The Cold War in Germany and the negotiation between the “Big Three” (United States, Great Britain, France) and the Russian Soviet Block over Berlin and their troop buildup, tended to obscure the “hot war” between the East and West being fought in the Far East.

     The ”hot brushfire wars” were being fought against the Communist guerilla movements in Korea, China, and down through the rich agricultural natural resource areas of French Indo-China (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), Malaya, Burma and the East Indies.

     In Malaya (also including the southern end of Siam, now Thailand), Great Britain was forced to spend billions and send military reinforcements to cope with Chinese Communists supported guerillas that were killing plantation owners who were trying to restore the flow of trade vital to the post-war economic reconstruction Malaya, Burma (now called Myanmar) and Europe.

     In Indo-China, the French were providing billions of dollars and thousands of troops against the Communist Viet Minh guerillas of Ho Che Minh for the same reasons.

     In Mainland China, the United States had their hands full in the civil war providing millions in aid and armament to support GEN Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army against the communist forces of Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao).

     In Korea, the Soviet’s Communist sleeper cells within the new Southern Zone Korean Army were defecting with stocks of weaponry, and their guerillas sent south from the Soviet Northern Zone were ambushing civil government officials and small military patrols.

     In Japan GEN MacArthur’s reform and reconstruction measures were under constant political attack in the Japanese press by the Soviet members of the Japan Advisory Committee, and on the streets by their communist unionist’s cells.

     The battalion began making plans to move from their first compound (Camp Burness) at L and 48th Streets in Nakano to facilities closer to the center of Tokyo.

     The personnel shortages due to discharges and downsizing of the Army were still continuing. Due to the critical shortage of battalion personnel, all of the troops in the letter companies, except five overhead personnel per company, were attached to Baker Company for operational purposes.

7 January, 1930 hours Members of the battalion Ping-Pong team played the Club 21 team at the tournament held in the Bankers Club (Service Club) in downtown Tokyo.

11 January A string of armed robberies in Tokyo was brought to a sudden end with the shooting death of a Japanese National named Hideo Ninomiya of Kanagawa-ken. The suspect, who was fatally wounded in a gunfight with battalion MPs, had been approaching his victims posing as a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division investigator. A total of twelve robberies netting Ninomiya nearly a million yen were solved when victims identified his body as that of their armed robber.

     While posing as a technical sergeant, he was picked up in downtown Tokyo by an MP patrol of SSG London Meline of New Orleans, CPL Fred D. Lambert of Tall Timbers, Maryland, and PVT Daniel Crocker of Tallaposa, Georgia for being in improper uniform and having no Army identification on his person. He escaped from the vehicle while being transported to the Provost Marshals Office, but was soon trapped in a house by the pursuing MPs. CPL Lambert followed the suspect into the house, and climbed into the attic where Ninomiya was hiding. When Ninomiya pointed his pistol, CPL Lambert beat him to the draw inflicting the fatal wound.

20 January Service Clubs were considered a great morale booster, especially for the troops overseas where nightlife, beyond attendance at a local Beer Hall, was limited. The clubs maintained an ongoing and interesting itinerary of activities that didn’t require spending money, or drinking as the primary event de jour.

     The battalion was fortunate in that a service club was opened within the compound at Camp Burness. On hand for the grand opening ceremony of the new White Derby Service Club was Tokyo Provost Marshal BG C. S. Ferrin, who presented the club director, Miss. Tina Williams with a 720th MP Battalion “white derby” helmet liner with her name on it.

26 January During a patrol at Ueno Rail Station CPL Christopher H. Miles, Jr. and PVT Osby G. Tomlin, age 19 of Carruthersville, Missouri made an apprehension of Ichiji Nemoto, a 22-year-old law student of Chuo University. Ueno was a major rail station, and the neighborhood across from it was a thriving black market area. The circumstances leading to the apprehension were not available.

     During the apprehension Nemoto resisted, and struck CPL Miles on the back of his head, then grabbed his Billy Club in an attempt to continue the assault. PVT Osby rapped Nemoto across the knuckles with his club to break his grip, and he was taken into custody.

