720th
1948 Battalion Time Line
~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association History Project ~
This Page Last Updated   27 March 2008
8th Army
GHQ
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In 1948 the 720th Military Police Battalion was serving Occupation Duty in Tokyo, occupied Japan.
January
The critical shortage of personnel due to turnover continued to plague the mission operations.
        Battalion Headquarters was located in Tokyo on L and 48th Streets. The Battalion started making plans to move nearer the center of Tokyo. The mission and method of operations remained the same as in 1947.
February
        A fire of unknownn origin completely destroyed the B Company barracks building at Nakano with no injuries or loss of life to its personnel.
March
        Due to the severe shortage of personnel, A, C and D Companies of the 720th Military Police Battalion were attached to B Company for command and control. By this time each company was down to approximately seventy men.

13 March The Battalion moved to a former Japanese Paymasters School located at Z and 20th Streets, near the Sumida River, in downtown Tokyo.

        The facility had previously been occupied by the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment. Work details were begun to improve the facility.
April
12 April The Commanding General of the United States Eighth Army authorized the temporary naming of the 720th Military Police Battalion installation as CAMP BURNESS.  The Camp would remain named in honor of SGT Frederick A. Burness of B Company, until 1953. SGT Burness killed in action in April 1943 during WWII.
July
26 July President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, ending segregation in the U.S. armed forces.
September
        The Battalion was relieved from assignment to the 8th Army and reassigned to the newly activated Headquarters and Service Group.
November
3 November LTC C. H. Meek passed command of the Battalion to MAJ William C. Smith.
4 November Sir William Webb, President of the The International Military (War Crimes) Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), announced that all of the defendants had been found guilty. The International Military (War Crimes) Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), completed its work, the seventy MP’s who were assigned to the Tribunal were returned to the Battalion.
Exact date unknown After the trials were completed, approximately fifty members of the 720th MP Battalion were detailed to Sugamo Prison to provide security until the Tribunal sentences could be executed. The prison personnel at Sugamo consisted of those condemned, those sentenced to long term imprisonment, and those undergoing trial.
        The Battalion also started a new rotating operations system. Each lettered company was rotated as follows: First Day - Military Police duty; Second day - Interior guard and special details; Third day - Off duty; Fourth day - Training and alert company.
December
23 December General Hideki Tojo and six other defendants found guilty of various crimes by the International Military (War Crimes) Tribunal for the Far East (IMFTE), were hung at Sugamo prison.
At the end of 1948 all elements of the 720th Military Police Battalion were serving in Tokyo, occupied Japan.