All major World War II events or incidents that affected the 720th MP Battalion’s force allocations, training, operations, deployments, morale or history are shown in blue American Typewriter Font .

     Throughout the year the island continents of Australia and New Zealand were secured, and as the Allied sea and land offensives were directed towards the liberation of the Philippine Islands, the battalion would join in the march towards the Imperial Japanese home islands.

     At the start of the year the battalion’s organic units were stationed as follows, HQ & HQ Detachment, Medical Detachment, Baker and Charlie Company at Finshhafen, North East New Guinea.

     Able Company at Hollandia, Netherlands New Guinea, and Dog Company was en route from Oro Bay, Papua (Australian) New Guinea to the Philippine Islands.

2 January The troop ship SS Joe Fellow with Dog Company onboard, joined a convoy of approximately thirty ships at Hollandia before continuing on to Baik Island, Netherlands New Guinea where another group of ships joined the convoy. Several members of the company were detailed onboard to guard a large amount of Philippine currency destined for the Philippine government on the island of Leyte.

9 January The U.S. 6th Army invaded Lingayen Gulf, and landed on the Island of Luzon, Philippines and engaged the Japanese forces who were fighting a vigorous rearguard actionn.

12 January The convoy from New Guinea was attacked three times by Japanese bombers, two ships, one in front and one alongside the SS Joe Fellow were hit, and four bombers were shot down.

13 January Four Japanese bombers attacked the convoy again, one ship was hit, and all four bombers were downed by antiaircraft fire. The SS Joe Fellows remained unscathed arriving at Higayen Bay, San Fabian, Philippine Islands the same day.

     "While our convoy participated in the invasion of the Philippines, ou

r chaplain told us on the boat that many of us may die, but not to be afraid. He said, “We all want to meet God some day and how are we going to meet him unless we die?” I never forgot that as it gave me much needed courage to face what lay ahead for us, during the invasion.

     On the voyage we were subjected to many bombings by the Japanese, and one evening a nearby ship was hit and sank. We heard soldiers and sailors crying out for help from the waters below, but our Navy captain had strict orders not to stop during the attack and we did not save any of the men who called for help as we passed them by. I have often wondered if those men thought that their country had turned its back on them in their hour of desperation, but I know it couldn’t be helped.

      I have heard the chaplain’s words and those cries all my days.”   CPL Stanley V. “Dyke” Knoll, Dog Company, 1942-1945.

16 January Dog Company disembarked from the troop ship SS Fellows and immediately began working on the construction of a base camp.

     With the construction of Quartermaster Unit Base M, in five days Dog Company moved further into the island, and lived in pup tents and foxholes. Special details were sent to Mangaldan and Dagupan, where their duties included perimeter guard, road patrol, escort of enemy POW’s, and security at designated vital points

     Editors Note: Mangaldan was a small town near Lingayen Gulf, and to its north was a large U.S. Army airfield quickly built after the first days of the invasion

3 February The 6th U.S. Army attacked the Japanese forces in the Philippine capital of Manila on the island of Luzon.

     At 1330 hours, PFC Joseph P. Waldron age 35, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania serving with Dog Company was killed in action from a gunshot wound to the abdomen while involved in ground operations on the Island of Luzon, Philippines against Imperial Japanese U.S. Army forces that tried to infiltrate through their perimeter.

     During the skirmish PFC John Mitchell was also wounded. The place of casualty was listed in his internment file as Rabon, several miles northwest of San Fabian.

     His body was embalmed and wrapped in a shelter half and buried at the USAF Cemetery Santa Barbara No. 1, Philippine Islands in Row 9, Grave 459. His personal effects were shipped home to his sister. On 26 April 1948 at the request of the family, his remains were disinterred, positively identified, and shipped to Philadelphia for burial.

     His death was the last of the battalion’s known casualties of World War II. If others exist they have yet to be discovered.

3 March After an intense Japanese defense U.S. and Philippine troops recaptured the capital city of Manila.

10 March The U.S. 8th Army invaded the Zamboanga Peninsula on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

27 March Able Company departed from Hollandia, Netherlands New Guinea aboard the troop ship SS John W. Searles for Higayen Bay, Philippine Islands.

Exact Date Unknown During the latter part of the month MAJ Edward C. Longo was assigned to the battalion as the Executive Officer (XO).