     The two MPs took him from the station to its radiotelephone office. Once inside the office Nemoto grabbed a butcher knife from a Japanese mess kit, and threatened CPL Miles with it. The two MPs succeeded in disarming him of the knife, but during the struggle he once again grabbed CPL Miles Billy Club and struck him on the head, knocking him down. PVT Tomlin finally subdued Nemoto, and he was placed in custody of the responding Japanese police.

27 January During a patrol at Ueno Rail Station battalion MP’s CPL Christopher H. Miles, Jr. and PVT Osby G. Tomlin age 19 of Carruthersville, Missouri, made an apprehension of Ichiji Nemoto, a 22-year-old law student of Chuo University. Ueno was a major rail station, and the neighborhood across from it was a thriving black-market area. The circumstances leading up to the apprehension were not available.

     During the apprehension Nemoto resisted, and struck CPL Miles on the back of his head, then grabbed his Billy Club in an attempt to continue the assault. PVT Osby rapped Nemoto across the knuckles with his club to break his grip, and he was taken into custody. The two MPs took him from the station to its nearby radiotelephone office.

     Once inside the office Nemoto grabbed a butcher knife from a Japanese mess kit left by an employee, and threatened CPL Miles with it. The two MPs succeeded in disarming him of the knife, but during the struggle he once again grabbed CPL Miles Billy Club and struck him on the head, knocking him down. PVT Tomlin finally subdued Nemoto, and he was placed in custody of the responding Japanese police.

1 February As part of a series of showcase interviews with “typical” Japanese citizens, the Stars & Stripes Newspaper interviewed Isamu Ide, the 41-year old chief of the Waseda Police Station in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo. The station was within the battalion's area of operations.

      Chief Ide was an 18-year veteran, first joining the police force in Saitama Prefecture in 1929, and was transferred to Tokyo in 1937 where he worked as a police inspector in the Home Ministry until May 1948, when he was appointed as chief of the Waseda Police Station.

     During the war Ide and his family lived in the former Home Ministry building to avoid the bombings. At that time policemen and school teachers were exempt from military service, and his only trip outside of Tokyo was to inspect their occupation police services in Manchuria.

     Chief Ide survived the recent SCAP-Japanese government purges of the Home Ministry to clear them of their radical and brutal wartime Imperial Army ideologues, a complement to his professionalism.

     The Waseda Police Station was a three-story brick and concrete building that survived the allied bombing in a much-burned out district, one of five stations in the Shinjuku ward. The station, with a staff of 135 officers and clerical personnel, included a top floor assembly room, several detention rooms used for interview and interrogations, and clerical and administrative offices. The normal training period for police officers was three-months, but because of a recent increase in recruits it was shortened to two-months. None of his current staff or recruits were women officers.

     The ward encompassed the territory previously covered by the three former wards of Yotsuya, Yodobashi and Ushigome, the latter in which the station formerly served.

     Ide, although a desk bound administrator during the war, recalls the governments program to crack down on Communism through the use of force. He believed the present system of recognizing the Communists right to participate in the government process was the only fair and democratic way of handling any political development. However, he was not in sympathy with the Communists methods of intimidation and violence in their anti-occupation and government protests.

     As to the occupation in general, Ide said he had a great respect for the way it was being conducted, especially the discipline shown by the U.S. Army.

Food For Thought- “It seems to me, that with such a large number of automobiles, owned by private parties and the Government in the Tokyo-Yokohama area, something should be done to protect our vehicles against the damage and theft, which is being done by the Japanese. It seems like every Army [movie] theater is too well guarded by MP's, while outside our cars are afforded no protection whatever against these Japanese who seem to take delight in breaking up a person's car.

     What do the Japanese police do? Surely some of them could be detailed to watch our cars against the above offenders. Parking facilities at the Ernie Pyle' P.X. Commissary are not large enough to accommodate the increasing number of cars. Several more guarded parking areas are very much needed, and would ne appreciated by car owners.”   T/SGT Anthony P. Lynchosky, Tokyo QM. APO 181.

Doing Their Best- “In reference to T/Sgt. Lynchowsky's letter of February 12, we would like to ask him has he inquired how many MPs are stalking the streets at night for the specific purpose of watching cars and apprehending Japanese" meddling in Civilian and Army vehicles? Does he know that 85% of stolen vehicles have been recovered and many Japanese have been caught in the act of stealing Army jeeps? The 720th MP Bn. Is down to1/2 strength and still doing the same job they were doing with twice as many men.

