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720th MP
Battalion

Camp Burness in Tokyo

This Page Last Updated  19 August 2015
General
Headquarters
13 March 1948 The Battalion moved from their camp at Nakano, Tokyo at L and 48th Streets, to a former Japanese Paymasters School located at Z and 20th Streets, on the Sumida River, in downtown Tokyo. The facility had previously been occupied by the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Battalion work details were begun to improve the facility.
 
MAIN GATE CAMP BURNESS-Tokyo 1949

12 April 1948 The Commanding General of the United States Eighth Army authorized the temporary naming of the 720th Military Police Battalion installation as "CAMP BURNESS," in honor of SGT Frederick A. Burness of Baker Company, killed and missing in action during WWII on 23 April 1943.

     The memorial statue to Battalion staff (dedicated 30 May 1947) who were killed during WWII was moved to their new camp and placed in front of building #100 (see camp diagram to right), just inside the main gate.

     The Exchange building, later converted to the gymnasium, had to be moved because the tidal wave from the Sumida River and Tokyo Bay tore off a part of the building and undermined the foundation.
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CAMP PHOTOGRAPHS   1948-1953
 
 
1953 Exact date unknown The Battalion was ordered to vacate Camp Burness and move to some upper floors in the NYK (Nippon Yusen [Kaisha] Biru) high rise building in the center of Tokyo.
 
  No record has been found by the Reunion Association on the fate of the statue after the Battalion departed Japan on 21 February 1955. If you can provide any information, please use the Email Link at the top of this page.
 
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