1 April The final amphibious landing of WW II occurred as the U.S. Tenth Army invaded the island of Okinawa, Japan.

9 April Able Company arrived at Higayen, San Fabian, Philippine Islands where they disembarked with their equipment and proceeded to Dagupan where they boarded a troop train south to Manila where they briefly stayed at Rosario Heights in the southeast Manila metropolitan area, a subdivision of Muntilupa City.

10 April Able Company arrived at Manila, and moved to the grounds of Ateneo College where they set up their encampment. The company performed military police duties in the Pasay and Libertad areas of the city.

     Editors Note: Pasay, located south of Manilia, was one of the four original cities of the Manila metropolitan area. Libertad was a rail station and market area in Pasay.

     A detachment of thirty enlisted men and one officer of Able Company were deployed to the Iwahig, Palawan Island where they performed guard duties at the Penal Colony, twenty-two acres in size, and was built in 1904 to serve as a depository for civil prisoners who could not be accommodated at the Bilbid Prison in Manila

12 April At 1:00pm President Roosevelt suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died hours later. America's longest serving president was dead before he could witness the end of the war, and the nation went into a period of shock and grief. Harry S. Truman, Roosevelt’s Vice President, was sworn in as the nations 33rd President. Truman a veteran of WW-I had been vice president for only eighty-two days when Roosevelt died. Roosevelt had selected Truman for his VP for purely political reasons, to carry him to his third election victory as President. That left Truman in the dark about the many secret diplomatic issues relating to the war, and knowledge of the top secret Manhattan Project to develop the Atomic Bomb.

12 April At 1:00pm President Roosevelt suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died hours later. America's longest serving president was dead before he could witness the end of the war, and the nation went into a period of shock and grief.

     Harry S. Truman, Roosevelt’s Vice President, was sworn in as the nations 33rd President. Truman a veteran of WW-I had been vice president for only eighty-two days when Roosevelt died. Roosevelt had selected Truman for his VP for purely political reasons, to carry him to his third election victory as President.

     That left Truman in the dark about the many secret diplomatic issues relating to the war, and knowledge of the top secret Manhattan Project to develop the Atomic Bomb.

20 April HQ & HQ Detachment and the Medical Detachment arrived at Manila.

21 April HQ & HQ Detachment and the Medical Detachment moved ashore and started construction of a new camp in the area of Ateneo College in Manila.

25 May The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approved Operation DOWNFALL, the overall Allied plan for the invasion of Japan scheduled for November 1.

     The plan had two parts: Operation OLYMPIC- the invasion of the southern island of Kyushi, and Operation CORONET- the invasion of the main island of Honshu. The recently captured island of Okinawa was designated as the staging area.

28 May LTC Reilly was transferred to Headquarters Base K at Tacloban on the Philippine Island of Leyte, and MAJ Edward C. Longo the executive officer, assumed command of the battalion.

9 June Japanese Premier Suzuki announced Japan will fight to the very end rather than accept unconditional surrender. With U.S. estimates of over one million Allied troops and even larger casualty totals for civilians, President Truman made a decision to use the newly developed atomic bomb to bring Japan to the peace table.

18 June The Japanese resistance on Mindanao Island in the Philippines against the U.S. 8th Army invasion of 10 March ended.

22 June The U.S. campaign against the Japanese home island of Okinawa formally ended. The Japanese Army commander and his staff committed ritual suicide rather than surrender.

4 July "Today brings back memories to me. Three years ago I was on the train coming west for embarkation. If I’m not mistaken, we were in Chicago on the 4th. The 24th of this month will give me three long years overseas. I can hardly realize I’ve been away from all of you that long. I don’t feel any older, but I guess I look it.

     “Mom and Pop, I can’t tell you how anxious I am to see you again. There is no place like home and believe me, I should know. New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Philippines - I certainly never thought I’d see the world, but out outfit has really traveled thousands of miles since leaving ‘Frisco.”  CPL Stanley V. “Dyke” Knoll, Company D, 1942-1945.

3 August President Truman warned the Emperor and government of Japan of the dire consequences to befall them for their resistance.

     Truman wanted an unconditional surrender, while Japan was still hoping to broker a better deal. When Truman’s offers were ignored by the Emperor and his hard line militaristic Prime Minister’s, Truman secretly made the decision to use the Atomic Bomb.

8 August Russia finally declared war on Japan and attacked their forces in Manchuria.

     “The Filipinos attend all the movies we go to around here, and stand or squat around in the back somewhere. I know they don’t know what is going on most of the time, but they seem to enjoy them.