     We don't ask for praise, but we would like for you constant gripers to know the story before you gripe.” (signed) Three SGT's, one CPL, one PFC and Two PVT's.

26 February The skyline of Tokyo was filled with flames and billowing black smoke as three fires within five hours destroyed seven buildings. The battalion patrols were kept busy at most of the major intersections assisting the city police with traffic and crowd control.

     The first and largest of the three was reported at 1530 hours and destroyed a building housing the Japanese press club, and other buildings containing the offices of the prime minister and the Central Screening Commission. Although hampered by strong winds and a lack of sufficient water pressure, firemen managed to get it under control before it also destroyed the residence of the prime minister.

     At almost the same time a mile away, a fire broke out in an office of the Daido Steel Manufacturing Company. It ruined the top two floors of the three-story building.

12-13 March The battalion moved to a former Japanese Paymasters School located at Z and 20th Streets in downtown Tokyo, near the Sumida River, adjacent to the Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest in the country. The facility was previously occupied by the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Work details were immediately begun to improve the facility.

     Their new compound had plenty of room for their operational and recreational needs. It was surrounded by a wall, and contained thirty separate concrete block buildings, including a large three story main building (No. 100) which became their headquarters, training rooms and enlisted billets. The bays slept eight to ten personnel; they had high ceilings, and were in much better condition than the wooden firetraps of Nakano.

     Situated along the Sumida River and the nearby Kachidoki Bridge (the only drawbridge on the 27 mile long river) gave them quick access to all parts of the city. The only drawback of being along the river was the large neighboring Tsukiji Fish Market. During the hot days of summer the odor of fish permeated the entire area.

     In South Korea, MG William Dean, head of the military government, issued an order recalling and exchanging all old currency in the zone by the 24th. The order included not only the U.S. issued Military Payment Certificates, but also the old Japanese Yen notes that remained in use since the Japanese WW II occupation.

     The order was primarily to prevent the Communist in the Soviet controlled Northern Zone from using it to finance insurgency and violence in the south. Earlier, the Soviet military had confiscated most of the old Yen notes, and issued a Soviet sponsored currency in the north. They failed to destroy the old notes as required by U.N. agreement, and, instead have smuggled them to their agents in the U.S. Southern Zone to finance an ongoing program of propaganda, riots, and political assassinations.

5 April, 2030 hours Battalion patrols responded to at shooting call outside Sugamo Prison. The victim, Army Chaplain (Catholic) CPT John A. Ryan was murdered shortly after walking out of the front gate. He was a popular and influential chaplain who vigorously crusaded against the local gangs that ran the black-market and prostitution business around the prison.

     On the night of his murder he was dressed in his uniform, and while leaving the prison to take a customary short walk around the grounds outside, he stopped just outside the gate and spoke with a small group of American prison guards telling them that, “If you hear anyone cry out it will probably be me.” A few minutes later he was shot at close range to the left side of his chest with a small .25 caliber handgun. His wallet and watch were not taken. The discovery of his body was reported to prison guards by a local Japanese resident of the neighborhood.

     The CID investigator’s summoned to work the case with the Tokyo police believed the murder was not a robbery, and initially thought the small hole that caused the fatal chest wound was the result of a stabbing with a thin knife or icepick.

     The autopsy revealed later, that a firearm caused the fatal wound, and the investigators believed, and then reported to the Japanese and U.S. media, that the local crime gangs probably had him killed. For the next seventy-nine days the CID and Tokyo police chased down several high ranking members of the Japanese and Korean organized crime bosses without developing enough evidence to bring anyone to trial. The case was going cold, and pressure to clear it was being applied, until two of the local prostitutes whose original account to investigators was that Korean underworld figures were responsible, changed their story and identified a local prison guard as the shooter.

     PFC Manis, who steadfastly maintained his innocence, had previously been questioned by investigators, and told them that he was speaking with a Japanese girl (prostitute) about 300 feet from the shooting when he heard screams for help. The female later verified his alibi. It was the same prostitute and her friend that later corroborated her new story, that she and Manis were stopped outside the gate by Chaplain Ryan, who called him over to talk. It was after a brief conversation that Manis was alleged to have pulled out the gun and shot the chaplain

12 April After settling into their new facilities, Commanding General of the U.S. 8th Army, General LTG Robert L. Eichelberger, authorized the battalion to transfer the name Camp Burness from the Nakano facility to the new compound in Tokyo.

