest's father gave the initial blessing for the caves' opening during World War II.

Jim Schulz / S&S
Guests take a tour of the caves under Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, after a ceremony officially sealing the caves on Friday. The caves most recently were used for a command center for Commander, Naval Forces Japan.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — More than 60 years after his father gave the blessing opening the labyrinthine caves under Yokosuka’s shipyard, a Shinto priest gave a blessing Friday to officially seal them.

The caves were dug into the hills with picks and shovels to fortify against possible American attacks during World War II. The system included rails for moving heavy equipment, a hospital and even a power substation.

After the United States took over the base, the caves — totaling approximately 16 miles — held the Navy hospital and several commands.

Safety fears from falling rocks caused the U.S. Navy to seal off much of the system of halls and walkways 30 years ago. The final area of caves still in use was vacated when the Japanese government built a new Command and Control Center nearby last year.

The Japanese military began building the caves in 1938. The cave system went on to swell as the military later ordered all commands on the base to build additional emergency shelters against air raids.

The patchwork system extended several levels and opened out into small holes dotted around the base.

Most of the caves were closed off after World War II and the remaining working areas were converted into rooms with metal walls and flooring.

“It’s hard to find exactly what went on in here,” said Cmdr. Tom Stith, from CNFJ operations, during a tour for visitors attending the closing ceremony.

Much of the cave’s history still is classified, so its functions before and after the war aren’t completely clear. During the Korean War, it was used as an emergency shelter. It also served for storage.

Fluorescent lights now cast an eerie pallor over the windowless room inside the main area, used as the Commander, Naval Forces Japan operations center. A yellowing map covers one gigantic wall, where in years past a sailor on a ladder attached to a rail would roll back and forth plotting coordinates.

Down a long hall, a locked door marks the entrance to the original caves, where the rounded rock walls still drip water.

Along the ceilings, bits of metal protrude where light systems once ran.

In the late 1970s, Senior Chief Petty Officer Harold L. Jarrell, operations chief for the CNFJ operations and plans department, spent his workdays inside the structure. A large glass apparatus called “the octopus” was heated and set before blowers to draw moisture out, to protect the sensitive equipment inside, he recalled.

During earthquakes he and his co-workers could hear rocks breaking off and hitting the internal metal walls the Americans added to the caves, which were used then for storage.

Jarrell said he remembered being joined at work by the mosquitoes that loved the damp, dark passages, and by giant wolf spiders.

“You’d come in in the morning, open the door and they’d look at you eyeball to eyeball,” he said.

Most of the entrances to the caves were cemented over in the 1970s as the Navy began gradually shutting down the structures.

With the last personnel vacating the premises, the Yokosuka facilities office now will take over the caves for safekeeping.

Recent Tom Mills Pictures...

MOTU Seven Pictures:

"Tom Mills, Jack Thomas
Jim Graslie, Bob Green Dec 2004"

Montage Updated...

Yokosuka Microwave Site

Thanks to the photos provided by Dave Gindele I was able to add a couple more pics of some of the guys to the montage.

Photos added were Dave Gindele, David Simpson, and Don White.

Dave Gindele's Photos...

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"Hi Dave,

Glad you were able to find some of your photos. Those are some great shots, they certainly bring back the memories. There are 4 or 5 guys in the group shot they we haven't been able to get pictures of... do you mind if I use parts of that image to further develop the montage on the index page of this site?

It was great talking to you on the phone, I've noticed that every time I've talked to someone on the telephone I immediately recognize their voice even after all these years and yours with that KY accent was no exception! I've added your phone number to the directory.

I didn't remember 'Mac' playing football... but there's the proof in living color.

Steve,"

Dave Gindele located!

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"Dave Gindele
Posted by: Steve on 01/30/2005 17:48:27 (Read: None)
I was able to locate Dave Gindele today..."

Yokosuka Microwave Site

Blog Cleaned up.

Yokosuka Microwave

Removed a lot of non Yokosuka Microwave related material from the blog to make it more topic related.