     When someone cries in the movie, they usually laugh as they don’t know what it is all about. They seem to get a big kick out of some of the comedies, which wouldn’t even make us smile. I guess it’s because they’ve never seen movies before in their lives.

     They’re very simple people and I believe all they want most in the world is to be left alone. I’ll bet they will be glad when we Yanks pull out... Good night now and take it easy, Mom. Pop, drink another beer for me, will you. Nite”  CPL Stanley V. “Dyke” Knoll, Dog Company, 1942-1945.

31 August Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment at Batangas was loaded onto LST-951, and joined a large convoy of all types of ships headed for Japan. They landed at Yokohama for a brief stop, and then moved on to Tokyo.

     The remaining members of Company D departed Manila, Luzon Island on the USS Admiral C.F. Hughes (AP124) on 24 September, destined for Japan

     It is unknown how long MAJ Edward C. Longo commanded the battalion. Sometime between his appointment on 28 May 1945 and January 1946 there were two other commanders, exact dates of command unknown. They are LTC Phillip C. Lawton and MAJ John S. Lovis, followed by a MAJ Jackson whose name first appears in the timeline in January 1946.

     Editors Note: In the printed pamphlet authored by the battalion staff officers of the 1960’s, “1942-1956 History of the 720th MP Battalion,” the name MAJ Edward C. Hango appears in March 1945, along with the name of MAJ John S. Lovis at the start of 1946.

     According to several of the battalion history summaries for the period, the bulk of the battalion is reported to have arrived at Yokohama, Japan on 2 September, and was immediately deployed to Tokyo to take up military police and security duties in the now occupied capital city.

      However, according to the chronology of battalion movement dates, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and Alpha, Charlie and Dog Companies arrived in Tokyo on 13 September, with Baker Company arriving from the Philippine Islands on 4 November.

    There is also some confusion as to where the battalion headquarters and each company were first physically encamped in the burned out city. Several locations are mentioned, not all with the specific units identified.

      What we do know is that Charlie Company was housed in the armory of the former 8th Imperial Guard. The Japanese Imperial Guard, an arm of the Japanese Imperial Army, was dedicated to the protection of the Emperor and his family, palaces, and other imperial properties. The 8th was part of the Tokyo 3rd Guards Division.

     Baker Company was first housed in the Central Imperial Police Headquarters opposite Sakuradamon, the "Cherry Village Gate" at the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward, one block from GEN MacArthur’s SCAP Headquarters at the Dai Ichi Building.

8 September General Douglas MacArthur entered Tokyo, Japan, joined by his SCAP headquarters from Yokohama on the 17th.

     The battalion, now wearing the 8th Army patch, was tasked to share military police duties with the 545th MP Company, 1st Cavalry Division in the Metropolitan Tokyo Area, which in 1945 was 15.8 square miles. It had a population of 3.49 million, not counting the U.S. and the Allied occupational troops that numbered around 400,000.

     Add to that the expected animosity of the city’s population who during 1944 through 15 August 1945: suffered over 124,000 casualties; the destruction of 286,000 homes and buildings; and over one million homeless; a direct result of the Allied bombing campaign. The people were faced with the considerable hardships of food shortages, heating, housing and employment. (see map on right).

     In addition, at the end of the war over six million Japanese were scattered throughout the islands in the Western Pacific and on the Asiatic mainland. Their early return to Japan was desirable for purely humanitarian reasons as well as for the purpose of easing the economic burden of the liberated countries.

     There were also approximately 1,170,000 aliens in Japan, many of whom had been forcibly removed from their homelands. Early in September 1945 a large number of these displaced persons flocked to ports hoping thereby to obtain preferential treatment for their repatriation. This influx resulted in congestion and created health and sanitation problems, which threatened public welfare in Japan.

     Recognizing this urgent problem, SCAP promptly initiated a program for mass repatriation, placing it under the staff supervision of G-3 in conjunction with the Naval High Command.

     These burdens would compound the difficulty of policing the capital city of Tokyo.

     The disciplined combat hardened Japanese troops whose creed was to “die rather than surrender,” and their accompanying civilians supporters who served as overseers of their brutal colonial occupations would eventually be repatriated to Japan, and the Allied Occupation forces would now have to change their troop posture from combat soldier to peacekeeper.

