Episode 1 – You'll love Iwakuni
Gunnery Sergeant Vince Spalding, USMC, and I were settling in for Friday night happy hour at the Iwakuni MCAS Staff NCO Club. Iwakuni is a major air station with a large contingent of Marine squadrons occupying one side of the airstrip. Navy VP aircraft and JDSDF forces were also sharing the facilities. Iwakuni makes an ideal Marine Corps location because not only did it have an air station but also a deep water port which made it possible for AKAs, APAs, LSDs, LPHs, LSTs and carriers to embark Marine aircraft, equipment and personal with a minimum of delay.
I had arrived late Thursday from NAS Atsugi in a Marine Corps R4D flown by two enlisted pilots. My orders read that I was to check in to VMCJ-1 as the radar NCOIC on the following Monday. VMCJ-1 was a recon and photo squadron flying F3Ds, ADs and other ancient USMC aircraft. They were to begin accepting F8U Crusaders, F4 Phantoms and A6 Intruders configured for EW and recon operations as their mission aircraft in the very near future. Since I was F8U and F4 qualified…I was assigned to run the radar and radio shop.
Since I had arrived after normal duty hours and the 1st Marine Air Wing OOD had me billeted in the transit crew hut. A Quonset hut with accommodations for 6 to 8 Staff NCOs. I couldn't help but notice the steel cables running over the roof of the hut and securely anchored in the deck. I had forgotten about the typhoons. My bunkmates were from stateside squadrons on their way to Vietnam. I offered my condolences and left for the club. I ran into Vince while checking in around the base. He was the Avionics NCOIC of one of the Marine F4 fighter bomber squadrons operating out of this southern Japan Marine base.
Tonight's club special was screwdrivers for 10 cents each. We decided that arriving early would give us the undivided attention of the bartender. So we ordered 5 drinks apiece, put our paper MPC on the bar and waited for the day workers to arrive. I was looking forward to renewing old times at El Toro, LTA, MAG-16, Atsugi and Cherry Point. The Marine Corps has only a few air stations and a career Marine could easily end up knowing everybody in and around his MOS. The Few…is true. We'd order 5 more when the crowd started milling around the bar.
There was some commotion at the entrance and we turned to see Staff Sgt Stan Smith, showing up with his weekly catch of josans. He would make the rounds of the bars during the week and invite the local gals to the base on Friday. Three or four would show up at the main gate and Smitty would rent a big cab and pick them up for the run to the club. It always amazed me that Iwakuni, so close to Hiroshima, was so hospitable.
Stan was a recruiting poster Marine, a handsome devil and his cohorts sent him trolling for women wherever they landed. He always managed to bring in a net full of possibilities. His VMR squadron flew daily supply and personnel replacement flights to Vietnam. Vince remarked when Stan arrived, "Gunny, you are going to love it here at Iwakuni."
Later that night we were in the strip on the second floor of the Miss Iwakuni hotel when Sergeant Mickey Mantle (not the ball player) pops in and says there is a message for me on my bunk at the transit hooch.
I said, "I'll read it in the morning." Meantime I was going to get a steam bath and massage…