     With the move, the WW II soldier memorial statue was brought along and positioned just inside the front entrance of their new compound.

     The move kept the battalion extra busy, but didn’t create any disruptions in their daily operations.

22 April  Just one month after the American Occupation’s Series 471 “pink” money became invalid, 8th Army announced that its destruction, begun on 4 April at a Japanese crematory in Yokahama, was completed under the guard of the 519th MP Battalion and supervision of 8th Army finance officials. The estimated amount was millions (true count is classified top secret) in script denominations of one, five and ten dollar denominations to include all fractional bills.

30 April Members of Charlie Company mourned the death of PVT Coy Sherman Potts age 23 of West Virginia. No information could be found on the circumstances of his passing.

     Within five days of the announcement, two infantry battalion commanders of the Army of the Republic of (South) Korea who were secret members of the Communist Workers Party defected to the north with a total of 750 of their troops.

     In defiance of the U.N. the Soviet’s boycotted the elections by refusing to allow U.N. observers and election workers enter their zone.

1 May In Tokyo, the Japanese police and battalion patrols were given a respite from the expected disturbances and violence of past May Day rallies. Even though the weather was perfect, the crowd at its peak, estimated at less than 5,000, was thousands short of the attendance seen in the plaza at the 1947 rally.

20 May The Tokyo area Army Service Club hostesses sponsored a five day meeting and conference at the Banker’s Club in Tokyo. The panel of a dozen club hostesses of the Far East assembled to hear opinions of their clients and enlisted men, to adjust their operations and itinerary to meet the troops needs. One of the speakers was SGT Thomas Dollarhide of the battalion. The opinions given varied, and the hostesses agreed with some and disagreed with others, but were willing to make adjustments to better serve their clients.

     SGT Dollarhide said the service club is one of the most potent factors for keeping the soldier out of trouble. However, he deplored the information service of the clubs, which so far has been ineffective in reaching the average visitor to Tokyo.

     While on a tour of the West Coast to solidify his base for nomination by the Democratic Party, President Truman proposed Congress smother the ‘Red’ menace in America with “more and better democracy” instead of outlawing the Communist Party as some in Congress had suggested.

     At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshal deplored a Congressional move to slash foreign aid funds as providing “mere relief” instead of reconstruction.

14 June President Truman signed into law legislation making women regular members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It was in the early months of WW II when women were first enlisted for war duty, the Wacs and Waves in the Army and Navy were reservists on temporary duty. With the new law, they became regular members of their respective service, on the same footing as men. Woman Marines were not affected, since they were regulars all along.

     The Air Force immediately announced that their “Women of the Air Force, will now be known as Wafs.

25 June In Berlin Germany, in an attempt to destroy confidence in the U.S. Great Britain and France who controlled the western sectors of the city, the Soviet Russian’s announced that they were stopping all food supply to the Allied sectors of western Berlin through an order to the city government not to distribute Soviet-contributed food. The order effectively ended the three-year old food pool to which each of the four powers (Russia, United States, Great Britain, France) contributed food that was distributed on a citywide basis. In addition, they threatened to stop all coal shipments into the western sectors, thus effectively denying the West Berliners of the fuel needed to power the water and electric utilities.

     Coupled with the Soviet Army land blockade of the city, this left 2,500,00 Berliners with only a thirty-day reserve supply of food and fuel. Official diplomatic complaints to the Soviets by the U.S. Great Britain and France were rebuked.

30 June, 2200 hours Members of the battalion were called out to assist the patrol shift with a major fire at the Shubido Printing plant in downtown Tokyo. Twelve fire companies answering the call had the blaze under control by 2240 hours, and no one was injured. LT Raymond Allaman of the battalion was one of the first at the scene of the fire and said, “five persons were in the building at the time of the blaze but all managed to escape without injury.”

     In the American Zone of (South) Korea, seventy-year old Dr. Syngman Rhee, an American-educated Korean Nationalists leader, was elected by the South Korean Assembly as the first president of the new Republic of (South) Korea by a count of 180 to 13.