     For many of the combat arms units that spent the past four years fighting the fanatical and brutal troops of the Japanese Imperial Army and Marines the hatred and bitterness ran deep, so this would be much easier said than accomplished. Only strict command supervision and control of their new cantonments and movements could prevent the unwanted conflicts that could change the plans for a peaceful occupation to one of needless violent confrontation.

    For the veterans of the battalion trained and tested during their four years of deployment as professional law enforcers and peacekeepers, the new task of dealing one-on-one with their onetime antagonists, while at the same time keeping the peace between the radicalized elements of the Japanese people and those troops of the combat arms branch who were still looking for retribution, would be a challenging one. Especially when the peacetime rotations back to stateside assignments and or civilian life would quickly deplete their ranks of veterans, now being filled with new and previously untrained and untested replacements

     Given the magnitude of the task at hand, providing peace and security as an occupying army for over two million people in their now devastated capital, historically, it would be the battalion’s finest hour to that period in their young timeline.

     “ Any broad-strokes painting of the history of that Pacific War campaign and the resultant occupation of Japan, understandably, can not detail the vital contributions of individual units such as the 720th Military Police Battalion.

    However, the battalion probably earned and deserves exemption from such anonymity by reason of two separate but intertwined successes.

     First, because of their key, point-guard role in the initial occupation and repatriation of the capital city from September 1945 to February 1955, and secondly, beginning in April 1952, the orderly transition of governing authority back to sovereign, Japanese responsibility.

     By any criteria, these were truly unique and monumental undertakings because their jurisdictional mandate included not only all United States and Allied military, and civilian personnel, but the Japanese citizenry as well.”   PFC Patrick L. Cook, Able Company, 1951-1953.

     Under direction of GEN MacArthur, SCAP Headquarters used the existing Japanese army and naval authorities to conduct the demobilization of nearly seven million troops under arms, four million still overseas under two Demobilization Bureaus, the 1st and 2nd.

     Their job was to identify and roster the Japanese servicemen. The repatriations were physically conducted on U.S. Liberty ships and LST's that transported the Japanese back to demarcation points off Japan.

     A second problem that could have a serious effect on the occupation forces was the tons of hidden Japanese military armaments throughout the area. Before the surrender, the military, civil police and general populace were preparing for the possibility of a house-by-house defense of their homeland, and weapons stashes, both large and small, were not uncommon. If allowed to fall into the wrong hands they could wreak havoc on the U.S. and Allied forces.

     The Demobilization Bureaus, working with U.S. ordnance specialist, were also quickly addressing those concerns.

<  Click Map left for locations of demobilization and repatriation numbers.

     Knowing the best way to maintain civil order was to keep a Japanese face in the forefront of Japanese-on-Japanese civil law violations, GEN MacArthur stressed combined patrol responses to complaints. Although not perfect, the revamped civil justice system under SCAP was critical to the peaceful transition.

     To better service the military and civil populace of the city, over two hundred vetted Japanese Civil Police were assigned to “ride along” with the military police. In addition, Japanese American (Nisei) members of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Units attached to the battalion as interpreters often accompanied the patrols.

     “My Hawaiian born uncle, PFC Paul S. Sakuma, served in the 720th MP Battalion with Company D during the first year of the Occupation until his discharge in October 1946. He was a Hawaiian born, and was in Chicago in college at the time of his induction. However, when he was drafted, he was assigned to go to Europe as part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. In a twist of fate, a close relative or friend passed away and he received a bereavement leave. During that time, his unit had shipped out to Europe, and they sent him to Fort Snelling's Military Intelligence Service Language School instead.

     After graduating from the school he eventually received orders for service in Japan and was attached to the 720th MP Battalion. Frankly, like quite a majority of the veterans of that horrific time, Uncle Paul rarely spoke of his military days to my Aunt Eiko. She did tell me one story Paul had told her about his days as "an MP."

     She said Paul had to go on raids to prostitution houses as a MP looking for GI's breaking the off-limits regulations. During a couple of these raids, there would be a fellow Nisei among them. He'd let them go, but not the "Howlies" [Hawaiian slang for foreigner]," as he put it.

      Many "Nisei" who fought in the U.S. Army (442nd, 100th, and the Military Intelligence Service) were bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal early last month [November 2011] in Washington, D.C. Unbelievably, my aunt had not even heard of it nor did I even think Uncle Paul would have been in the Military Intelligence Service or attached to the MPs, for that matter. But shortly after the ceremony, Aunt Eiko brought out an album when I saw Uncle Paul in his Army duds. I recognized Ft. Snelling in the background from my WWII Pacific War research (I'm just an amateur fascinated by that history).