I'll kick things off...

Steve McArthur - Yokosuka Microwave Site: "Steve McArthur
Steve McArthur

Steve McArthur starts...

I'll kick things off.

The reason I set up this web site is allow a central place for former Yokosuka Microwave Communications Site personnel to log on to and provide updates about their activities since leaving Yokosuka.

If you're like me, I'm positive you have wondered a hundred times... what ever happened to Lt. Carlson? Did he ever retire from the Navy and start that greenhouse business? What about Lyle Emmons... did he marry that pretty Japanese girl that lived next door to Lyle, Frank Dietz and I when we rented a house off base? I believe her name was Fumico Suyama. I wonder if blah, blah, blah? You get the idea.:)

I had tried to find some of the people that I could remember using Google or Yahoo but had no success whatever. Well, that is except for Dallas Van Slyke. The only reason that I was able to find him is that he posted in a forum on the web and the post came up when I searched Google for his name. let's face it, how many Dallas Van Slyke's are there in the world... but try searching for Frank Dietz!

Anyway, With the success that I have had building web sites to specifically get large amounts of traffic based on a set of keywords. I figured I might as well set up a web site using a bunch of keyword pages to direct anyone searching for a particular person that was stationed at the Yokosuka Microwave Communications Site. That's why you see the term 'Yokosuka Microwave Communications Site' a lot on this site. I want the search engines to know that this is the place to go when you want to know anything about the Yokosuka Microwave Communications Site... there it is again.

I think that it will take quite a while for targeted traffic to start flowing in this direction. However, once a few people find the site and create a few pages or participate in the bulletin board forum, information will start to flow and the word will get out.

It's 4:40 A.M. here in Jonesboro, AR. so I'm going to stop and close this page. I'll create another page with more of my personal history later.

Steve McArthur"

Asmara Ethiopia Microwave

Asmara, Ethiopia - Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"I left Yokosuka in January of 1971 for 30 days leave at home with my family, which was Little Rock, Arkansas at the time. Next stop was 5 days in Norfolk then on to Asmara, Ethiopia.

My first layover was in Athens, Greece. We were only supposed to be there for a few hours but that changed when the health officials found out that it had only been 24 hours since I had received my cholera shot and it takes 4 days to incubate... "

Kisarazu

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"I remember the guy that I relieved at Kisarazu... or rather I remember what he looked like. He and I graduated from Microwave 'C' school together. When we arrived at Yokosuka he was reassigned to Atsugi where he remained for two years. The one constant of his behavior was that he smoked a pipe. "

Brian Meeks

Yokosuka Microwave Site

Brian Meeks... That's the name I have been racking my brain for. I believe he is the one that I remember being a weight lifter. If my memory serves me, he won the Yokosuka weight lifting contest and could bench press 400 pounds!

Kisarazu

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"Another unique experience was my two or three ( I forget which ) month tour at Kisarazu. That was as close to sea duty that I came... crossing Tokyo Bay on a ferry boat to get there. You can cross by bridge now I understand. The Navy classified Kisarazu duty as 'isolated duty' which triggered an extra $50 a month pay increase. Even though it was in fact isolated... I liked it. I recall that Kisarazu was an old Kamikaze base which was still under control by the Japanese. Therefore, instead of listening to our American colors everyday at sunset I was hearing what I suppose was the Japanese national anthem being played while they lowered the flag. I still remember that it had a hauntingly sad quality to it."

Steve,

Photos

Yokosuka Microwave

It seems that more and more long lost photos are showing up! Hopefully more will be found.

Dave Wilkes and I were talking on the phone about what size he should make his images before uploading. At this point in time don't worry about making them too big. If bandwidth becomes an issue down the road I'll reduce the size of the images or increase the bandwitdth. If you know how to do it and want to take the time to optimize your images... shoot for 60k to 150k bytes. That should make the images large enough for us to see the detail. However, the one drawback to large images is that people who use dial-up instead of cable or DSL will have to wait longer for the image pages to load. If anyone has had any problems with image uploading or viewing, please make a comment to this blog post.