     Along the 38th parallel one U.S. soldier was killed and one wounded when a squad of Communist North Koreans ambushed them, and immediately fled back into the Northern Soviet Zone. The incident marked the first time since the post WW II occupation that an American soldier was killed in the Southern Zone.

     In Italy, police cracked the backbone of a Communist rebellion in Sicily with the capture of fifty armed rebels on the slopes of Mt. Amiata near Abadia.

     In Paris, France a call went out for a national coalition government to form to prevent a bloody showdown between the supporters of GEN Charles de Gaulle and those of the French Communist Party.

     In Kuala Lumpur, Malaya Communist insurgents killed one British officer and three policemen in an ambush southeast of Kajang.

     With the growing crisis in Berlin, Germany the U.S. deployed seventy-five P80 “Shooting Star” jet fighters to Scotland, and another sixteen to an Allied base in West Germany. In addition, sixty B-29 “Superfortress” bombers were sent to three air bases in Britain.

     Put an indefinite delay in the shipping of additional arms to Generalissimo Chiang Kai Check’s Nationalist Army in China due to the worsening crisis in Germany. The stockpile of arms was to be maintained to cover both the needs of the Nationalist’s Chinese Army’s defense against the Chinese Communist forces, and possible shipments to Western European Allied countries of the Brussels Pact.

     President Truman ordered all American men 18 through 25 to register for the draft between 30 August and 18 September. In the announcement he did not specify the exact dates the inductions would begin, however, by law, it could not be before 22 September or 90 days after the draft bill was signed into law.

28 July, 1045 hours Battalion MPs responded to a call from Richard C. Ferguson age 29, the American manager of Acme News Photos of Tokyo. Mr. Ferguson reported he was being held by force at Heiwado Camera Shop located on route No. 11, Tokyo, in the Handa area. The patrols arrived and freed him from the owners of the store, Sentaro Nakajima age 39, and his brother Shuichi age 35

     In Seoul, Republic of (South) Korea, the U.S. Military Governor transferred authority to the new Republic of Korea and lowered the American flag officially ending their occupational mission.

     The U.S. Army Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) continued to assist the young and inexperienced ROK Army with training, arms and equipment.

4 August, 2255 hours While Tokyo police were responding to a fatal hit and run, battalion patrols responded to T Avenue to investigate a missing vehicle, and a subsequent report from Tokyo police of two U.S. soldiers assaulting and throwing a Japanese man into Naka River. It wasn’t until they arrived and began their investigation that it was determined the three incidents, only blocks apart, were related.

     The MPs learned that the missing and presumed stolen vehicle belonging to the Australian Mission chief was left in the control of his chauffeur Akira Nasai age 55 who was also missing, and last seen approximately two hours earlier at 2100 hours in front of the Dai Ichi Building.

     The Tokyo police were informed by one of their officers and several witnesses that a vehicle matching that of the missing car was traveling at a high rate of speed and struck and killed a Japanese peddler on a bicycle at Kameido traveled another two blocks before stopping on the Shinbashi Bridge over the Naka River, in Tokyo, where two American soldiers dragged a man from the vehicle, struck him several times, and threw him over the side before continuing on.

     A bloodstained brick was found on the bridge, and the chauffeur’s body was found in the river a short time later. Army CID was called to conduct the investigation into the incidents while the battalion patrols searched the city for the stolen vehicle.

     The next morning a battalion patrol recovered the stolen British Humber near T Ave. in Tokyo.

     On the morning of the 10th, CID Agents arrested one soldier, and his partner in the crime was arrested on the 13th. The two soldiers, Arthur D. Smith age 24, and Eugene K. Wilson age 18, both new recruits serving with the 56th Quartermaster Supply and Sales Company in Yokohama, were convicted on the 21st of December and sentenced to life in prison for the crime spree

5 August, 1135 hours At Tokyo Central (Rail) Station Japanese police and battalion patrols provided security, traffic, and crowd control to the 1,000 members of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) that were on hand to welcome their secretary general Kyuichi Tokuda. Security was paramount since an unsuccessful 19 July bomb throwing assassination attempt on Tokuda made during one of his anti-capitalism speeches.