    I didn't say anything then, but upon returning home, I checked the official WWII roster for the Military Intelligence Service which was given to me by Grant Ichikawa of the Japanese American Veterans Association and there he was: Paul S. Sakuma, Ft. Snelling, September 1945. He thusly qualified as a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal - as did my Aunt Eiko as his surviving spouse. She cried deeply after I told her.

    My uncle passed away in May 1980, just a few weeks before he and my Aunt Eiko were to fly out to Los Angeles from his beloved Tokyo to attend my first wedding. He succumbed to a massive heart attack at the young age of 57. As she was very much in love with him, she was devastated and misses him greatly even to this day.”   Koji D. Kanemoto, Nephew of a Soldier of The Gauntlet.

14 through 17 October Japanese police along with U.S. military police, infantry and ordinance specialist under the command of CPT Michael G. Frisch, chief investigator of the Tokyo Provost Marshal’s Office, conducted four days of secret raids throughout metropolitan Tokyo gathering up cashes of firearms, explosives and bladed weapons from private homes.

     “I went with a lieutenant who wore a handlebar mustache- he had to sleep on his back. He was a real nice guy. When I first went to the MP’s we had to go downtown to guard the Emperor. I had to roll out the carpet for him to come walking out on, and to guard him if he took a stroll or rode around on that white horse he had.

     In Tokyo, I did a lot of MP work guarding the brewery, the railroad stations, and hotels and different things, and drove the lieutenant around. I drove a jeep quite a bit in the cold winter of 1945.

     Then they picked a bunch of us to go down to guard the war crimes prisoners, as part of the International Military Tribunal (War Crimes) Far East."   PFC Raymond C. Goode, Able Company & IMTFE, 1945-1947.

     The diversion of military funds and supplies into private hands began the day before the emperor's surrender broadcast. It was later estimated that approximately seventy percent of all Japanese Army and Navy stocks in Japan, sufficient for a force of some five million men at home and three million more overseas, were disbursed in the first frenzy of looting lasting perhaps a month or two.

     During the turbulent two weeks following the emperor's surrender broadcast, a great many men of influence spent most of their waking hours looting military storehouses, arranging hasty payments from the military budget or from Bank of Japan to contractors and cronies, and destroying documents.

31 October Black-market operations involving the exchange of army supplies for hundreds of thousands of dollars were uncovered by the provost marshal’s office in a raid at the Marunouchi hotel in Tokyo. Four American soldiers, two former Italian diplomats Mlarino Bocca, age 35, and Giovanni Muratore, age 36, and two Japanese were arrested. An undercover soldier working for the provost marshal, Gen. Hugh Hoffman, had been associating with the principals as a guest at the hotel located across from the Tokyo Rail Station in the battalions area of operations, and sat in on a deal in which $476,000 was to have changed hands.

     Housed In the Marunouchi, which had been set aside by occupation officials as a civilian hotel, were people from almost all axis and neutral countries, Including Germans and Italians who had been attached to their own embassies before the entry of American troops into the capital. Meat and other rare foods were available there at black market prices, and almost unlimited quantities of beer and liquor attracted American soldiers, to the hotel.

     The ring had been under observation by the provost marshals office since the first tip was given to military police ten days prior. Squads of MP’s under command of the assistant provost marshal and chief investigator, CPT Michael Frisch of Ithaca, N. Y., surrounded the hotel, guarded all exits, halted elevator and telephone service and then entered rooms of the suspects.

     The two Italians had been using their diplomatic pouches for illicit dealings in currency, jewelry, and other items even before tile American occupation troops entered Japan. The GIs held were attached to the quartermaster office which came to this theater from Europe, and the provost marshal believed It was possible that the ring was successful in operations In the European theater. The investigation was expected to turn up other soldiers who were profiting from deals.

     The raiding party seized uncounted quantities of Japanese money in addition to silk and pearls. Eighty-seven cases of 10 in one army rations were confiscated as evidence.

     Negotiations had been under way on the rings last deal for three days. One Item had been identified as a truckload of woolen underwear for which buyers were ready to pay $27 per two-piece suit.