So, if you've got photos... keep putting them up. I think that everybody enjoys seeing old pictures that they didn't know existed. Am I right?

If your images are faded out and you want them to look better, contact Wally Hunt, and he may be willing to "fix" them for you.

Steve,

Dave Wilkes?

Yokosuka Microwave Site
Is that Dave Wilkes in the Orange shirt?

Who is the pitcher?

Yokosuka Microwave Site What is the name of the pitcher wearing the white sweat band?

LCDR Tom Mills MOTU Seven Roster

MOTU Seven Roster:

Officer's In Charge of MOTSU Seven in Yokosuka, Japan.

LCDR Robert S. Carlson
July 1973 - March 1977

LCDR Thomas L. Mills
May 1989 - January 1992

Yokosuka Microwave Site - LCDR Robert Carlson

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"Don't know what Bob Carlson is doing now, I believe his son was a pilot on the Midway over here in the 80's. MOTU and the Mircowave Site were never tied to each other as far as I know. "

Navy Radio Transmitting Facility Totsuka

Navy Radio Transmitting Facility Totsuka: "Navy Radio Transmitting Facility Totsuka is the only Navy HF Facility on the Kanto Plain in Japan. "

AN/FCC-17 Multiplexer 1961 History

1961 History:

"AN/FCC-17 Multiplexer RADC developed the AN/FCC-17 solid state frequency-division multiplexer. Expandable from 12 to 600 communications channels, this was the first device with the capability of 100 percent data loading."

Microwave 'C' School

NAVetsUSA Member:

"Served 69-75
went to Great Lakes Training center,
Bootcamp, ET school and Microwave 'C' School
Stationed in Thurso Scotland 70-75
Honorably discharged Feb.1975 "

Telephone repairperson at Negishi Microwave near Tokyo

"Yona was 23 when she enlisted," Stout continued. "She came from North Carolina and enlisted for the GI benefits, the same as I had. She was working as a telephone repairperson at Negishi Microwave near Tokyo.

Yokohama Microwave Relay - Kizarazu site was unmanned

Online Journal Ray Plumlee Personal Web Site:

"A little rememberance. The first time I went to a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum was in 1972 on the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California. My then wife and newborn son were awaiting transportation to Yokohama, Japan where I had change of station orders to be stationed at what I thought was a remote Microwave Relay Station and Tandem Telephone swithching center in Kizarazu, Japan. I later found out I was actually going to be working at the Yokohama Microwave Relay and Tandem Switching Station at Negishi Heights, near the Yokohama Grandstand, as the Kizarazu site was unmanned. The Navy manpower people had used it as a slight of hand maneuver to increase manning for the Navy Telecommunications Command in Yokosuka."

Yokosuka Microwave Site "Cat"

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"I don't remember a cat either. However, (even though it has been 34 years since I last saw him) as soon as I saw his picture I instantly recognized him. I had forgotten how that one ear of his was always flopped over.

I glad that you had pictures of him Dave because they are probably the only ones in existence."

Mystery Radiomen...

Yokosuka Microwave Site

Does anyone know the names of the two Radiomen in the Montage?

Who knows Ralph's secret?

Does any one know the story of who named Ralph, and why that name was chosen? I do, but I won't spill the beans yet. :o)

Tom Mills re-enlists on the Nagai Microwave Tower

Yokosuka Microwave Site:

"When I was over at the Seahawk office getting some info about an article I wrote on MOTU Seven, I was looking thru the archives and found an article on Tom Mills reenlisting on the Nagai Microwave Tower"

This would be an interesting article if any one could dig it up.

Yokosuka Microwave Blog

Friday, April 01, 2005

Monday, March 14, 2005

Monday, February 07, 2005

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Friday, January 14, 2005

Blog Cleaned up.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Monday, October 18, 2004

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Photos

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Monday, October 11, 2004

Friday, October 01, 2004

Friday, September 24, 2004

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Who knows Ralph's secret?

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