     Once the brief welcoming event at the rail station was completed, the crowd followed Tokuda to a morning rally in Hibiya Park in Tokyo where some 10,000 supporters waited. Along the way his followers shouted “Banzai,” “Banzai,” and sang the World Communist Workers Party anthem the “international.”

     In his speech at the park he informed them that only the Communist Party could win against the Fascists Japanese government and Allied Occupation Forces, and save the labor movement in Japan. Neglecting to mention that it was the World Communist Movement that was pushing the world to the brink of another war, he told the crowd that a “third word war will come if we don’t fight against Fascists.”

     Among his crowd of JCP supporters were young radical university students, members of the Government Railway Workers Union, All-Japan Government Communications Labor Union, All-Japan Electric Workers Union, Japan Coal Industry Union, All-Japan Automobile Workers Union, All-Japan Chemical Workers Union, and the Union of Koreans.

12 August SCAP Legal Section reported that 715 war crime suspects had been tried by 8th Army Military Commissions in Japan, and there were still more than 700 potential cases pending. Of the 714 defendants tried during the past two and one-half years, 660 were found guilty and 105 of them were sentenced to hang. Fifty-four were acquitted. Thirteen death sentences were carried out, fourteen were pending, seventy-seven were pending review and five were commuted- three to life, one to 30 and one to 20 years imprisonment at hard labor.

27 August SCAP sent out a reminder to all commands on the regulations pertaining to Allied recreational troop travel in Japan. Except for travel on inter-urban (yellow ball) rail cars, all occupation members traveling by train must have in their possession either competent travel orders, or a properly authenticated absence and travel authority form. For travel on inter-urban cars an identification card only, is required.

     The absence and travel authority forms were valid for seventy-two hours, and were issued only when prior arrangements for billeting and messing had been made.

     Travel by private conveyance to and inside any “on limits” area within 100 miles of the permanent station of the traveler was permitted, and required no authorization other than possession of an appropriate identification card by the traveler.

1 September General Headquarters Far East Command transferred all operational functions of military police, provost marshal and criminal investigation in the central Tokyo from the commanding general, 8th U.S. Army to the commanding general, Headquarters and Service Group, General Headquarters, Far East Command. The area consisted of 27 wards located in the eastern section of Tokyo between the Arakawa River and drainage canal, and Tamagawa. The area also included the majority of installations and activities of GHQ.

     Concurrent with the change, BG C. S. Ferrin, formerly Provost Marshal of the Greater Tokyo Area, became the Staff Provost Marshal of the Far East Command, and COL Polk J. Atkinson, the former acting Staff Provost Marshal Far East Command, became Provost Marshal Headquarters and Service Group, GHQ, Far East Command.

     The 720th MP Battalion, the 20th and 23rd Military Police Criminal Investigation Detachments, and the 473rd Interpreter Team were reassigned to Headquarters and Service Group, General Headquarters. The 8th Army retained responsibility for operations of Sugamo Prison.

     Headquarters & Service Group was formed in Japan on 10 June 1946, and located in the massive grey-stone Finance Building, near the center of downtown Tokyo. Media Document 1950_053. Unrelated to finance duties, the building was also the home of the Ten-To-Ten Service Club, one of the best in the city when it came to the variety of services and entertainment provided for the Occupation Forces.

     With the change the battalion removed the 8th Army patch from their uniforms and replaced it with the Genera Headquarters (GHQ) patch.

     “I had a lot of special details, jobs that weren’t on the roster because they were unexpected. Me and one of the other MP’s, and I’m sorry I can’t remember his name, were assigned a detail to go up to the war crimes building to pick up a prisoner, supposedly to take him to the doctor.

      We reported before anyone told us what the job was, or why were there. They brought out this prisoner and told us who he was Tojo. General Tojo, of the Japanese Army! We were to take him to the dentist.

     Now, as I said before, some of the little things you can’t remember after so many years have gone by, so I don’t recall the dentist’s name or where his office was. But I won’t ever forget Tojo. You know, here I am just a corporal in the U.S. Army and I am being placed in charge of, and have the responsibility for a man who commanded an army. It’s hard to say how many people his army killed, by his orders throughout the years that he was in command. Now, he was my prisoner.”    CPL Arthur J. Boggs, Charlie Company, 1947-1950.

