Regarding Gene Lang's story "Fired on the Hucks". I too served in H&S, 1/12, 3rd MarDiv in Okinawa from July 1957 to Sep 1958 and I remember well Operation Strongback and Camp Hannah. I have a few photos of the place. We had an area called "Jack's Bar" set up with San Miguel beer sold for 10 cents a bottle. I also remember encountering a small band of "Negritos" and trading whatever gear we could spare for their hand made weapons. What stands out in my mind is how we got from Okinawa to the Philippines. In Dec 1957 we were mobilized and set sail to the South China Sea. My unit was on an LST. We sailed around in circles, never seeing land, for about a month on water rations, food rations and salt water showers. It was a miserable trip. The ocean was as calm as glass and it was hotter than hell. We spent the 1957-8 holidays aboard that ship before finally putting in to Subic Bay where we were housed in a compound in Olongopo which I believe was an old Japanese POW camp. At the time I had no idea why we were deployed to the South China Sea, but many years later I learned that it was a plan by Pres Eisenhower and Sec of State John Foster Dulles to assist in the 1958 Rebellion in Indonesia. The plan was to send “one cruiser one destroyer division all U.S. amphibious forces available in the Philippine area with embarked Marines plus necessary logistic forces” in the direction of Indonesia, staying “out of sight of land if at all practical.”
Because Operation Strongback was due to start in a month or so, we remained in that compound for about a month with no civilian clothes. We were forced to climb the wall and go on "liberty" in Olongopo in our utilities constantly on the alert for the Shore Patrol. We were gone from Okinawa for close to six months. There was no place to go for liberty, but they finally allowed us to buy civilian clothes and get R&R in Manila and Bagio. These were interesting times.
Richard Szabo 1660866
Cpl (E3) and later Acting Cpl (E-3)