     The roundup came a day ahead of schedule because of a story that appeared In Stars and Stripes the previous morning that said more than 2,000 Japanese were seized for possession of American supplies.

     The raid originally was scheduled to take place in the evening, when an army truck was to deliver two hundred and fifty 60-pound bags of sugar to the ring. The sale price of the sugar in the black market would have been $50,000, and the amount was to be divided among four American soldiers.

17 November BG Hugh Doffman, Provost Marshal, Tokyo announced in an official press release that, “behavior of U.S. servicemen and Japanese civilians alike has been surprisingly good,” since the occupation began.

     "I was sent to the 720th, to an old wooden barracks [Nanako] that was a fire trap. One of my first tasks as an MP was to learn Tokyo, and after a while Company A was given responsibility to patrol the southern part of the city. One of my memories of the winter of 1945 was the darkness of the city, and of all the orphaned children who congregated in the railroad stations for warmth at night.

     On night duty, we would get all of the leftovers from chow from the mess sergeant and watch all of the smiling orphan faces come running when that white MP jeep came to the station. And we gave them some of our clothes, which they wore never mind how lost they looked inside shirts and jackets which were much too big for them. When spring came, the children went to homes started by churches and the Japanese government.”   CPL Elmer C. Obermeier, Able Company, 1945-1946.

     The veterans of the 3rd Army in the European Theater often complained that GEN George S. Patton was a fanatical stickler for the proper military dress of his troops, even in the midst of hostilities. But these troops had never served in Occupied Japan under GEN MacArthur. Patton couldn’t hold a candle to MacArthur when it came to the issuance and enforcement of regulations pertaining to neatness of appearance and proper military dress.

     He was well aware that the Japanese culture stressed cleanliness, order and bearing in all facets of their life, and that the U.S. military must at all times meet these standards or loose respect, and thus control. That strict code also included the fairness in which they were to treat the populace, regardless of past or current economic, political, or military status.

     This was still the brown shoe army, ties were still part of the dress and sometimes-combat uniforms, and fatigues (now BDU’s) were never worn off post without specific permission. Battalion troops would have four specific uniform configurations, three for MP line duty, and one, the “fatigue” uniform, for combat training and non-duty work details.

     The three line duty uniforms were dictated by seasonal weather conditions. In the winter they wore the plain woolen blouse and pants, or the Eisenhower blouse and pants, and in the summer they wore the khaki blouse and pants. The accompanying head cover, belts, web-gear, leggings (spats), foot wear and brassard to be worn, depended on the season, theater and duty assignment, as did the color of the helmet, web gear, and leggings.

     The U.S. Army GI has never been shy of generating irreverent prose aimed at individuals, circumstances, or geography, and duty in Japan was no exception. The following comes from the era of the Occupation of Japan when GEN Douglas MacArthur more or less ruled an empire.

     “Our General who art in Tokyo, Douglas MacArthur be thy name.

      SGT Hayes and PVT Gaddis went up to the room and found the woman, who appeared to be much older than she was, cowering in the corner on a sleeping mat clutching a small bundle of possessions. She was unbelievably filthy, infested with lice, and appeared half-wild.

     When they questioned her she quickly became belligerent, started to curse, shout and accuse, “The trouble with you Americans is you think you have to know everything.” Given her physical and mental condition, they concluded her situation was beyond their ability to assist. Thinking it would be unwise to forcibly remove her, they called on the Red Cross to respond

     Her name, origins, and how she came to be in this condition remained a mystery.

     “MP duty with the battalion in Tokyo was sweet, you slept in barracks, could always find a hot meal and coffee, and somewhere to stay out of the rain or warm up when it was cold. Unfortunately, each sweet duty station also has its shit details, and rural checkpoint duty at night was one of them.

     On the nights of 27, 28 and 29 December, we set up checkpoints on the highway between Tokyo and Yokohama, 1800 hours until 24:00 hours.

      One night the wind was blowing from the east, off Tokyo Bay. Boy, it was cold out there, and one of the fellows discovered a Japanese home with a picket fence round it. We borrowed the fence to make a fire to keep us warm, but could not make it burn.

     Lucky for us, a few Japanese girls came along and showed us how to re-pile the wood to catch fire.” PFC Palmer L. Larson, Charlie Company, 1945-1946 .

     During the war Battalion Headquarters & HQ Detachment earned three of the authorized twenty-one U.S. Army Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Streamers, and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation before moving into Tokyo on Occupation and Security Duty.