“Well I doubt if there was any man in the company that didn’t have his bad days and his good days. I know I had mine, sure. One night I was on foot patrol, me and one other man, Eddie J. Hendricks, and our duties were around the Tokyo train station. The job was to check the trains as they came in. We had jurisdiction over American and English soldiers, and several other nationalities, and we checked to make sure these people weren’t in the Off Limits cars.

     We spotted a man that was in an unauthorized car and took him off and started questioning him. Usually, after we talked with people like this for a while we checked them out and let them go on back to camp. But in this case there was something not right, and we went into this little building that the station manager stayed in, and sat down at the table and proceeded to write a Disciplinary Report [DR] on the man. All at once I hear some hollering, dropped what I was doing, and looked around real fast to see this guy standing over me with a big dagger in his hand.

     “I had this one lady come in and hand me her card, and I looked at it and said, “Yea, that’s alright. Go ahead.” And I went on back letting other people in, and after it slowed up a little bit this lady came back over and handed me her card and said, “You want to look at this again?” And I took it and looked at it and, well, I almost fell over. Cause it was Mrs. MacArthur, and we had special orders that were supposed to escort VIP people coming in, or at least ask if they needed an escort through the store.

     Well, I hadn’t done any of that. But I did ask after she brought it to my attention and I apologized. Boy, did I apologize!

     She went on in and bought her own things, so I never heard too much about it. I was looking to be called in at any time, but after a couple of days went by I guess it was all over. I guarantee I never allowed that to happen again.”   CPL Arthur J. Boggs, Charlie Company, 1947-1950.

     And there were the special assignments that didn’t always make the duty schedule because they were unexpected escorts for the last minute changes in VIP tours; working as a car valet for Mrs. MacArthur’s large tea parties (50-60 people); traffic and crowd control at large religious gatherings at the coliseum.

     Although GEN MacArthur did have his special Honor Guard at his headquarters, a battalion patrol was often assigned to respond to the building entrance for crowd control when he arrived in the morning and departed in the evening. The generals normal routine was arrival at 1000 hours, departure at 1400 hours for lunch at his residence, return to the office at 1500 hours, and departure at 2100 hours or later. They were there to insure that the many Japanese people and tourists who appeared for the daily ritual didn’t approach him during his short walk between the car and the door.

     Prior to joining the Army 1LT Ralph E. Dillard was employed as a civilian with the Missouri State Highway Safety Unit. His first Army assignment was with the Provost Marshal General’s School at Fort Sam Huston, Texas, where he served in the Traffic Section until his separation from the Army in 1946.

17 October The League of Korean citizens held a gathering that attracted an estimated 5,000 members to select 120 representatives. There was no reason announced for the selection of the representatives.

     Editors Note: Immediately following the end of World War II, there were roughly 2.4 million Koreans in Japan; the majority repatriated to their ancestral homes in the southern half of the Korean peninsula, leaving only 650,000 in Japan by 1946. The League of Korean’s was a semi-political socialist ideological organization formed by the Korean citizens residing in Japan after the war.

     Moscow radio reported that Soviet Russian troops were departing parts North Korea, and that the population was giving them a “magnificent farewell.”

    The Director of Public Information in South Korea countered the broadcast reporting that, the Soviets were leaving as a “military necessity,” because in the event of a third world war they would be trapped in North Korea with only a limited land based escape route through Manchuria. The exchange was seen by some as just political bluster by Moscow to lessen the impact and favorable attention given to President Rhee’s visit to GEN MacArthur.

    Forty North Korean Communist agents that infiltrated into the local constabulary in the costal city of Yosu, recruited sympathizers among other constabulary units and anti-Rhee dissidents, organizing them into a force of approximately 4,000 well armed rebels who were seen carrying communist flags and singing the Communist Workers Party anthem the “international.”

     Traveling by rail, the force then attacked other police stations and government buildings in neighboring towns and cities, gathering up stocks of arms and ammunition, and executing anyone that wore a military or police uniform, or opposed them in any way. Their goal was to create a civil war within the South to weaken the new Rhee government before the reunification talks at the U.N. ended.

     In Germany, tensions reached a new level with Soviet Russia when they tightened their blockade on Berlin by setting up roadblocks on all highways and rail lines that entered the city. Soviet soldiers and the East Berlin Police, who have now been “Sovietized”, were forcing all transportation destined for West Berlin through their checkpoints and confiscating any food, fuel and manufactured goods from the travelers that they deemed as illicit.

