New Year’s Eve, 1954, the Korean War had ended and the First Cavalry Division had pulled out and was stationed up and down the coast of Japan. I was in "Charlie" Company in the Eighth Cavalry Regiment and we had just moved from Hokkaido to a bombed out Japanese airbase 60 miles north of Tokyo. General Doolittle had bombed the base and bomb craters were still visible everywhere. We had a pass and headed out the gate to Boomtown to celebrate New Years. Boomtown consisted of dozens of Cabarets and had sprung up virtually overnight after we had moved to the old airbase.
After a full night of hooping and hollering, and not in good condition, we headed back to camp. The barracks were located a quarter of a mile or more up a slight hill past the gate and in our condition we were going to have a problem negotiating that hill. After going through the gate we noticed two MP jeeps sitting side by side pointed up the hill toward the barracks area. The only mistake we made was not taking both jeeps. Six of us piled in to one of the jeeps and I drove at a high rate of speed to the barracks. I looked back and there the other MP jeep was not far behind with every red light it had on. We jumped out and by best buddy James R. Heard from Coldwater, Kansas said, "Follow me!" He quickly entered the back door of a well lit barracks visible to the MP that belonged to "Baker" Company. We went through the barracks and out the front door and over to "Charlie" Company to our barracks. We all hopped into our bunks with our clothes on. It was quiet and we could clearly hear the MP’s and the First Sergeant of "Baker" Company ordering everyone to fall out into formation. The Sergeant explained to the troops if they didn’t tell the MP’s who had stolen the jeep, they were all going to take a 25 mile march the next morning on New Year’s Day.
Now I was just a low-life dog-face PFC, but had I been "Charlie" Company Commander, I would have given James R. Heard a medal for going beyond the call of duty and leading his drunken buddies quietly through the "Baker" Company barracks.
Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com
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