Crazy Days of Youth

Crazy Days of Youth

I lived in Okinawa from 1982 to 1984. The Okinawa people were fiercely independent. They are a melting pot of cultures and their history lists multiple invasions by Korea, China, and Japan. We gave Okinawa back to the Japanese during my tenure there, but the Okinawans did not consider themselves Japanese. They were very vocal on the matter if you referred to them as such.

The Army base I lived near changed from a Signals Acquisition site to a Green Beret Base. The base encompassed thousands of acres of farm land that the US had acquired after WWII, but had not used. This land had been left available for locals to farm for nearly forty years.

The new base command decided to stop allowing the local farmers to use this land, and instead use it for jump practice. As you can imagine this did not sit well with the local population, many of which derived their total livelihood from these farms. The results were demonstrations and riots around the base, by local citizens.

One night, during this period, a buddy and I were bar hopping in an area called Kadena Circle, near the Kadena Air Force Base. At about 3:00 a.m., after several hours of partying, we were walking to a new club, On the way we were accosted in an alley by ten to twelve locals. They surrounded us, and one individual got in my face screaming “Yankee go home! We don’t want you in Japan!” As I said we had been drinking for several hours, and my judgment may have been impaired. I leaned forward and yelled back at him “I’m not in Japan! I’m in Okinawa!”

He looked shocked, stepped back and slapped me on the shoulder. He laughed and said “You OK Joe!” He then waved to his buddies and they walked away still laughing. My friend looked shaken, and said “I thought you were going to get us killed.” I just laughed and we went to the next bar. The next day I woke up dead sober, remembering the night before. I thought “What the hell did I do?” I guess I must have a guardian angel.