Exact Dates Unknown The International Military (War Crimes) Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) completed its work, the seventy MPs who were assigned to the Tribunal were returned to the battalion and other duties.

     Sometime after the trials were completed, approximately fifty members of the battalion were again detailed to Sugamo Prison, this time to provide security until the Tribunal sentences could be carried out. The internees at Sugamo consisted of those condemned, those sentenced to long-term imprisonment, and those undergoing trial.

     “I was transferred from the Philippines to a replacement depot at Atsugi, Japan. From there I was assigned directly to the IMTFE. We never had any contact with any of the rest of the battalion, so I don't know anyone who served in downtown Tokyo. Unfortunately, very few of those who served with me know of the existence of the Association and I don't know of any way to get a roster to let them know.

     The highest-ranking NCO in our unit was a buck sergeant. There were two corporals, several PFC's, and the rest were buck privates. We were told that all the better grades were being taken by “those downtown” which led to some resentment.

     We were stationed at the trial building with six to a room. The food and lodging was pretty good. Some of us were assigned to the courtroom, and others transported the prisoners to and from Sugamo Prison. Occasionally, when GEN Tojo wanted to meet with his attorneys, I would be assigned to guard him. Although I could have I never discussed anything with him. Some got his autograph, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction by asking for it. I was only 17 at the time and often think that GEN MacArthur would have gotten in trouble with Truman sooner had he escaped while I was guarding him, but I was watching him closely looking for the opportunity to shoot him.

3 November In South Korea, Communist in the South Korean Army stationed at Taegu in the southeast, had planned to revolt and seize police stations after the pattern of the Yosu uprising that occurred on 20 October. The plan was upset when Korean MP’s attempted to arrest an army sergeant major. A firefight between the sergeant’s comrades and military police resulted in the death of one MP. Loyalist soldiers moved into the area and captured the communist rebels ending the fighting.

5 November In Washington, D.C. the U.S. Office of Education announced that it had launched a nationwide campaign to uncover the cities, towns and rural areas that were potential “breeding grounds for communism.” They disclosed that they solicited every state to investigate their school citizenship programs on how effectively democracy was being taught as a bulwark against communism. They also assured everyone that this was not being done to investigate the loyalty of the schools, teachers or students.

4 December Occupation organizations from the 8th U.S. Army, and Far East Air Forces held a meeting at the office of the Stars & Stripes Newspaper in Tokyo discussing ways to fund the All American Charity Ball for Japanese orphans. From GHQ the 720th MP Battalion representatives were also present, and presented a unique plan that was accepted by most if not all the other units that had small officers clubs.

20 December The Civilian Army Community Service (CIVAC) team stole a victory from the unbeaten 720th MP Battalion Bulldogs, 43-42 in overtime. The CIVAC’s tied the game at 40 with seconds left in the last period.

23 December Former General and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and six other defendants convicted and sentenced to death, were hung at Sugamo Prison between 0008-0035 hours.

     “I was assigned to the 738th MP Battalion and shifted to the 8th Army’s NCO training school, in Yokohama. About that time (it was 1947), the 720th was short of MP’s and I was sent to Company B. The battalion discovered I could ride a motorcycle, so they made me a patrol sergeant on night duty, and I worked with the rest of the company.

     The Japanese war crime trials, which started shortly after the surrender in 1945, were still very much in session when I reported. There were two executioners at the time, LT Rexroad and LT Corey - I think that’s how he spelled his name. LT Rexroad, [2LT Charles C. Rexroad] who was with the 519th MP Battalion, asked me… “We need another man, can you get involved?” When I finished thinking about it, I said yes. Executions took place in Sugamo Prison, commanded by LTC Aubry S. Kenworthy.

     I was not allowed into Sugamo at any time, except on the day of an execution, and then entered quietly through a private door in the back of the prison 24 hours before an execution. As discrete as my entrance was, everyone knew I was there almost as soon as I closed the door.

     The prisoners did not see me until they came into the room, and looked up. My job wasn’t public knowledge, but even the Japanese civilians outside the prison knew me, knew my duties.